Rural social services in Russia: dynamics, problems and solutions

The article considers the changes of rural social infrastructure in Russian Federation during the recent ten years, including analysis of regulatory legal acts on rural development, as well as statistical data for 2010, 2015 and 2022. There is no federal law regulating the socio-economic development of the Russian rural areas. As a consequence, it remains an underestimated sphere as compared to the attention paid to agricultural production. Targeted approach to managing rural development, used in the national projects and state programs, has rather low efficiency due to limited range of measures. Most of funding is invested in rural housing and infrastructure, while there is declared, but actually not implemented a comprehensive approach to rural development. Analysis of the statistical data on rural social services (education, healthcare, sports, culture, domestic services and retail) shows their stagnation or reduction, mostly due to outflow of rural population and contraction of rural economy. This primarily affects the spheres of healthcare, culture, retail and domestic services. The situation is slightly better in education, where state standards are implemented, and in sport infrastructure provision. To radically improve the rural social services, the government should implement a comprehensive policy for rural development: appropriate legal basis, responsible and effective public administration, setting standards for providing rural social services, support of different rural economy sectors. Also, in the implementation of the state policy on development of human capital, it is necessary to pay more attention to rural social sphere.