Comprehensive assessment of the balanced socio-economic development of rural areas (based on the materials of the Voronezh region)

Abstract

Importance: the system of socio-economic relations that develop in the process of rural development, the object of which is the total resource potential, and the subjects are state authorities, local governments, business entities and the population. The problem of modern rural development is their deep spatial differentiation and structural imbalances that hinder the integrated development of regions [7, 12]. Purpose: а comprehensive assessment of the balanced socio-economic development of rural areas of the Voronezh region and the identification of strategic directions for reducing inter-territorial differentiation. Research design: rural development in the Voronezh Region is characterized by significant polarization. In the course of the study, methods of statistical analysis, comparative comparison, index method and methodology for assessing the balanced development of territories based on the calculation of integral indicators and coefficients of variation, asymmetry and excess were used [9, 10]. As a result, it was found that only one of the nine analyzed territories can be characterized as balanced. Results: typical approaches to assessing the development of territories are the analysis of individual indicators. As our observations show, a comprehensive assessment of the balance, taking into account the economic, social, infrastructural blocks and the block of labor resources, reveals hidden structural imbalances even in the territories that are leaders in economic indicators. The considered methodological approach allows not only to diagnose problems, but also to justify targeted measures of state support, as well as to adjust the development strategy for a specific territory, taking into account its characteristics [2, 3, 11].