Role of the geographic factor of poverty problem among the rural population on the example of Belgorod, Vologda and Tver regions

Author(s):  V.E. Dombrovskaia, candidate of Sciences, associate Professor, Tver State University, 33 Zhelyabova, Tver, Russia, Dombrovskaya.VE@tversu.ru

Issue:  Volume 46, № 3

Rubric:  Regional and municipal economy

Annotation:  The present work is devoted to the problem of poverty with focus on regional analysis. An attempt was made to reconcile the key factors of this phenomenon and its two specified types – the poverty of the “weak” and the poverty of the “strong”. Some demographic and economic indicators referring to the rural population of Russia are considered in detail. Particular attention is paid to the households spending pattern with regard to alimentary products. A comparison is provided in relation to portion of products from private subsidiary farming in the total spending on food in urban and rural settings. A problem of small rural settlements is considered. The situation is examined on the example of three administrative units of the Russian Federation: Belgorod, Vologda and Tver regions. Data analysis has been made in regard to number of rural settlements with less than 100 inhabitants and total number of people inhabiting such settlements. Statistical analysis let prove that proportion difference of such population in the target regions is not considerable, with that the applied criterion of merit shows greater similarity between the Tver and Vologda regions. The Belgorod region stands out of the line. The proposed hypothesis for the difference based on geographical factor, i.e. number of small settlements shall vary depending on the location of a region, was tested by comparison of the total and between-group variance of dataset. A proof has been provided that the geographical factor has an insignificant impact in comparison with other factors. It has been emphasized that the regional unions of consumer societies in the mentioned regions play an important part in supplying with foodstuff and basic goods the remote and sparsely populated rural settlements typified by social isolation as one of the poverty factors.

Keywords:  Poverty, factors of poverty, poverty rates, rural population, small rural settlements, standard of living.

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