The article assesses the impact of the development of leading sectors of the economy on the standard of living in the Central Federal District regions in the period 2018-2022, determines the degree of socio-economic differentiation within the district. The methodology of the study is based on the assumption that the level of wages in the regions of the Central Federal District is directly influenced by their industry specialization. Agriculture and manufacturing industries, which occupy the largest share in the GRP structure, were selected as the main activities. Using a pair correlation, the relationship between the share of the industry, the level of poverty and average wages was established. It has been established that sectoral specialization in manufacturing or agriculture in the regions of the Central Federal District is not a factor of direct influence on the standard of living of the population. The development of manufacturing industries has a moderate impact on the average wage in the regions of the district, which is probably due to a fairly high average wage in the manufacturing industries. Agriculture has an even less significant impact on the income and living standards of the population of the Central Federal District regions. The authors came to the conclusion that the standard of living of the population of the Central Federal District regions today is influenced primarily by national factors related to the persistence and intensification of crisis phenomena in the economy against the background of unprecedented sanctions pressure and the depreciation of the ruble. One of the directions of ensuring the socio-economic well-being of the regions and their population in the future is to increase the emphasis on strengths and potential, taking into account the implementation of the import substitution strategy in the country.
Zyukin et al. (2024) studied this question.