Resource and climate factors for the provision of social protection in Siberia’s northern territories

Abstract

An analysis is made of the influence from the resource and climate factors on the level of social guarantees in Siberia’s northern territories where the climatic resources differ greatly and are characterized by a different level of discomfort. The low standards of subsistence minimum for these territories are caused by imperfection of the existing zoning used in establishing these standards and by an inadequate monitoring network for prices employed by territorial bodies of the Federal State Statistics Service. There is a difference between the actual severity of climate and the standards for food consumption in the central and southern parts of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic and nonfood consumer goods and services throughout the entire territory of the Extreme North. Furthermore, it is found that the cities used in the observation of prices only poorly reflect the geographical features of the regions, and they are located in the vicinities to the main roads, while the extensive polar regions with an extremely severe level of discomfort and difficult transport accessibility are not included in the monitoring of prices. To achieve substantial improvement in the quality of human life, it is important to make changes in the zoning used in assessing the standards, and in the monitoring network maintained by territorial bodies of the Federal State Statistics Service.