Comparative Analysis of Regional Socioeconomic Heterogeneous Indicators in the Subjects of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Their Integral Assessment

Abstract

The Arctic Zone of Russian Federation (AZRF) is a unique geography with diverse socioeconomic factors playing significant roles in its stability and progress. In order to accurately assess and evaluate the overall socioeconomic progress of AZRF, the heterogeneous factors should be considered in an integrated manner, which will give a holistic view of the socioeconomic stability and development of the region. The available literature on socioeconomic development of Russian Arctic region however suffers from lack of integrated analysis of heterogeneous indicators. In this article, the authors have selected five heterogeneous indicators which best describe the socioeconomic condition of a given region, which in this case is AZRF and performed integral analysis for the time period 2014–2019. The indicators refer to socioeconomic aspects such as gross regional product and amount of investments received by the region, which in turn leads to changes in employment opportunities and income level of the population along with social benefits available to them. The mathematical instrument used for the analysis is the theory of fuzzy logic in the framework of determination of the subdirect image of a fuzzy set. This method is scalable and can be extended to any number of indicators of diverse nature since the final score will be in the range of [0, 1] making comparison of regions and ranking possible. Using this method, the subjects were ranked at individual indicator level and at holistic level as a result of which the advantages and disadvantages of each subject and the AZRF as a whole were determined. At holistic level, the subjects were ranked as Krasnayarsky Krai, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Republic of Komi, Murmansk Oblast, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Karelia Republic, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug based on the integral scores obtained. JEL Code: R11