Enhancement of Sustainable Development Statistics for the Russian Regions

Abstract

Environmental and ecological statistics in Russia is still under formation. Despite the widespread recognition of the importance of providing economic growth within the environmental constraints, there continues to be significant lack of data that could be used to identify trends in the sustainable development, especially at the regional level. The authors argue that genuine savings, a complex indicator of sustainable development, could become such a statistic tool.The analysis shows that today Russia has gained extensive experience in assessing the sustainability of regional development using this indicator, but a comprehensive system for its assessment requires elaboration so that it could be established, as a regular practice in public administration.The article describes fundamental methodological issues of calculating the individual components of genuine savings through the current statistical accounting system in Russia. The paper considers conditions necessary to correctly estimate this indicator and ensure inter-regional and cross-country comparability of the results of such calculations.A version of the method for calculating genuine savings that is presented in this article requires an update of the system of statistical accounting in Russia. Practical application of this method along with the improvement of the system of statistical accounting shall allow for an adequate sustainability assessment of a particular region. This, in turn, shall provide a basis for establishing regional policies to compensate for resource depletion by investing in other types of capital.