Sustainability of the social sphere of the border macroregion

The article attempts to analyze the sustainability of the social sphere of the border macro-region, which in this article will be understood as five regions (Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk and Tambov regions). Only three of these regions are strictly borderline (Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions), however, the object of research has been expanded to five regions, since all these five regions are objectively interconnected. This connection is manifested not only in the unity of climatic and geographical conditions, but also in socio-economic, logistical, and industrial conditions. The level of self-sufficiency of the region with basic food products (meat, milk, potatoes) was chosen as one of the components of the social sphere considered in this work. The values from the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation were selected as the threshold (target) values for the level of food self-sufficiency. The conducted research allowed us to establish that for all 24 years under review (from 2000 to 2023), all five regions fully provided basic food for domestic needs. Moreover, even the crisis of February 2022 and the large-scale sanctions imposed by unfriendly countries did not lead to a decrease in the level of self-sufficiency in food, and even an increase in this indicator was observed (when calculating 2021 by 2023). The stability of the social sphere of the regions under consideration in terms of providing the population with basic foodstuffs is ensured by the high production capacities of domestic agricultural enterprises located in the regions under consideration. The agricultural sector of the bordering macroregion is based on vertically integrated holdings, whose production base allows them to produce a significant amount of agricultural products, providing food not only to the regions of their presence, but also supplying products for export.