The education system development as a factor in the demographic growth of the Far North of Russia

Abstract

The Far North is an important area that, to a great extent, determines the prospects for the socio-economic development of Russia. Nevertheless, no synthetic development program for these regions has been worked out. Existing programs for the development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation pay very little attention to demography and education. Based on Rosstat data and expert assessments, the author considers the dynamics of the age and educational structures of the population of the Far North. Special attention is paid to the group under 30 years old since it is the primary consumer of the education services. The author also addresses the question of how the development of the education system affects the demographic and economic development of the Far North. It has been argued that since 1990 the number and proportion of young people have declined significantly and will continue to decline until 2035. The European part of the Far North has a much worse dynamic compared to the Asian one. The educational structure of the population of the Far North is close to the total in the country. Still, the proportion of people with secondary vocational education is higher but declining. It reflects the economic features of this macroregion. The examples discussed in the article prove the development of education will have a positive effect on demographic and economic indicators.

Keywords

• far north
• level of education
• educational system
• state policy
• youth
• age structure of the popula-tion
• educational structure of the population