Achievement of sustainable development goals is one of the urgent tasks both for an individual country and for its territory. The aim of the study is to develop a statistical methodology for monitoring and comprehensive assessment of sustainable development of the territory. The authors used open data of Rosstat and UN data as the information base of the study. Approbation of the proposed monitoring system was carried out on the object, including territories of different hierarchy levels: countries of the world, federal districts and regions of the Russian Federation.

The methodology is presented in the form of an algorithm containing the following stages of research: selection of the object of observation, formation of a system of indicators of sustainable development of the territory, assessment of the level of sustainable development of the territory and complex analysis on its basis (calculation of the integral indicator, typology of territories, factor analysis, dynamics and forecasting, identification of new objects of observation by type of sustainable development) and development of recommendations to improve the level of sustainable development of a particular territory. The integral indicator of sustainable development of the territory is defined as the average value of indices for the three spheres of sustainability (social, economic, environmental). The authors propose to calculate the indices using the technology of multidimensional average for an array of indicators characterising a separate sphere of sustainable development of the territory.

The paper calculates indices for the spheres of sustainable development and an integral indicator for 2010, 2015 and 2020. As part of the analysis, a typology of the world countries (2010, 2015 and 2020) and territories of the Russian Federation (2011, 2016 and 2021) by the level of sustainable development was carried out; a neural network and discriminant function for the identification of new objects of observation by the type of sustainable development were constructed; a modified matrix of portfolio analysis of the subjects of the Russian Federation for 2021 was performed as part of the typology. Conclusions and proposals regarding the development strategies of the considered territorial entities are made.

This paper examines the fulfillment of the covered interest rate parity on Russian data from 2021 to 2023. The fulfillment of the covered interest parity means that investors are not able to profit from currency arbitrage using forward contracts. Crisis periods and restrictions on capital flows can clearly lead to non-fulfillment of interest parity.

The purpose of this work is to study the dynamics of deviation from covered interest parity for three-month and six-month deposits for two currency pairs (USD/RUB and CNY/RUB) in the period before and after the introduction of sanctions in 2022 when the Russian economy faced significant shocks and restrictions on capital flows. In this work, the authors study the two currency pairs, one of which is subject to significant currency restrictions, and the other is free to exchange. In this paper, the authors use standard methods: graphical and econometric analysis; their use in such an acute period, previously unexplored in the scientific literature, determines the novelty of the work.

As a result, the study revealed that since March 2022, the covered parity of interest rates has ceased to be fulfilled; the peak values of the deviation occurred in May and June 2022. By the beginning of 2023, the situation had stabilized, and the deviation from parity had decreased. Since March 2022, the ruble has lost its investment appeal, as amid overvalued exchange rates, expectations of the ruble weakening in the foreseeable future were included in forward contracts. Therefore, it was much more profitable to keep savings in foreign currency.

Expanding the range of state and municipal services in electronic format and improving their quality are the focus of state policy of the Russian Federation in the area of public administration. In this article, applying statistical methods, the authors investigate the demand for the Internet of Moscow residents to receive state and municipal services and provide possible directions for expanding the number of electronic service recipients.

The research is based on the microdata of the Federal Statistical Sample Survey on the use of information technologies and information and telecommunication networks over the period of 2017–2022 in Moscow. The survey was conducted among Moscow residents aged 15 years and older (from 6.3 to 10.9 thousand respondents, depending on the year of the survey). The share of Moscow residents receiving state and municipal services in electronic form almost doubled over the period under review (the level of Moscow residents’ satisfaction with the quality of electronic services has also increased).

The authors’ typology of state and municipal services’ recipients allows the conclusion that from 2017 to 2022, the share of Moscow residents who prefer to receive services strictly in-person has dropped significantly. In 2022, less than 5% of Moscow residents received state and municipal services without using the Internet (according to the survey, these are predominantly older people, often with a lower level of education). The statistical analysis revealed the reasons for the non-use of the Internet by Moscow residents that allows for providing more substantive and targeted informational and educational support for the population, who are aware of the benefits of receiving state and municipal services in electronic format.

