Natalia L. Bolshakova

One of the global problems at present is suicide as a manifestation of deviant behavior in society. According to the World Health Organization, suicidal events among people aged 15–29 have doubled over the past 15 years, and they occupy leading positions in developed countries. Suicide takes the 4th place among adolescent mortality in the world after injuries, infectious and oncological diseases. Russia takes one of the leading positions on completed suicides among young people. There is an urgent need for the prevention of suicidal behavior among young people in our country. The optimal system of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention in practice unites the systems of education, health care, social protection, internal affairs, religious institutions, the efforts of non-governmental organizations, and also ensures a good connection between them. The main directions of prevention should be the early diagnosis of suicidal risk groups, the prevention of alcoholism and drug addiction among the population, the establishment of a full complement of suicide prevention services in each region of the country.

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.

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.