Measuring Social Well-Being in The Regions of the Russian Federation

Abstract. The authors of the article oppose the expert mainstream, which is based on methodological individualism and reduces social well-being to the standard of living, education, and freedom of individuals. Mainstream measurements do not consider historically established communities as subjects of development, and therefore do not notice the obvious paradox: maximizing what is commonly considered to be well-being exacerbates the anthropological crisis by destroying the basic forms of sociality – religion, family, and nation – and depopulating the most “well-being” communities. The authors propose a change in the methodological paradigm and formulate a substantive understanding of social well-being as the social production of life and such institutional organization, that makes it possible to reduce human suffering. The Community Social Well-Being Index is calculated as the arithmetic mean of seven private indices of the following indicators: fertility, family size, infant mortality, longevity, mortality from external causes, poverty level, and children’s access to secondary education. The article traces the dynamics of social well-being in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation since 2014 and analyzes current trends and the geography of social well-being. The study showed that the dynamics of social well-being in Russia are contradictory. Increased life expectancy, a significant decrease in infant mortality, and a decrease in intentional homicides and overall mortality from external causes provide grounds for optimism. However, the stagnant poverty of a significant portion of our fellow citizens, coupled with an exemplary liberal income gap between the rich and the poor, undermines civic solidarity and confidence in the future. The main threats to social well-being in Russia are the destruction of the family institution and a critical decline in the birth rate. There is a radical discrepancy between social realities and public discourse about adherence to traditional values: in fact, these values are shared by a minority that is steadily declining.

Keywords: social well-being, sustainable development, human development, demographics, family institute, regions of Russia

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For citation:

Afanas'ev M., Afanas’eva O., Krasnoslobodtsev A. Measuring Social Well-Being in The Regions of the Russian Federation. World Eсonomy and International Relations, 2026, vol. 70, no. 8, pp. 92–105. https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2026-70-8-92-105 EDN: VMGANN

Contents World Eсonomy and International Relations. 2026, vol. 70, no. 8

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