Methods to evaluate uneven socio-economic development of a region

At the present stage of economic development significant inter-territorial differences remain one of the most acute problems both for regions and for the country as a whole. Overcoming the pronounced heterogeneity of the socio-economic space will open new opportunities for eliminating the technological gap, ensuring sustainable development, and improving the population’s quality of life. The article analyzes the methodological approaches to assessing inter-territorial differences. This revealed their advantages and disadvantages. The key idea of the article, developing the methodological framework for such assessment, is that uneven socio-economic development is considered as a process occurring at three stages of change: differentiation, asymmetry, and polarization. The proposed method helps assess the level of uneven region’s development, as well as determine the stage of unevenness corresponding to the current state of a municipality, establish the “contribution” of each district to the process under study, and identify factors causing inter-municipal differences. The method was tested on the example of the Vologda Oblast. It was revealed that the problem of uneven socio-economic development in the region is quite acute and requires the search for ways to solve it. The obtained results can be used by regional authorities and local self-government bodies for developing regulation methods and tools, taking into account the socio-economic characteristics of the influence objects, as well as developing strategic documents to outline the spatial development of the region in the future. The research materials presented in the article may be interesting for scientific discussion or use in scientific and educational activities.