A depressed region is an area that is in decline. These areas have the lowest standard of living in the country. The depression of the region fundamentally affects the quality of life of the local population. As a rule, it is in such an area that the highest number of suicides occurs.
The concept of depression
It is used in sociology, in the analysis of the social and economic life of the country. Depressed regions include regions in which the economic condition is below the average. In general terms, it means decline, deterioration.
In Russian conditions, as the researchers note, this phenomenon has become common to all regions, and in fact this definition extends to many areas. This means that the problem of depressed regions is the problem of the whole country.
For this reason, at the moment, the Russian authorities call this term the area in which the growth of negative phenomena in demography, employment and the economy is lower than the national indicators.
Indicators
The most important point is the establishment of indicators by which economicdepressed regions. As a rule, we are talking about resource opportunities, deteriorating living standards, service provision, infrastructure, and so on. The security of the local population is taken into account.
Depression incidence rate
According to the results of modern studies of the most depressed regions of Russia, the Siberian Federal District is the leader in their list. At the very end of this indicator is the North Caucasus. This situation is influenced by a whole range of factors, including the standard of living, ecology, economic prospects, access to medicine.
Kemerovo, Siberia
Heads the list of depressed regions of the Russian Federation Kemerovo, a city with extremely poor ecology. The situation of this kind has developed due to the concentration of many chemical, machine-building and coal plants. Here the average wages are low - about 30,000 rubles. About 14,000 crimes are committed per year, and this does not include latent crime. These factors influenced the development of depressive tendencies in the region. The suicide rate in this area is higher than the national average. There was a high-profile case of police suicide a few years ago.
Norilsk, Siberia
Norilsk has also become one of the most depressed regions of the country. According to research results, it is not suitable for life. The weather in it is extremely cold, there is practically no sunlight, it is difficult to get to the mainland.
When the snow melts here in the spring, the bones of Gulag workers are discovered. This iscombined with a poor environmental situation, lack of economic prospects.
There are frequent bursts of suicide in this depressed region of Russia.
Omsk, Siberia
This city also has a bad environmental situation. There are a large number of enterprises with harmful emissions. In addition, the settlement is dusty, and together with whole dust storms, harmful substances, including lead, are carried everywhere. The city has bad roads, in 2016 the largest potholes were marked with tires.
The atmosphere in this region of Russia is so depressing that all members of the younger generation tend to leave it as soon as possible. Statistics on the number of suicides show that there are more of them than the national average.
Shakhty, Southern Federal District
This is a fairly large settlement near Rostov-on-Don. And this is far from the best choice for life. The city was included in the list of the most depressed regions. This is provoked by the fact that Mines were recognized as the most unsafe city in the country. The environment here is bad, it is noted that the local population suffers from depression more often than residents of other areas.
Volgograd, Southern Federal District
The next depressive region is Volgograd. The standard of living in the city is low. The population growth was negative. Volgograd ranks last in terms of the quality of the road infrastructure, and is at the bottom of the list in terms of the quality of the education sector.
Astrakhan, Southern Federalcounty
About 530,000 people live in the city. Astrakhan has the worst quality of housing stock maintenance - in the rating for Russia for this indicator, the city is ranked 37th, last out of 37. There are many industrial enterprises and cars. The region is heavily polluted. The unemployment rate here is higher than in the rest of the country. This depressed region badly needs a new kind of economic policy. In the list of the most criminal regions of the country, Astrakhan is in 5th place. The local population complains about poverty, low wages, crime situation and dilapidated housing. For these reasons, many suffer from depression here.
Kostroma, Central District
Very negative results were demonstrated by studies of Kostroma. This is a depressed region where the quality of maintenance of the housing stock is at a low level. In the rating for this indicator, the city took 33rd out of 37 places. This is complemented by the poor condition of the roads - 32nd out of 37. There are problems with the purity of drinking water. The number of suicides is 130-160 cases per year.
Lipetsk, Central District
Low education, poor quality he alth care, security, dilapidated housing and lack of economic prospects have made Lipetsk one of the most depressed regions of the Russian Federation. The city was included in the list of the dirtiest in the country. The local population complains about the bad climate, difficulties with housing and communal services, and low wages. Hence there is a massive outflow of people tocapital.
Dynamics
Revealing depressed regions, the country's authorities are taking measures to reduce negative trends. The country is still in recession in some areas, despite GDP growth. According to research in 2017, there is an increase in the number of regions in which there is a decrease in production simultaneously in several areas.
Thanks to the measures taken by the government, Voronezh, Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo showed positive dynamics in 5 sectors of the economy.
Economic trends
The development of the country in recent years was carried out despite the fact that territorial differences were becoming brighter. The standard of living varies greatly depending on the region, and socio-economic provision also varies greatly. For this reason, depressed regions in the Russian Federation stand out quite clearly.
There is a trend towards the growth of economic potential in certain areas, it is all concentrated in a fairly limited area of the country. 50% of GRP is created in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tyumen. Despite the fact that the share of the leading regions of the Russian Federation in GRP is growing up to 60%, the country still has many depressed regions that are considered underdeveloped.
The question concerning this problem is regularly raised in politics. The leaders of these areas have the task of creating a favorable entrepreneurial climate so that the depressed region develops faster and overcomes decline. It is necessary to constantly improve the socio-economic situation in them.
