ИСТИНА

For assessment of climate conditions impact on the socioeconomic situation in Russia by regions—federal subjects, a multifactor typology of regions combining climate conditions,on the one hand, and demographic, social, and economic indicators, on the other hand, was carried out. Types were formed based on conjugate spatial distribution of regions by three climatic zones (favorable for living, neutral, unfavorable) according to the zoning of the Russia’s territory with consideration for the 1991–2010 climate changes and three categories of the demographic, social, and economic situations (wealthy, average, poor), identified according to nine statistical indicators for 1990-2013. It is found out that migration and health indicators are the most climate-dependent; natural increase and population dynamics are less dependent. Other indicators should, rather, be attributed to climate-neutral; among them, economic indicators are the least sensitive to climate conditions. In a number of regions, absence of a sufficiently close relation between the majority of socioeconomic indicators and climate conditions, as well as the observed inversion (i.e., the high migration inflow of population to the autonomous okrugs of Tyumen oblast or positive natural increase in some northern republics), are due to economic and ethnic factors stronger than climate one. The impact of climate conditions on settlement patterns is analyzed on a larger geographical scale. Case studies of settlements of similar economic specialization in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Republic of North Ossetia – Alania proved that favorable climate conditions often lose to poor economic ones also within local areas, and settlement patterns undergo negative transformations both in the north and in the south. However, the role of the climate factor increases if it affects in the same direction as the economic one: this, in particular, caused a catastrophic migration outflow from the northeast Russia. Thus, the research showed that the degree of climate impact on the population life activity depends on the relation between the directions of the climatic and other factors impact.