The article represents an analysis of distribution dynamics of the rural population in Russia, the causes for its uneven settlement, including the influence of climatic conditions, urbanization; as well as problems of local self-government in rural areas, including its economic foundations. Agriculture in the developed world produces 1–2% of GDP, but gets an increased attention, as was demonstrated in a number of countries. The new agrarian policy of Russia provides for sustainable development of rural areas. Deployment of the rural population in Russia correlates with the distribution of the entire population in the country – unique in its unevenness. The absolute majority of rural settlements is concentrated in the European part of Russia, the populated centers of the Central Federal District prevail. In the Eastern part of Russia more than half of the settlements belong to the Siberian Federal District. The dynamics of rural distribution is considered, the tendencies formed in the period between the censuses of 1989 and 2002 are shown. In general, the picture of rural distribution in Russia is a dense mosaic, thick in the western part and very sparse in the east. Extensive compact areas of villages are observed around large cities; as they move away from them, their density decreases. The state of country-side is determined by the degree of its depopulation in the twentieth century and the remaining human potential. In the European part of Russia, the largest depopulation is in the Moscow region with a semicircle from the west to the north and northeast and occupies the entire space between the Moscow and Leningrad regions. The Moscow and Leningrad regions themselves and the suburban administrative centers themselves represent a semi-rural – semi-urban world. The specialists in the geography of population distribution call the end of urbanization a polarization turn. It is characterized by a decline in the attractiveness of large cities and an increase in the attractiveness of small ones. This stage is followed by de-urbanization, in which there is an obvious growth of small urban and rural settlements. In Russia, outflow from the village slows down substantially, but at the same time it continues.

structure of the rural population, local self-government, urbanization, climatic conditions

 1. Vserossiyskaya perepisʹ naseleniya 2002 goda [The All-Russia Population Census of 2002]. http://www.perepis2002.ru/index.html?id=13[date of visit: 25.11.2011] (in Russ.).

 2. Demoskop Weekly, 2010, № 43, 4–17 okt. URL: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2010/0437/baromou php [date of visit: 25.11.2011] (in Russ.)

 3. Nefedova T. G. Geograficheskie variatsii selʹskogo khozyaystva [Geographical variations of agriculture]. Moscow, Institut geografii RAN, 2009 (in Russ.).

 4. Nefedova T. G. Treyvish A. I. Goroda i selʹskaya mestnostʹ: sostoyanie i sootnoshenie v prostranstve Rossii [Cities and countryside: the state and the relationship in the space of Russia]. Regionalʹnye issledovaniya, 2010, no 2 (in Russ.).

 5. Vpervye ponyatie publichnoy vlasti bylo sformulirovano postanovleniem konstitutsionnogo Suda Rossii ot 15.01.1988 [For the first time the concept of public authority was formulated by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Russia of 15.01.1988], no 3–17 (in Russ.).

 6. Regiony Rossii. Sotsialʹno-ehkonomicheskie pokazateli [Regions of Russia. Socio-economic indicators]. Moscow, Rosstat, 2010 (in Russ.).

 7. Valentey S. D., Osnovnye problemy munitsipalʹnoy reformy (Rossii) [The main problems of municipal reform (Russia)]. Munitsipalʹnaya reforma v Rossii. Moscow, IEHRAN, 2009 (in Russ.).