Social and Demographic Potential of Small Towns of the Transcarpathian Region: Evaluation of Development Trends

The importance of studying demographically reproducible processes at a local- factor level in decentralization is due to the action of a whole set of factors of endo- and exogenous nature, the main of which are the deepening demographic crisis and the intensification of depopulation processes in Ukraine and most regions, the high mortality rate of the working-age population, the increasing tendency of an aging population , large-scale labor migration of the economically active population of the country. The aim of the article is to analyze the main trends in the development of the social and demographic potential of small urban settlements of the Transcarpathian region. The article provides a systematic analysis of factors that directly or indirectly affect the dynamics of demographically reproducible processes of the population of small towns and urban-type settlements of the region. These include the ethnic structure of the population, the intensification of urbanization processes, intensive labor migration, deep differentiation of the level of development of production and social infrastructure between urban and rural settlements, differentiation of population density in a spatial section. Based on their actions, an analysis of the urban population has been carried out, the dynamics of natural population growth has been studied. According to the dynamics of the course of demographic processes, a typology of small towns was carried out with the allocation of three groups. The analysis of the gender and age structure of the urban population has been carried out and the main factors that determine the aging processes of the urban population have been clarified. An important place is given to the study of demographic changes that occur in the context of individual age groups of the population. Changes in the basic proportions between the population and the share of juvenile and gerontological groups were revealed. Based on the analysis of the main trends in the development of the demographic potential, small towns have been ranked. Applied value of the research is that on the basis of the conducted ranking, it becomes possible to develop and implement a strategy of development of each urban settlement of the region.