Quality of economic growth through the prism of providing basic goods to the population (on the materials of the NWFD regions)

One of the most important national development goals of Russia and its regions is public saving. Although the demographic situation in Russia’s North-West has been improving over the previous 15years, the problem remains relevant: despite the trend of poverty reduction, its level in the regions is quite high, with the highest quality of life in the centers of population concentration, which leads to the outflow of population from the periphery and to the strengthening of interregional differentiation. This determines the aim of the research - to analyze the quality of economic growth in the regions of Russia’s North-West through the prism of providing the population with basic goods and benefits. We reveal that the poverty rate in the Northwestern Federal District regions is decreasing, the consumption of quality food products is increasing, and the number of doctors has increased. The calculations show an increase in the indicators of access to preschool education and housing. We note the following negative trends: consumption of products that reduce the usefulness of the diet (bread, pasta, sugar), deteriorating opportunities to purchase non-food end-use goods, access to higher education and outpatient health care, the number of deaths is increasing. Interregional differentiation is noticeable due to disproportions in the distribution of income. We propose the directions for eliminating the identified problems. The information base of the study consists of Rosstat and EMISS data, as well as regulatory documents of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The scientific novelty is determined by identifying key trends in the quality of economic growth in the regions of the Northwestern Federal District and the testing of our methodological approach in the Russian regions. The results of the paper can be useful for federal and regional executive authorities in the development of economic policy measures, as well as for a wide range of researchers in the field of regional and sectoral economics.