Comparison of certain aspects of the socio-economic situation of the regions of the Far North and equivalent areas with the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation

The objective of the study is to identify and assess the significance of differences in certain aspects of the socio-economic situation in the KSiPM districts from other regions of Russia based on a comparative analysis using appropriate statistical methods. Official publications of Rosstat were used as sources of statistical information. The volume of the studied population was 85 units, of which 24 units were classified as regions of the Far North and equivalent localities; 61 units were classified as other territories of the country. The data for the latest available period, 2022, were studied. The comparison of the indicators of the socio-economic situation in the KSiPM districts with the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation, on the one hand, led to significant results, and on the other hand, revealed a number of methodological problems in the implementation of the comparative analysis itself. It became obvious that the success of such an undertaking critically depends on the quality of the formed system of statistical indicators, the choice of indicators for which is very, very limited by the nomenclature of published data. In addition, due to the strict limit of indicators common to both populations, it becomes necessary to obtain them by calculation, which may violate the methodological logic initially embedded in them. Finally, the high degree of heterogeneity of living conditions of the population (for example, natural and climatic) within the compared territorial populations (for example, both the Arctic and the south of Eastern Siberia are considered northern regions) sometimes does not allow any statistical assessments to be carried out directly and correctly. The results obtained clearly confirm the existence of differences in the socio-economic status of the compared territories.However, the level of these differences is very small compared to intra-group fluctuations. This fact is undoubtedly of scientific interest and provides grounds for further research.