Risk assessment of the social sphere development on the example of areas of the Carpathian-Podillia region (Ukraine)

The article is devoted to the problem of the functioning of the social sphere in the areas of the Carpathian-Podillia region. Emphasis is placed particularly on the differences between the levels of its individual components, the dynamics of their changes and the complex analysis of functionality. Territorial boundaries of the research are confined to Zakarpattia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi and Ternopil regions, among which economic, labor-resource and informational-communicative connections are established, which also should be considered as a strength of such cooperation. Several basic components of the social sphere (education, culture, medicine, housing and communal services, trade and mass catering, communication) were selected for studying the differences between the elements of the social sphere in the areas of the Carpathian-Podillia region; for each several criteria were chosen (in general over 20). Residents of the study regions were also surveyed on their satisfaction with the functioning of the social sphere elements. To assess the risks of the functioning of the social sphere, the following criteria have been adopted: the identification of problematic regional areas, the identification of problematic areas of functioning within a certain component of the social sphere and the creation of appropriate grouping. Use was made of the information from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.