SPATIAL ASPECTS OF POPULATION DYNAMICS IN RUSSIAN LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE TERRITORIAL UNITS (1989–2010)

The paper analyses the patterns of demographic dynamics of settlements and districts of various types in Russia within the framework of the core-periphery model. We test the hypotheses stating that population density is growing in regional centres and in their surroundings; variations in the dynamics of population growth (and its components) within regions are not less prominent than those between regions; differences between peripheral territories are less significant than those between regional centres, and these are the differences which define socio-economic inequality of the regions. The paper also looks into the dynamics of population growth in cities, district centres and rural settlements in relation to the proximity of an administrative unit to a regional centre.