Kommersant December 5, 2005 Where does One Live Well in Russia? By Dmitry Kamyshev and Pavel Chernikov
On December 1, there emerged a new federation subject on the map of Russia – the Perm territory. It took shape as a result of the Perm region merging with the Komi-Permyak autonomous area. According to the authorities, it is the desire to improve the life of the ordinary Russians that is one of the main motives behind the regions' enlargement. Vlast has decided to find out in which parts of Russia people live the best.
The life of any individual consists of several stages each of which as a rule becomes the object of the attention of statisticians. Having studied the official reports of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) for 2003 Vlast's experts have tried to determine the regions where an average citizen of Russia can feel most comfortable at various stages of their life.
Childhood
To end up in the annals of history any Russian should first of all be born. As it has turned out, this should better be done in Chechnya, the Khanty-Mansi autonomous area or in St.Petersburg. It is there that the infant mortality rate is the lowest: seven-eight babies per one thousand of those born die before reaching the age of one. However, probably Chechnya's first rank is connected only with the fact that they still don't register all the infant deaths. It is most undesirable to be born in the Far North: three of the five worst regions in the category are located beyond the Polar circle.
If a child has made it to the kindergarten age, one should look for a place in the kindergarten in the North. The thing is that six out of ten regions where kids are best provided with infant schools are situated in the Northern part of Russia, the Chukotka autonomous area (headed by the famous London businessman, Roman Abramovich,) being in the lead in this category. This leadership can be logically explained though – as a rule the deer farmers of Chukotka send their children to boarding schools (i.e. kindergartens and schools) as soon as they cease being infants. The worst situation in terms of kindergartens is registered in the South, which is favorable in terms of its climate: the last three ranks are held by Caucasian republics – Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
Full text and mucho mucho statistical data here: http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=632367
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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