Identification and Typology of Depressed Areas: Regional Policy Implications

ABSTRACT Within the territory of the Russia, there exist numerous depressed areas that lag behind other territories in the same region across several socio‐economic indicators. The aim of this study is to identify and cluster depressed municipalities, determine their typological characteristics, and propose recommendations for supporting such areas. As a data source, we used a municipal statistics database. Many depressed municipalities are geographically clustered. The most disadvantaged regions of the Urals are Kurgan Oblast and the Republic of Bashkortostan. Four clusters of depressed municipalities were identified: homogeneous agricultural economy, rural with manufacturing, satellites of more developed cities, and resource‐extracting areas. Potential remediation measures were developed for each cluster. The study also revealed the absence of a unified support system for depressed areas in Russia, with existing support measures being fragmented and often overlapping. It is proposed to legally establish criteria for the identification of depressed areas.