The Role of the Geographical Factor in the Formation and Development of Human Potential

ABSTRACT This article summarizes the results of a study that developed and analyzed the typology of Russian regions based on criteria intended to evaluate the quality of human potential. Prior to this work, ten clusters of this typology were studied, and exceptions to falling into clusters with neighboring regions (which was typical for most regions) were considered separately. Although among the qualitative characteristics of human potential not a single one reflected the territorial location of the regions, in the typology they were distributed precisely on a geographical basis. Unobservable factors, whose effects on human potential were mediated by study-driven indicators, played a decisive role in the clustering of regions. This result led us to consider the research of L.N. Gumilyov, which focuses on how the geography of territories, landscapes, and climates form human potential. In many ways, geographical conditions determine the economic activities that form the corresponding skills and abilities of a given population. With the exception of four small clusters, the typology of regions, based on the characteristics of human potential, corresponds to the composition of the federal districts. Three of the four smaller clusters had a pronounced natural resource orientation and one had the financial advantages of Russia’s two capital cities. This implies that the administrations of the federal districts could be engaged to improve the quality of human potential. The protracted process of giving administrative status to the federal districts can be completed by setting them the important social task of developing and implementing a strategy for improving the qualitative characteristics of the population.