YAKUTSK, May 7. /TASS/. Scientists will develop a database to assess the quality of life and social well-being of people living in Yakutia's northern and Arctic districts, an expert of the Institute for Humanitarian Studies and Problems of Low-Numbered Peoples of the North (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch) Elena Maklashova told TASS.
"The information system's database presents results of sociological research, experience in conducting ethnological expertise in Yakutia's regions over many years. It is an interactive integrated database reflecting indicators of quality of life and socio-cultural sustainability. The product will be interesting for state officials, businesses and scientists," she said.
The database can show the dynamics of changes in the ethnic and social situations of the indigenous low-numbered peoples of Yakutia's north at the levels of settlements and districts , offering 32 indicators, she continued.
"The database covers results of surveys in Yakutia's all 70 settlements in 21 districts that are on the list of traditional residence and economic activities of the North's indigenous peoples. In each district, we can see specific attitudes to the traditional way of life, the ethnic identity perception, the role of reindeer husbandry in households," the expert said.
The project's future
Scientists plan to expand the database to the Russian Federation's northeastern regions, like Chukotka, Magadan and Kamchatka.
"Recently, at an expert session that featured public and industrial organizations we discussed how the project will develop. The map is interactive, and the layers have indicators in real time and in dynamics. For example, specialists may analyze satisfaction with the quality of life and the importance of reindeer husbandry by combining indicators of emotional state, migration and, obtaining some explanatory models of population behavior and preserving human and ethno-cultural potential," the sociologist added.
The database also displays the language situation. "It is important to stress that presently there are no official statistics of indigenous minorities. And our base is a solution to this problem. However, that would be a difficult, precise process," she added.
Sociological data will add to dry statistical data the public opinion on the current situation. "Our sociological research confirms the following thesis: the better the financial situation, the higher the emotional state. The North's low-numbered indigenous peoples have a good potential for emotional stability and perception of life, for enjoying it with less demand for material wellbeing," she noted.
Support for the North Center
The work is supervised by the scientific and educational center North: Territory of Sustainable Development, the project' leader Natalia Popova said. The studies' three groups of tasks are: the development of indicators to assess the quality of life, the survey of modern ethnic and cultural, social well-being of the North's low-numbered indigenous peoples, the study of historical experience of adaptation and modern social well-being of the Russian population, their migration attitudes, digitalization of ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage of the peoples living in Russia's northeast.
The Center unites institutions of Yakutia's Academy of Sciences, the Yakut Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch, and the Northeastern Federal University. The Center represents five Far Eastern regions - Yakutia, Sakhalin, Magadan, Kamchatka and Chukotka.