Comprehensive assessment of the living standard in the regions of Russia using the dominant component method

A comprehensive assessment of the living standard was conducted based on nine indicators of income and their subjective perception, inequality, expenditure structure, social and economic status, presented by their values in 82 regions that are Russian Federation subjects. For their aggregation, the principal component method was used, which led to the extraction of two generalized factors that retain 61 % of the total variance of the original indicators and are interpreted as objective and subjective characteristics of the living standard. It was found out that the growth of the economy and income in the regions of the Russian Federation is accompanied by an increase in economic inequality; a decrease in the food share in household expenditures and in-kind receipts in food consumption reflects the situation of an increase in the living standard; the subjective perception of the living standard is non-linearly related to its objective indicators. Based on the distribution analysis of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the space of two principal components, groups of regions-leaders and outsiders in objective and subjective indicators of the living standard were identified. It is shown that geographic location is not a significant factor in the living standard.