Rural Residents of the South of Russia About the Present and Future of the Village (Analysis of the 2018 Questionnaire Survey)

The modern Russian village has been going through difficult times for more than three decades. This was manifested in the elimination of a huge number of agricultural enterprises, the growth of socio-economic problems, and the irrevocable migration of the rural population. The social and property differentiation of farms and the villagers themselves indicates different economic models of behavior, different adaptive capabilities of the population, and the presence / absence of rural resources. Some rural areas are leaders, profitable; others, on the contrary – are outsiders, weak. The author analyzed the regions of the Republic of Kalmykia, Astrakhan oblast, Volgograd oblast, Stavropol Krai – has traditionally been a barn, providers, suppliers of primary agricultural products – meat, grain, milk, oil, grease, wool, vegetables, and fruits. At present, when all financial flows are concentrated in the capital and several major cities, these southern Russian regions, while continuing to supply all the same products, are in an unequal position with the leaders of the country's economic development. On their territories, of course, there are profitable agricultural enterprises, but most rural settlements do not belong to such, on the contrary, they are depressed and gradually disappear. The article deals with the problems of the rural population of the agrarian regions of the South of Russia. The prolonged crisis and the simultaneous decline in agricultural production led to the degradation of rural areas and a decline in the standard of living of the rural population. The main problems remain the lack of employment, low incomes, and the active outflow of the rural population.