Methodological Aspects of Studying the Socio-Demographic Situation at the Municipal Level (The Example of the Irkutsk Re-gion and the Republic of Buryatia)

The article is devoted to the study of the socio-demographic situation in the regions of the Baikal region at the municipal level. The purpose of the study is to evaluate possible methodological approaches for studying the socio–demographic situation in the regions of Russia, to analyze the socio-demographic situation in the regions under consideration. The paper reviewed the experience of studying the socio-demographic situation at the regional and municipal levels, analyzed approaches to the term and presented the author’s definition. The most important task of the study was to assess the feasibility of using such an integrated approach in the study of regions. The work used data from the Federal State Statistics Service at the municipal level. To calculate the index of the socio-demographic situation, indicators of the population and the level of development of the social sphere were selected. The calculation of the complex indicator of the socio-demographic situation was carried out for each municipality in the period from 2013 to 2022. A comparative analysis of the territories allowed us to identify several groups according to this indicator. The use of the cartographic method to display the results of the study made it possible to assess the dependence of the socio-demographic situation on the geographical location – climatic conditions, the degree of development of transport infrastructure. The methodology adopted in the work gives a certain idea of the socio-demographic situation, but it also has several disadvantages. In general, it seems promising to refine such an indicator, since there is a direct dependence of demographic development on the level of development of the social sphere. Of particular interest in this regard will be the development of a multifactorial index. Thus, the economic and geographical location of the territories also has an impact on social development. In addition, the use of statistical data alone does not allow for a full assessment of the situation on the ground. In this case, it is possible to use the data of sociological research.