Clustering of regions by indicators of quality of life and quality of population

Abstract

The problem of improving qualitative characteristics of population is relevant for all regions. Its solution assumes breaking the subjects of the Russian Federation into groups, similar in the values of quality of population, and in the degree of effectiveness of the factors affecting them. The main factor considered in the article is quality of life in terms of all its dimensions. The previous correlation analysis of the indicators of quality of life and quality of population made it possible to substantiate the choice of system of indicators for grouping Russian regions with the purpose of elaborating a strategy for improvement of the qualitative characteristics of population. There is revealed a strong impact of the economic indicators of quality of life on the quality of population: average monetary per capita income, poverty rate and unemployment rate. Along with the obvious connection between these indicators, their ratio in different Russian regions is various. Among all indicators of the quality of population, 4 indicators were selected for analysis: natural increase of population, life expectancy, education level, number of alcoholics and drug addicts. Cluster analysis on the set of seven above mentioned indicators resulted in development of regions' typology consisting of seven groups. Each cluster received informative interpretation. The obtained typology was compared with the typology of regions by indicators of quality of population and the typology by indicators of quality of life. Their common features and differences were identified. Inclusion in consideration of territorial factor, which was presented in the article by the share of urban population in regions, did not confirm the hypothesis of its significant impact on the quality of population. On the basis of all the obtained results and their substantive analysis the authors propose a typology of regions which can be used for development of strategies for improvement of the qualitative characteristics of population with the account of the specifics of each regional cluster.