The social infrastructure in small and medium cities in the Komi Republic

The quality of life is largely ensured through the degree of social infrastructure development, which determines the conditions for citizens’ comfortable life and activities. Poor funding and low socio-economic efficiency of social sectors is now particularly acute in small settlements. In this context, it is very important to study the development of the social infrastructure in small and medium cities, which are home to almost 1/5 of the population. The purpose of the research is to analyze the social infrastructure of small and medium cities on the example of the Komi Republic. The article describes the main demographic indicators showing the population outflow from small and medium cities in the region. The author conducted comparative analysis of the social infrastructure in Syktyvkar and other cities of the Republic, which revealed the existing differences in their development. The article presents indicators characterizing the state of the healthcare system, education, culture, sports and trade, which indicate problems in stable functioning and development of the social infrastructure insmall and medium cities in the region. The information framework of the research includes official statistics, as well as works of domesticand foreign researchers on the subject. Methods of comparative analysis, generalization, synthesis, tabular and graphical methods of data visualization are used in the work. The obtained results can be used in the work of regional and municipal authorities to develop management tools for the development of small and medium cities. They can also be applied to address social problems.