A depressed region is an area in decline. In such areas, the lowest standard of living in the country. Depression in 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 social and economic life of the country. Depressed regions include regions in which the economic condition is below average. In the general concept, it denotes a decline, deterioration.
In Russian conditions, as the researchers note, this phenomenon has become common to all regions, and in fact this definition applies to many areas. So, 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, in the sphere of employment and the economy is lower than all-Russian indicators.
Indicators
The most important point is the establishment of indicators by which economically depressed regions are determined. As a rule, we are talking about resource opportunities, worsening living standards, the provision of services, infrastructure, and so on. The wealth of the local population is taken into account.
Depression Rate
According to the results of modern studies of the most depressed regions of Russia, the Siberian Federal District leads 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 living standards, ecology, economic prospects, and the availability of medicine.
Kemerovo, Siberia
Kemerovo is the head of the list of depressed regions of the Russian Federation. It is a city with extremely poor ecology. The situation of this kind has developed due to the concentration of many factories of chemical, machine-building and coal orientation. There are low average wages - about 30,000 rubles. About 14,000 crimes are committed per year, and this does not include latent crime. These factors also influenced the development of depressive trends in the region. The number of suicides in this area is higher than the national average. A few years ago, there was a high-profile case of a policeman's suicide.
Norilsk, Siberia
Norilsk has also become one of the most depressed regions of the country. According to research, it is not suitable for life. The weather in it is excessively cold, there is practically no sunlight, it is difficult to get to the mainland.
When snow melts here in spring, the bones of the Gulag workers are discovered. This is combined with a poor environmental situation and a lack of economic prospects.
There are frequent outbreaks of suicide in this depressed region of Russia.
Omsk, Siberia
This city also has a poor environmental situation. There are a large number of enterprises with harmful emissions. In addition, the village is dusty, and along with whole dust storms, harmful substances, including lead, are carried everywhere. The city has poor roads, in 2016 the largest pits were marked with tires.
The atmosphere of this region of Russia is so depressing that all representatives of the young generation seek to leave it as soon as possible. Statistics on the number of suicides shows that here they are committed more than the national average.
Mines, 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 entered the list of the most depressed regions. This is provoked by the fact that the Mines were recognized as the most unsafe city in the country. The ecology is bad here, it is noted that the local population is more likely than residents of other areas to suffer from depression.
Volgograd, Southern Federal District
The next depressive region is Volgograd. The standard of living in the city is low. A negative population growth was detected. Volgograd takes the last place in terms of quality of road facilities, and is at the end of the list in terms of the quality of education.
Astrakhan, Southern Federal District
About 530,000 people live in the city. Astrakhan has the worst quality of servicing the housing stock - in the rating for Russia according to this indicator the city is located on the 37th, last place out of 37. There are many industrial enterprises, automobiles. The region is very gassed. The unemployment rate is higher than in the rest of the country. This depressed region is in dire need of a new kind of economic policy. Astrakhan is on the 5th place in the list of the most criminal regions of the country. The local population complains about poverty, low wages, criminogenic conditions and dilapidated housing. For these reasons, many suffer from depression here.
Kostroma, Central Russia
Studies of Kostroma have shown very negative results. This is a depressive region in which the quality of housing services is low. In the ranking for this indicator, the city took 33rd out of 37 places. This is complemented by poor road conditions - 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 Russia
The low level of education, poor-quality services in the field of healthcare, security, dilapidated housing and the 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 poor climate, difficulties with housing and communal services, low wages. From here comes a massive outflow of people to the capital.
Dynamics
By identifying depressed regions, the country's authorities are taking measures to reduce negative trends. The recession is still ongoing in some places in the country, despite GDP growth. According to 2017 studies, there is an increase in the number of regions in which production is declining simultaneously in several areas.
Thanks to 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 has been carried out despite the fact that territorial differences have become brighter. The standard of living varies greatly depending on the region, and socio-economic support varies greatly. For this reason, depressed regions in the Russian Federation stand out quite clearly.
