| Abstrakt: |
The governments of all countries are pressing towards improving of the welfare of their citizens. The high level of welfare demonstrates the right direction and good ongoing socio-economic policy. For many decades, welfare has been evaluated mainly in terms of economic factors, with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the main metric for gauging the quality of people's lives. Researchers are seeking to assess more precisely the welfare of the population, avoiding usual economic indicators. The interest in alternatives or complements to GDP has been growing for several decades. Emblematic of this new trend was the creation of the United Nations "Human Development Index" that combines GDP with measures of health and educational achievement. This very simple index only synthesizes a limited amount of information. The paper presents a new approach to the measurement of welfare of the individual and areas of residence based on eight modules (moral, vital, social, individual well-being, resource, economic-political, infrastructural and welfare of territory). The method rests on the indicative analysis. The testing was carried out on the subjects of the Ural Federal District because this district is a model of Russia, including three types of subjects: raw materials, industrial, and agrarian regions. The paper shows the level and dynamics of welfare in these subjects. To simplify the analysis and diagnostic effectiveness, the calculations were conducted using the computer program "Welfare of the Individual and Areas of Residence." The diagnostic results showed a positive trend in the level of welfare of the individual and areas of residence. But, first, this level cannot be called acceptable, and secondly, the deterioration of the macroeconomic situation seriously violates a positive trend that indicates instability and the reversibility of the socio-economic regional system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
