Digitalization Of Economy And Living Standards Of Population In Russian Regions

The study of territorial inequality in the modern economic space corroborates the relevance of the strategic goals of enhancing the living standards of the population amid digitalization of the economy. Despite the regional disparities in the social and economic development of the Russian regions, favorable factors for the responsiveness to digitalization in various economic and social spheres formed. They include the high quality of human capital, a relatively sufficient level of Internet access among population, modern infrastructure in a significant number of the regions, increased organizational costs for the introduction and use of digital technologies, etc. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to assess the indicators of digitalization in the regions, their territorial disparities and model the indicators of living standards as well as the use of information and communication technologies by the population and in organizations. The research features a typology of regions according to the main indicators of digitalization with the identification of the top regions, where capital territorial entities of the Russian Federation and the northern regions with a high household income, an economy dominated either by processing and knowledge-intensive industries, or with a raw-material focus, stand out. It has been noted that over the past fifteen years, interregional differentiation by digitalization indicators has been decreasing, however, problems persist in the eastern remote and underdeveloped regions in the south of the country. The research is of practical value in terms of economic and mathematical modeling of digitalization and internetization process in relation to living standards of the population.