Dokholyan S.V. Quality of life as a basis for assessing socio-economic development: methodological aspect. Regional problems of economic transformation. 2025. No. 8 (178). P. 227-233.

Abstract

The relevance of the study is due to the need to move from traditional economic indicators, such as GRP, to more comprehensive methods of assessing socio-economic development that focus on human potential and well-being. In modern conditions, the concept of quality of life of the population is becoming a key indicator reflecting the effectiveness of public policy and allowing to identify systemic imbalances in the development of regions, which makes the development of adequate methodological tools a particularly significant task. The purpose of this work is to systematize and critically analyze the theoretical and methodological foundations for assessing the level of socio-economic development based on a system of indicators of the quality of life of the population. The research methodology is based on a systems approach and includes the analysis and generalization of modern scientific publications of Russian authors, a comparative analysis of existing integrated assessment methods, as well as the use of multivariate statistical analysis methods, such as clustering, to group regions by similar socio-economic characteristics. The results of the work consist in the classification of key indicators of quality of life, the identification of advantages and disadvantages of using integral indices, and the proposal of new areas for research, in particular, the analysis of the impact of digitalization and the effectiveness of budget expenditures on the social sphere. The study demonstrated the need to combine objective statistical data with subjective assessments to obtain a complete picture. Conclusions. It is concluded that the most effective approach to assessing socio-economic development involves the balanced use of integral indices for express diagnostics and interregional comparisons with in-depth analysis of individual blocks of indicators. This approach allows not only to state the general level of development, but also to identify specific problem areas for making targeted management decisions.