The far north of Russia as a multidimensional space: results of cluster analysis of statistical indicators characterizing the northern territories’ population

The article is devoted to the typologization of the Far North territories of the Russian Federation on the basis of the statistical data on the population’s socio-demographic structure and the processesassociated with its movement. The model constructed by the author is basic in the aspect that its content is a “skeleton” which can be the basis for further work on the Northern territories’ analysis. The main method used in the work is cluster analysis. Municipalities (urban districts, municipal districts) referred to the Far North territories were selected as objects of observation in the framework of the cluster analysis, which made up the specificity of the approach used in the study. At the same time the cluster analysis allowed to avoid subjectivity when allocating significant criteria for the classification of areas and formed the basis for a typology based on combination of many parameters when assessing the Northern territories. We found four clusters that confirmed the hypothesis that the Far North is not a single social space differentiated by the manifestation of only one or more indicators (or a combination of these indicators). For each group of the Far North regions identified in the research a special configuration of factors is characteristic. The first group of Northern territories is characterized by natural population decline. The second group stands out from the rest of the high concentration of residents in individual settlements. The third group is characterized by the predominance of the rural population, the absence of the Russian ethnic group dominant, positive values of external migration. The fourth group of territories is characterized by a small population and a significant proportion of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North in its composition. The identified groups of territories received the following conventional names: “the emptying North” (the first group characterized by low rates of natural population growth), “Northern megacities” (the second group characterized by large settlements), “Northern villages” (the third group including a high percentage of rural population), “Northern microcivilizations” (the fourth group where the share of indigenous peoples of the North is high).