Analysis of the relationship between digital inequality and the level of regional development

Relevance . In modern conditions, the problem of digitalization of the Russian economy has been relevant for many years. Both the government and the private sector pay increased attention to the development of digitalization. The purpose of the study is to quantify the relationship between the level of digital inequality and the socioeconomic development of Russian regions. Objectives : to select three different indicators of digitalization of regions; to identify the first five and last five regions, sorted by the level of GRP per capita, relative to digitalization indicators; to calculate the correlation coefficients between GRP by year and digitalization indicators by year; to check the relationship between GRP and digitalization indicators for the four studied years, to measure the correlation coefficients for four present the correlation coefficients between GRP per capita in Russia and the three indicators of digitalization for 2020-2023.; to identify the relationship between GRP and digitalization indicators; to present a linear and log-linear model of the relationship between GRP and digitalization indicators. Methodology . The research used such general scientific methods as analysis and synthesis, classification, grouping, as well as economic and statistical methods, correlation and regression analysis. Results . The analysis of the relationship of digital inequality on the socio-economic development of Russian regions for 2020-2023 is carried out. It was found that there is a weak correlation between GRP per capita and the indicator "the proportion of households with broadband Internet access in the total number of households". There is practically no connection for other selected indicators. The level of digital development (inequality) is far from the most important factor in the development of Russian regions. It is noted that there is a problem of measuring the impact due to the bidirectional relationship between economic development and digitalization. Conclusions . A quantitative analysis of the relationship between the economic development of Russian regions and digital inequality has been carried out. There is a connection, but it is weak. It is necessary to develop one common aggregated indicator, which will take into account the diversity of digital inequality between regions.