CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DEMOGRAPHIC STORIES IN THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE HEADS OF REGIONS AND DISTRICTS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL RUSSIA OF THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY

А study of every years reports of regional and local authorities concerning the implementation of demographic policy in certain regions and districts of Russia using the method of content analysis was carried out in this paper for the first time. The relevance of the article’stopic is connected with the fact that acute demographic problems of rural areas of Russia require constant scientific analysis to prepare practical recommendations on the implementation of demographic policy. The geographical borders of the study included the Central black-earth region, adjacent areas, as well as some districts of the Tambov region. The choice of the study area conditioned the territories typical for European Russia, characterized by a high proportion of the rural population. The chronological framework of the study are2005-2018yy.The Results of content analysis indicate the uneven and sporadic nature of the implementation by local authorities of certain provisions of Federal and regional socio-demographic programs. The article found that the authors of the studied regional and district reports did not make specific references to the majority of semantic units of content analysis. The study of specific units of the account showed that the heads of regions and subregions most mention positive from their point of view demographic indicators (increase in fertility, decrease in mortality, decrease in the rate of natural loss of population, etc.). The analysis carried out by the authors of the article revealed that the developers of regional and district annual reports rarely try to explain the causes of demographic problems. Examples of successful activities, especially those required by Federal programs, clearly predominate among the references in the texts of the analyzed reports. Speakers rarely recall their own regional target programs and concepts, as established in the article.

Demography, regional and sub-regional authorities, demographic policy, reports of local authorities, content analysis