The Level of Social Infrastructure Development in the Regions of Eastern Russia

Abstract

The purpose is to analyse the state and territorial differences in the level of development of the social infrastructure for health and education in the east of the country in terms of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. The information base for the study is official statistical indicators. We consider the administrative-territorial units of the Russian Federation - the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) and the Baikal region. The methodology includes the construction of integral indices according to individual indicators that characterize the level of development of certain types of infrastructure of a particular territory and normalized to the national average. Results and discussion. A typology of regions by level of development of healthcare infrastructure and education infrastructure was conducted. Based on the comparative analysis, the regions were ranked and the groups of "leaders" (the level of development of social infrastructure in the analyzed blocks is close to or equal to the national average) and "outsiders" (the level of development is below the national average) were identified. Conclusion. The need to overcome such negative trends as the reduction of medical and educational institutions, their high wear and tear, and insufficient commissioning is a pressing issue for Russia's eastern regions in the field of healthcare and education. The northern regions of the District have higher data for the indicators in question than the southern regions. However, they have a high depreciation of fixed assets. The outsider in the Baikal region is the Zabaikalsky Krai.