Formation of Regional Standards for the Provision of Services in Rural Settlements

Russia is an agrarian country, the significant part of territory is rural areas with a population living on them. It is well known that in many important respects they are highly differentiated from cities: lower incomes, availability of services and opportunities for self-realization. Currently, the formation of a high-quality and comfortable working and living environment in rural areas is nationally important. The relevance of this study is explained by the need to form an evaluation system of compliance the level of socio-economic development of rural areas to modern standards of living. The article presents the author's approaches to solving the indicated problem. Improving the availability and quality of socially important services is a necessary condition for increasing the level of rural life. To solve this problem, it is proposed: 1) create a list of indicators to assess the quality of services received by the rural population; 2) assess the security and availability of services received in the village, including taking into account the territorial and financial possibilities of their consumption; 3) normalize the obtained system of indicators relative to the selected standard; 4) propose measures to improve the availability and accessibility of services in rural areas, as well as the mechanism of their implementation. To assess the average complex of needs for services, a system of indicators used by state and municipal authorities is allocated. The data of calculation of indicators characterizing the provision of services in homogeneous and heterogeneous rural municipal areas of the Voronezh region are presented. Keywords—rural settlements, quality of life, service standards.