The comparative cost of living as a key factor in the development of the Russian Far East

• Латкин Александр Павлович

  Doctor of Economics, the Head of the Graduate Study and Research Training Institute; e-mail: Aleksandr.LatkinP@vvsu.ru.
  Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service
  Vladivostok. Russia

The problem of preservation and development of the demographic potential of the Russian Far East, where for the last 25 years the population has been reduced by 26% and continues to decline, is being investigated. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the main reasons for the outflow of highly skilled cadres and youth from the Far East to the central and southern regions of Russia, as well as abroad.

Based on the processing of statistical information, the results of the author’s sociological survey and the reporting documentation of a large Vladivostok trading and purchasing company, the conclusion was made that the programs and strategies of the social and economic development of the Far East and the Baikal region, adopted in recent years by the Russian government, have not been effective.

The need to create conditions in the Far East for substantially improving people’s quality of life, including the comparative cost of nutrition, social and communal services, health and education, while ensuring a high level of public services provided, was proved. A comparative assessment of retail prices for basic food products in Primorsky Region, Ulyanovsk and Moscow regions, as well as the dynamics of wholesale prices for “national fish”, coming from the fishing areas in Vladivostok.

The ways of changing the state policy of development of bioresources of the Far Eastern basin are proposed with an emphasis on organizing their deep processing on the Russian coast while increasing labor productivity in the current fishing industry.

Keywords: The Far East, demographic potential, state regulation, cost and quality of life, food prices.