Typology of Regions by Level and Dynamics of the Quality of Life

The paper considers the methodology and algorithm for the construction of typologies of regions in a two-dimensional space "level of development - dynamics of development" taking into account the quality of life, which is one of the most relevant competitiveness factors at the present stage of Russia's development. The authors analyze the concept of "quality of life" and propose their own variant of the concept, on the basis of which they make a list of indicators for measuring and assessing the "quality of life" factor. In the implementation of the algorithm it is proposed to transform specific indicators, which assess the level and dynamics of the quality of life, into nonmetric numerical scores, normalized to the weighted average values of indicators for the Russian regions. The method of transformation of indicators into scores was tested on the example of the Northwestern Federal District regions, and the typologies in a two-dimensional space "level - dynamics" of the quality of life were made for 80 regions of Russia; the level of the quality of life was assessed according to official statistics for 2013, and the dynamics of the quality of life was assessed with the use of official statistics for 2011-2013. A detailed analysis is provided for each of the proposed typological groups and characteristics of this typology are highlighted. The proposed methodology and algorithm make it possible to compare and analyze not only the level and dynamics of development of different factors promoting competitive attractiveness, but also the interaction between the factors, for example, such as economy and the quality of life, economy and innovation, innovation and human resources, quality of life and innovation, etc. The typology provides a better understanding of advantages and disadvantages of both federal and local social policy for regional strategic development and helps justify the need and the focus of territorial development programs and projects taking into account the necessity to ensure competitive attractiveness of regions by the quality of life.