Ramil M. Sadykov

The spread of poverty, the decline in the standard of living and the well-being of the population is the main problem of sustainable socio-economic development of Russian regions. Trends towards decreasing real incomes, average size of pensions and social benefits to families with children still persist in Russia. The risk group includes low-income families with children, families with disabled children, poor people, and pensioners. The current situation in the country brings with it risks of social instability at the regional and municipal levels. The sustainable development of territories should provide the achievement of social development goals, ensuring the growth of the well-being of the population.

Solving the problems of social development in Russian regions requires a serious analysis of the social sphere condition, established trends and measures of social policy, and an assessment of social infrastructure facilities functioning. The consideration of the following main Russian trends and factors of socio-economic development is very important for working out long-term strategies of regional systems social development. Social development of territories will be provided on the basis of a targeted impact on the conditions and factors determining the socialization of economic development, through the redistribution of resources and the development of the social sphere. Stable development is associated with the satisfaction of the population socio-economic needs, when technological development is accompanied by social well-being and increasing welfare of the population.

The dramatically changed world social environment, the processes of escalation of social relations dictate the need for their understanding, analysis and synthesis. It is important to develop a scientifically based concept of social development, to produce social technologies that are available for understanding and implementation of ways to organize and provide social protection for the population. According to international experience, the government’s social policy in many countries is based on a systematic analysis of social protection of the population, which ultimately determines the trajectory of social development. It is also necessary to take into account the main global trends and trajectories of social development of territories.

Combating poverty and inequality is a major challenge for sustainable development worldwide. Young low-paid workers found themselves in extreme poverty and worse living conditions. The intensification of social policy programs has led to reduction of poverty and better life of the world's population. In Russia, the spread of poverty is the main problem of sustainable socio-economic development. In recent years, the living standards and welfare of the population have significantly decreased in Russia, and the problems of poverty have spread. The trends of falling real money incomes of Russians remain, which has led to a change in the structure of household expenditures. The proportion of the population's expenditure on food has increased, poor citizens prefer to save money, rather than look for additional earnings. The processes that restrain the reduction of the poor share among the working population remain, the growth of pensions and the improvement of the lives of modern pensioners have slowed down. Among the risk group are low-income families with children, poor people, pensioners and certain categories of working population. The current system of social protection of the population in conditions of economic instability proved incapable to cope fully with the impoverishment of the general population and still does not provide adequate protection for the poor. The current situation in the country bears risks of social instability on regional and national scale.

At the present stage, the social development of Russia, its regions and municipalities is largely determined by the effectiveness of the population social protection system. The emergence of new vulnerable groups, increasing number of poorly protected and poor families, inadequate protection of young families, spread of the poor, aging of the population and other problems create high demands on the population social protection system and social policy of the state. Underfunding of social programs and the lack of municipal measures reduce the effectiveness of social assistance. According to the results of sociological surveys, the majority of the surveyed residents are concerned about the current socio-economic situation in the country, which has led to decreasing living standard of the population, material well-being, and to increasing number of people who need social assistance and protection. Among specific directions for improving the life of the population, it is proposed to intensify social support measures.