Leveling Regional Differences in the Living Standard of the Population in the Russian Federation: Estimates and Factors

From 2021 to 2024, Russia has been witnessing a growth in citizens’ living standard, which can be traced by the dynamics of poverty, real income and real disposable income indicators. The aim of the study is to identify trends in leveling regional differences in the indicators of standard of living in constituent entities of the Russian Federation for the period of 2005–2023. The estimations of inequality in standard of living of the population of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and its changes over time are based on the analysis of dynamics of the certain indicators. They are as follows: the share of the population with monetary incomes below the subsistence level, the ratio of average per capita monetary incomes of the population to the subsistence level and to the cost of a fixed set of goods and services. The author uses variation analysis and the index method to identify the nature of the regional asymmetry in the indicators’ values; a new indicator has been developed – the total regional index of monetary incomes of the population. Regional differences in the ratio of average per capita monetary incomes to the subsistence level have tended to decrease since 2021, while the ratio of average per capita monetary incomes to the cost of a fixed set of goods and services has tended to increase. The distribution of constituent entities of the Russian Federation by total regional income index value groups shows a steady increase in the share of regions with high and medium index values, and a decrease in the share of regions belonging to low-income groups. The author considers socio-economic and socio-governance factors as the major ones that determine the direction of regional differentiation; she also focuses on changing the methodology for calculating the subsistence level starting from 2021.