There is a tendency to increase economic potential in certain areas, it is 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%, many depressed regions remain in the country, which are considered to be underdeveloped.
The issue regarding this issue 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. Constant improvement of the socio-economic situation in them is necessary.
Examples of other states show that lagging areas with competent and active actions by the leadership are capable of making 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 improve the situation if you find an approach to the development of the economy in such a way that undeveloped areas actively participate in economic life, rather than being 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 depressed. And this is a normal stage of economic development.
Someone considers depression a stage that follows after the economic downturn. In this case, depression is considered as a stage of the economic cycle. Depressed consider the region in which for a long time does not occur recovery. To influence the situation, you must first find out what are the reasons that the region is not restoring its own positions. For example, in neighboring regions, production could become cheaper, and enterprises moved there.
Description
An economically depressed region is described as follows. This is an area that in the past years had a lot of resources - labor, material, but when the recession occurred in the country, the institutions based here did not cope with difficulties and reduced production. As a result, the region lost its 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 and has not made a significant contribution to the state’s economy, which had no potential from the very beginning. A problem region is called a region with some difficulties in certain areas, despite the fact that in general it also has prosperous areas. Depression 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 is called a region that is experiencing temporary difficulties for some reason. They can cause a natural or socio-economic cataclysm.
Conclusion from Depression
A depressed region can once again become prosperous with proper management action. It is necessary to add anti-crisis mechanisms to the 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 every area.
The 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 the degree of their negative impact on society, up to a complete change in the situation.
It is noteworthy that such mechanisms can be introduced both at the federal and regional levels. The municipal level is also involved in overcoming the depression of the region.
The main goal of the measures is to improve the welfare of the area by increasing the productivity of resources in it. The potential of the area is also developing.
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 carried out. Here an action plan is developed and embodied in reality. Control over the implementation 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, take into account all the problems available 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. Often the program is common to several similar regions. But compiling it for several areas, it is necessary to take into account that the problems and features should be similar. The same should be their capabilities. As a rule, an individual program is developed.
At the moment, such programs are being introduced in the Russian Federation. But they are not being implemented in relation to depressed regions, but in problematic or of the highest importance for the state.
The authorities at the regional level are able to influence the negative situation, engaged in stimulating labor resources and improving infrastructure. The nature of such measures is determined by the sectoral structure of the economy in a particular area.
Regional development should primarily focus on the fact that the authorities contribute to the growth of specialization of the depressed area.
The influence of the local leadership on the development of human factors is very effective. For example, in the case of modernization of the education sector in a depressed region, it should be carried out by the resources of this locality directly. The support of the federal authorities in this case should be limited. Improving the district's infrastructure leads to an increase in the attractiveness of the region for an investment project.
In addition, the authorities at the regional level need to indicate at what level intervention will be carried out in the development of certain sectors of the local economy.
It must be borne in mind that it is imperative to develop a system of indicators, using which the authorities will monitor the progress and the result of their work. As a rule, the labor productivity indicator is used. This is the most important indicator by which the development of the region is determined. That is, the area is not important directly, but the population that lives in it.
Labor productivity also reflects how effectively the crisis management mechanism is 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 indicator of labor productivity of the local population.
The government at the federal level is responsible for ensuring that the anti-crisis program is implemented; it exercises control over the process. She also coordinates the actions of infrastructure companies in a specific area.
It is important to take into account that in conditions of crisis that are characteristic for the whole country at the same time, it is hardly possible to carry out full economic rehabilitation of the depressed region. It is necessary to use non-one-dimensional actions, such as 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 comprehensive impact on the economic situation of the region. In parallel, it is important to stimulate activity in the social sphere, political.
Remediation is carried out in a variety of ways. The path of rehabilitation 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, holidays. Support is used for some forms of management - for example, agriculture, cooperative and so on. Many levers of influence on the local population are also used. This is the creation of jobs, changes in ownership. Remediation of a depressed region is usually 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 local residents who are in a difficult social situation. With the most favorable forecasts, economic development is observed several years after the adoption of measures.