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Regions of Central Russia in the Context of Demographic and Economic Shrinkage and Polarization

  • OLD-DEVELOPED AREAS IN THE SPACE OF RUSSIA
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Abstract—

This article discusses the changes typical in the 20th and 21st centuries for cities and rural areas in the regions surrounding Moscow oblast. Despite the fact that Central Russia makes the impression of a relatively densely populated area in comparison with the northern and eastern regions, the contrasts of socioeconomic development here are among the strongest in the country. The processes of concentration of the economy and population are accompanied here by the peripherization and desertification of the old-developed areas. Moscow, on the one hand, makes investment in the surrounding regions, and on the other hand, pumps labor resources, especially young people, from cities and rural areas. This area is characterized by strong differences in population dynamics, employment, wages, and the state of cities and rural economy between districts to the north and south of Moscow oblast, between the suburbs of regional centers and the periphery of the regions, as well as between municipalities adjacent to Moscow oblast and remote from it. Different economic conditions of cities as well as the degree of concentration of agricultural production are shown, taking the latest trends into account. Changes in the forest complex in the Central Russia are considered separately.

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Notes

  1. Opolye is an area with better drainage conditions, soil quality, and less mosaic contours of agricultural land plots in the Non-Chernozem zone. Suzdal’skoe opolye locates in Vladimir and Ivanovo oblasts.

  2. See the article by K.V. Averkieva and T.G. Nefedova Polarization of the Russia’s Socioeconomic Space to the Northeast of the Capital Core in this special issue.

  3. The indicator values were converted into dimensionless values, summed up and distributed into five groups. See the methodology in (Nefedova and Treivish, 2010).

  4. See the article by T.G. Nefedova Contrasts of the Socioeconomic Space in the Center of Russia and Their Evolution: Two Cross-Sections in this special issue.

  5. Regions of Russia. Moscow: Rosstat, 2019.

  6. See the article by T.G. Nefedova From City of Kostroma to the Regional Outskirts in this special issue.

  7. Type of long-term temporary mobility population mobility widespread in Russia.

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Funding

The work was carried out at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of the project of the Russian Science Foundation no. 19-17-00174 and within the framework of the state task of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences AAAA-A19 -119022190170-1 (FMGE-2019-0008).

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  1. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    T. G. Nefedova

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Nefedova, T.G. Regions of Central Russia in the Context of Demographic and Economic Shrinkage and Polarization. Reg. Res. Russ. 12 (Suppl 1), S51–S64 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970522700332

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