Life quality in the estimates of region’s population

Quality of life is one of the key categories in the assessment of living conditions of the population of any country. The quality factor plays an important role in assessing the competitiveness of countries in the contemporary world. In its estimation quantitative statistical indicators are generally used. The problem of their application is that they do not always adequately reflect the situation in the regional community as a whole and in certain groups due to their average values. The scientists interested in this issue pay attention to need to supplement objective data by subjective. It is the subjective assessment that gives an opportunity to get an idea about the population’s perception of life quality. The purpose of this article is to analyze people’s estimates of life quality in the region, as well as obtain socially significant information about the differences in life quality of different population groups on the materials of the Vologda Oblast. The applied method to calculate the integral index of life quality allows us to find out significant differences depending on place of residence of respondents, their status characteristics. The study shows that during the crisis the decline in life quality is observed primarily among the economically active population; besides, some groups do not only maintain the achieved level, but even improve it. The partial indices included in the structure of the integral index give an adequate picture of important aspects of the regional society’s life, the situation of social groups, and existing contradictions. It turns out that when calculating the integral index, it is possible to identify a compensatory mechanism, helping compensate the drop of some indicators by increasing the others and retain the overall assessment of life quality at an acceptable level. The empirical base of the article is the following: materials of the public opinion monitoring conducted by the Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of RAS, many-year research on the project “Socio-cultural portrait of the Vologda Oblast”. The method used for assessment of life quality on the basis of subjective indicators provides an opportunity to gain insight into the situation not only in the region as a whole, but also by some very important positions.