Социальное самочувствие населения семиаридных территорий юго-востока России

Introduction. Social wellbeing is the most important integral indicator to determine essentials, causes, and driving motives of human social behavior. Any discrepancy between the set indicators and actual achievements fosters a desire to change social conditions of life. If one of the contributing factors is residence in an unfavorable area, it may yield an increase in migration sentiments. In scientific discourse, semiarid territories are considered as ones with a poor resource base and, consequently, require special management approaches. Meanwhile, actual management policies rest on the principles of unitarianism and uniformity. This adds to deteriorated social wellbeing and a reduction in the region’s resource potential due to outflow of the most active part of the population towards more prosperous regions. Goals. The study aims to establish a relationship between the semiarid climate of Russia’s southeastern territories and the social wellbeing of population in those regions. Results. The conducted survey (the latter’s data be presented in the empirical part of the study) confirms that there is a clear relationship between the semiarid type of a region and social wellbeing across all indicators and variables included therein. This relationship manifests itself in a decline in social wellbeing due to lack of resources. It is particularly noteworthy that the decline in social wellbeing proves a statistically significant factor driving the growth of migration‑related sentiments.