Examples of other statesshow that even lagging regions, with competent and active actions of the leadership, can make a great contribution to the development of the country. For this reason, it is believed that a way out of the current circumstances, regardless of the variety of the depressed region, is possible. It is possible to achieve an improvement in the situation if one finds an approach to developing the economy in such a way that undeveloped areas actively participate in economic life, and are not recipients.
Different views
In science, there are completely different views on this problem. Thus, some researchers note that regions that used to be prosperous often become depressive. And this is a normal stage of economic development.
Someone considers the depression a stage that follows after the economic downturn. In this case, the depression is considered as a stage of the economic cycle. A region is considered depressive if there has been no recovery for a long time. To influence the situation, you must first find out what are the reasons that the region does not restore its own positions. For example, in neighboring areas, production could become cheaper, and enterprises moved there.
Description
Depressed from an economic point of view, the region is described as follows. This is an area that in past years had a lot of resources - labor, material, but when there was a recession in the country, the institutions based here could not cope with the difficulties and reduced production. As a result, the region lost prospects, its contribution to the overall situation in the country became small. The standard of living of the population has become lower.
It is important to distinguish depression from backwardness. A backward region is a region that has never been a leader, has not made a significant contribution to the economy of the state, which had no potential from the very beginning. A region with some difficulties in certain areas is called a problematic region, despite the fact that in general it also has prosperous areas. Depressiveness means a complex decline and neglect in many respects, the presence of a vicious circle of problems. At the same time, there are bright pages in the history of the region, when it showed excellent results. Crisis refers to a region that is experiencing temporary difficulties for any reason. They can be caused by a natural or socio-economic cataclysm.
Out of depression
Depressive region can become prosperous again with proper actions of the leadership. It is necessary to add anti-crisis mechanisms to management. They are developed individually, taking into account the characteristics of the object. At the moment, there is no single anti-crisis management mechanism that would suit each region.
Mechanism is a form of strategy, a special way of building relationships in which participants, thanks to pre-known rules, contact each other and get the result that was planned.
The anti-crisis mechanism implies that certain measures will help identify crisis areas and reduce their negative impact on society until the situation changes completely.
It is noteworthy that similarmechanisms can be introduced both at the federal and regional levels. The municipal level is also involved in overcoming the depressiveness of the region.
The main goal of the measures is to improve the welfare of the area by increasing the productivity of the resources in it. The potential of the area is also being developed.
At the federal level, there is a timely identification of areas that need such increased attention. At the regional level, most of the required tasks are performed. Here, an action plan is developed and implemented directly into reality. Control over the execution of tasks occurs at the same level.
The most important tool in overcoming depressive phenomena in the region is the creation of a comprehensive program for its development. When compiling it, they take into account all the problems that exist in a particular area, search for ways to solve it. The program is being developed with the participation of the regional and with the assistance of the federal level. Quite often the program is common for several similar regions. But when compiling it for several areas, one must take into account that the problems and features should be similar. Their capabilities should be the same. As a rule, the program is developed individually.
At the moment, such programs are being introduced in Russia. But they are implemented in relation not to depressed regions, but to problematic or having the highest value for the state.
The authorities at the regional level are able to influence the negative situation by stimulating labor resources,infrastructure improvements. The nature of such measures is determined by the sectoral structure of the economy in a particular area.
Regional development should first of all be guided by the fact that the authorities promote the growth of specialization of the depressed area.
The influence of local leadership on the development of human factors is very effective. For example, in the case of the modernization of the education sector in a depressed region, it should be carried out with the resources of the area itself. The support of the federal authorities in this case should be limited. Improving the infrastructure of the area leads to an increase in the attractiveness of the area for an investment project.
In addition, the regional authorities need to designate the level at which intervention will be carried out in the development of certain sectors of the local economy.
It should be borne in mind that it will be necessary to develop a system of indicators, using which the authorities will monitor the progress and results of their work. As a rule, the indicator of the productivity of working residents is used. This is the most important indicator by which the development of the region is determined. That is, it is important not directly but the area, but the population that lives in it.
Labor productivity also reflects how effectively the anti-crisis mechanism is being implemented in management. To realize the potential of a depressed region, as a rule, a two-level anti-crisis mechanism is used. The results are evaluated by considering the dynamics in the indicatorlabor productivity of the local population.
The federal government is responsible for ensuring that the anti-crisis program is carried out, it exercises control over the process. She also coordinates the activities of infrastructure companies in a particular area.
It is important to bear in mind that under conditions of crisis phenomena that are characteristic of the entire country at the same time, it is hardly possible to carry out a complete economic rehabilitation of a depressed region. It is necessary to use not one-dimensional actions like the allocation of special subsidies and the creation of offshore zones. In practice, these solutions are ineffective in such conditions.
In this case, it is important to carry out rehabilitation, which will have a complex impact on the economic situation of the region. At the same time, it is important to stimulate activity in the social and political spheres.
Rehabilitation is done in a variety of ways. The path of sanitation always has individual characteristics. For example, reorganization, which directly eliminates depression in the region, consists in the formation of a special legal regime for doing business. It can be tax breaks, vacations. Support is used for some forms of management - for example, agriculture, cooperative, and so on. A lot of levers of influence on the local population are also used. This is the creation of jobs, changes in forms of ownership. Sanitation of a depressed region, as a rule, is expensive. At the same time, it does not make a profit. The only benefit from it is the general calm of the entire state, the support of a small circle of localresidents who are in a difficult social situation. With the most favorable forecasts, economic development is observed several years after the implementation of measures.
