A Multi-Task Neural Network for Simultaneous Regression and Classification of Regional Security and Quality of Life Indices in Ukraine

In the face of contemporary geopolitical challenges and transformative processes, particularly the decentralization reform, the objective assessment and forecasting of regional stability have become critical tasks for ensuring Ukraine's sustainable development. This research addresses the lack of comprehensive, automated tools for analyzing the condition of territorial communities by developing and validating an innovative model based on artificial intelligence. The methodological foundation of this work is the development and testing of a multi-task deep learning neural network designed to simultaneously solve four related tasks. The model concurrently performs two regression tasks to predict the precise numerical values of the Regional Security Index (RSI) and the Quality of Life Index (LI), as well as two classification tasks to determine the categorical levels of these indices (low, medium, high). The theoretical basis for the formation of these target indices is the Quadruple Helix concept, which describes the synergistic interaction between government, business, the scientific community, and civil society. The model was trained on a unique dataset covering 1469 Ukrainian territorial communities and containing heterogeneous socio-economic and security indicators. The experimental results demonstrated the high efficiency of the developed approach. On the test set, the classification accuracy reached 93.9% for the Regional Security Index and 85.0% for the Quality of Life Index. In the regression tasks, the model showed low mean absolute error values, indicating high predictive accuracy for both categorical levels and specific index values. The study concludes that the created model is a powerful and effective tool for monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting the dynamics of regional development in Ukraine. The results can be used by state and local government bodies to develop targeted policies aimed at enhancing the resilience, cohesion, and attractiveness of Ukrainian regions.