Socio-economic diversity of single-industry towns in Siberia and the Far East: statistical analysis

Despite the existence of many definitions of the concept “sustainable development”, there is no fundamental disagreement in its interpretation: development can be sustainable only when economic growth is not accompanied by increased social problems and environmental degradation. In Russia there are more than 300 settlements, which are recognized as single-industry towns on the basis of their dependence on socio-economic development of one large enterprise. The problems of sustainable development of Russian single-industry towns are of particular significance for the territories located beyond the Urals, due to high concentration of settlements serving large industrial enterprises, and their strategic importance for implementation of the country's spatialdevelopment goals. The article provides a general analysis of the current socio-economic situation of single-industry towns in Siberia and the Far East, analyzes key indicators of their development, which are defined by the Government Decree No. 170-p as of February 2, 2017. The conducted statistical analysis of these indicators demonstrates the impossibility of qualitative analysis of single-industry towns by 3 categories identified at the legislative level, depending on risks of socio-economic situation deterioration. The paper shows that the officially approved typification of Russian single-industry towns does not describe the diversity of their socio-economic situation; so, a comprehensive analysis of settlement sustainability requires creation and justification of the classification that takes into account significant differences in the scale of cities, their sectoral specialization, infrastructure security and other features of the economic, ecological and social spheres. It emphasizes that such an analysis is critical for formation of an adequate regional and municipal policy and choice of the correct development trajectory for each single-industry town.