Analysis of demographic problems of Russia’s urban and rural population and approaches to their solution

The article discusses the current problems of Russia's demographic state and possible ways to solve them. The paper presents retrospective look at the main theories of spatial development of territories. We analyze the general demographic indicators that characterize the urban and rural population in Russia from 2010 to 2022. We assess the change in the ratio of urban and rural population in all federal districts over 13 years. The research considers the following state projects of the state program “Integrated development of rural areas”, approved in 2019 by the Government of the Russian Federation: “The Zemsky Teachers” - support for rural teachers, “The Zemsky Doctor / Zemsky Feldsher” - attracting young medical workers to rural areas, “The Rural Mortgage” - state-supported lending for rural residents. These initiatives are aimed at supporting rural populations to maintain their numbers, improve their standard of living and quality of life, and ensure equal provision of professional personnel in socially important sectors, such as education and health care, for urban and rural residents. The article reflects the statistics on the availability of doctors for urban and rural population by districts and Russia as a whole. The work provides an overview of foreign countries' experience in supporting fertility, families with children and rural population, and also considers pilot regional experience. We make an attempt to assess the effectiveness of the programs adopted by the Government of the Russian Federation. We propose measures that could help to improve the effectiveness of existing programs.