Criteria for assigning regions to depressive territories

The article describes the criteria for classifying regions as depressive territories. Spatial development of regions implies improving the quality of life and increase economic growth, which is difficult to achieve due to the geographic, demographic and economic characteristics of regions, so there are leading regions and the opposite - depressed regions. The difference between depressed regions is that they do not have the ability to independently get out of a crisis situation, so support measures are being created for them by the government of the Russian Federation. In order for this support to be effective, it is necessary to carefully identify the existing problems of the region’s development using the developed methods. In the developed methods, it is necessary to clearly define the criteria for assigning regions to a particular type using socio-economic indicators. To improve the calculation methods, it is necessary to increase the number of criteria used for a more thorough analysis of the economic and social situation of the region, using a spatial approach that allows a comprehensive assessment of the crisis situation that has developed in the region. This is necessary in order to create regional and Federal programs for the development of depressed regions to become more effective and less costly.