Measuring Regional Differences in Living Standards in Russia

Abstract

The article reflects some of the results of the author’s research on improving the accuracy of statistical assessments of inter-regional differences in the standard of living of the Russian population. Regional differences that have taken place over the past 15 years in the Russian Federation are measured using important indicators of living standards such as average per capita monetary income and final consumption per capita. The author states that the inter-regional differences in the period under review, although present, were quite small and relatively stable over time. Treatment of the results from international comparisons conducted under the auspices of the OECD and according to the author’s calculations related to a set of Russian regions confirms the presence of the Balassa-Samuelson effect. The adjustment of indicators under review to the territorial price index is carried out, as a result of which the level of differentiation of regions becomes noticeably lower, in full accordance with this effect. At the same time, the order of regions in the series ranked by cost of living indicators changes slightly, which leads to the conclusion that the reduction of differentiation by taking into account inter-regional differences in the price level is mainly due to the compression of the range of changes in the monetary indicators of living standards. To check the adequacy of the obtained conclusions, a comparative inter-regional analysis was carried out using some indicators that reflect the standard of living, such as per capita consumption of meat and meat products, housing security, and average life expectancy at birth. To obtain a comparative benchmark for the same set of differentiation measures, differences in living standards are measured for the aggregate of countries in the world as a whole and the aggregate of EU countries in particular. According to the author, the comprehensive use of methods and techniques for inter-regional statistical analysis of the well-being of the population confirms a positive trend in the implementation of one of the directions of current Russian socio-economic policy.