On Ensuring the Comparability of Statistical Indicators when Changing State Borders

Abstract

The paper discusses the author's proposals for addressing the problem of achieving the comparability of Russian socio-economic indicators related to the change in the borders of the state as a result of the special military operation. The experience of ensuring indicators comparability when changing state borders, namely during the unification of Germany in 1990 and reunification with Crimea in 2014, is considered. It is shown that, due to the long duration of the process of changing borders and the uncertainty of its results, the specificity of the discussed Russian episode of changing state borders makes it unique, i. e., having no direct analogues in recent decades for developed countries. The article discusses requirements for data comparability, which are imposed by the tasks for which they are used. The need to find such a solution to the problem, which would allow analyzing the dynamics of indicators for both a comparable and entire territories, is explained. The author proposes a simple and technologically advanced approach to solving the problem of comparability. Features of its solution for indicators of different types, different levels of aggregation, and with different time steps are considered. Recommendations for organizing the work related to ensuring the comparability of statistical indicators when changing state borders are proposed.