ИСТИНА

One of the key modern trends in the process of transformation of rural areas is the growth of the suburban population against the background of depopulation of other non-urban territories. During the Soviet period, this process was held back by both institutional and socio-economic factors. Even different by their nature suburbs were still parts of the zonal types of rural areas. Over the past three decades, suburban areas of large cities have grown by more than 20% in terms of population while their share has exceeded a quarter of the entire rural population of Russia. The center-peripheral processes of spatial differentiation of rural areas also have their own zonal features like the difference in the shifts in settlement patterns and dynamics of these processes. The population density in suburban and other rural municipalities already differs by several times in the majority of Russian regions. Changes in quantitative indicators are complemented by qualitative changes: the socio-economic inequality between suburban and other rural areas is growing. Suburban areas that are essentially less connected with the agricultural sector are becoming the leading type of rural area in many regions. Regional specifics of the dynamics of suburban settlement systems in the post-Soviet period are studied on the basis of census and current population register data. The socio-economic situation in the suburban areas of key regions is analyzed on the municipal level by three indicators: the intensity of migration, the pace of residential construction and the salary level. The most typical scenarios of further development of suburban areas in the regions of Russia were identified.