The paper studies the impact of nutrition on the life expectancy (LE) of men, as well as women in Russian regions. The empirical analysis is based on data from the Federal State Statistics Service. The panel data includes 1694 observations (77 regions of the Russian Federation in 2000–2021). The authors suggest a summary indicator of regional nutrition patterns based on the nutrition norms developed for 10 food groups by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The study was run using fixed effect models while controlling for indicators of the socio-economic development of regions.

Econometric analysis shows that LE of men and LE of women increases with the decrease in the number of deviations from the regional nutrition norms. Alcohol consumption also reduces the LE of men and women, but the effect on men's life expectancy is more pronounced. As expected, the regional GRP per capita increases life expectancy, while inequality in income distribution leads to the LE decrease. The most important factor that positively affects LE of men, as well as LE of women is the proportion of urban citizens. In addition, LE is also affected by regional healthcare design: the number of doctors per 1000 people increases the LE of women; the number of hospital beds per 10 thousand people is associated with both the LE of men and LE of women. COVID-19 significantly contributed to the decrease in LE of men and especially of women. Its negative impact was already noticeable in 2020 but became particularly pronounced in 2021.

The study draws attention to a significant regional variation in the LE of men and LE of women related, among other things, to deviations from the food consumption patterns. The findings may be of interest to regional authorities responsible for developing healthy nutrition policies in Russian regions and increasing the LE of men and women.

Today, innovative performance of a country is one of the state’s most important tasks, which requires adequate statistics on innovations. The author analyzes the current state of innovation statistics as a tool for managerial decision-making (on the example of China).

The paper considers conceptual approaches to the study and measurement of innovation as well as the main characteristics of the statistical indicator sets. The shortcomings of some traditional innovation indicators and methodologies behind international innovation rankings, which are often unable to fully measure the effectiveness of innovation country-level activity and assess the degree of innovativeness of its economy, were analyzed. The paper defines the most notable statistical innovation indicators of the Chinese economy. It is emphasized that when analyzing the innovation potential and progress in the economy, Western analysts use sets of indicators that assess the efficiency of economic institutions, the dynamics of structural change, and the degree of structural modernization of all its sectors on the basis of innovation. The author focuses on the peculiarities of the critical target indicator system of the leading innovation «Made in China 2025» program, which is one of the initiatives of the nationwide five-year plan for the socio-economic development of China.

The author concludes that China's success in building an innovation economy is largely due to the choice of an effective system of indicators for strategic planning of innovation development, as well as reliance on domestic demand for innovation with a focus on ensuring the growth of the welfare of the country's citizens and reducing social inequality. It explains the need to develop a system of nationally adapted indicators of innovative development building on international statistical standards.

The issue of socially responsible behavior of companies is becoming more and more relevant at the present stage. At the same time, the actions undertaken by firms in the framework of socially responsible behavior most often go beyond the procedures set by the current legislation and require additional costs and funding. Positive effects are not obvious, including in the long term, which makes the company's management, especially in developing countries, refuse to implement social and environmental measures. The ambiguity of potential economic effects made it possible to formulate a research question related to assessing the similarity/difference in operational efficiency and financial dependence of companies with and without social responsibility embedded in the business model. The social and environmental responsibility of companies in this study is assessed using the ESG rating. For further research, samples were formed by countries and industries grouped by companies with and without an ESG rating.

The empirical analysis was based on statistical tests of difference. The put forward hypotheses were tested using the t-test. The study is based on company data for 2018, 2019, and 2020 in countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico, related to emerging capital markets. For the sectoral cross-section, were used aggregated groups (economic sectors) according to the Thomson Reuters Eikon classification.

The study revealed, in most cases, a significant excess of the value of financial leverage in companies with an ESG rating over companies without it. The average return on assets of enterprises with a non-zero ESG rating in all sectors is significantly higher than the return on assets without it. Thus, it is proved that implementing socially responsible behavior into a company's financial policy is economically viable, despite the increase in financial leverage. The results are stable over the entire considered interval; the pandemic did not affect the change in the results.