DIFFERENTIATION OF THE RUSSIAN STEPPE ZONE REGIONS BASED ON INDICATORS OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The existing problems of sustainable development of territories, declining living standards, and increasing social inequality necessitated the development by the Government of the Russian Federation of a list of indicators for the analysis, evaluation, and monitoring of the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). It is grouped by 17 goals and used to prepare national reports and publications on the accomplishment of the SDGs in Russia.  Our study provides assessment of the SDG indicators in 18 steppe regions of Russia for three years: 2011, 2015, and 2019. The rating assessment was carried out by the sum of rankings method, which made it possible to generalize individual estimates by totaling the rankings of the regions  for each SDG indicator for each year. Based on the proposed methodology for calculating the integral sustainability rating, we have identified the leaders among the steppe zone regions (the Krasnodar Territory, Belgorod and Samara regions) as well as the regions with the ‘worst’ indicators of sustainable development (the Republic of Kalmykia, Altai Territory, Kurgan region). The results of the rating assessment are consistent with the results of cluster analysis. The evaluation of the relationship between the SDG indicators made it possible to establish the set of exogenous variables: employment and unemployment levels; the income concentration index; the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line; gross regional product per capita; indicators of the goal ‘Creation of sustainable infrastructure, promotion of extensive and sustainable industrialization and innovation’. The comprehensive assessment of the steppe regions differentiation according to the sustainable development indicators is visualized on a cartographic diagram. The results of the study, as well as the proposed methodology, can be used for monitoring and making optimal management decisions, for achieving the goals of sustainable development of steppe regions in terms of the economic, social, and environmental components.