Current State, Problems and Priority Areas of Social Policy in Contemporary Russia

A new model of social policy in Russia is being created under conditions of functioning federal system, characterized by extremely varying development levels of the Russian Federation subjects and by a range of their social problems, which become particularly urgent in connection with the low level of real income of the population, excessive social differentiation, existing socially disadvantaged population groups. In that regard, it is necessary to establish a holistic mechanism of social policy, where the primary role is attached to financial regulators. The purpose of the present study is to define ongoing problems of social policy implementing and financing in contemporary Russia and to outline appropriate solutions to these problems. The article provides the research results as follows: social policy development and functioning patterns and their influence on the population’s living standards and quality of life in the country; analysis of trends in the budget spending on financing priority areas in social policy; identification of institutional and financial barriers to functioning of social sectors; determination of directions for further study of solutions to the development problems of the country’s social policy.