Typology of Municipalities to Monitor Their Socio-Economic Development

One of the urgent tasks of the state policy of spatial development is the introduction of a permanent system for monitoring the socio-economic development of municipalities (at least at the level of municipal and districts), for which, as stated in the article, it is necessary to develop typologies of municipalities. It is advisable to generalize and analyze statistical information on municipalities on the basis of its automatic processing for different types of territories. The article analyzes the existing experience of the EU and the OECD in the typology of regions comparable to Russian municipal districts, and also summarizes the experience accumulated in Russia in the typologization of territories – municipalities in general, cities. It is shown that the basic typology can and should be based on an assessment of the settlement system – the ratio of urban and rural population, population density, the presence of a large urban center or proximity to it. Additionally, it is also important to take into account natural and climatic conditions, geographical location, sustainable economic specialization, and administrative status.