Geo-Demographic Typology of Municipalities of the Kaliningrad Region

The article discusses the features of the emergence and development of geo-demographic research in Russia, the US and Europe. It was concluded that despite the differences in purpose and nature of this kind of research, the primary method of analysis of geo-demographic situation is geo-demographic classification. The analysis of territorial differentiation of geo-demographic development of the Kaliningrad region is carried out through the cluster analysis. As a result, it 5 groups of municipalities have been defined: the core, the southern coastal municipalities, the small coastal municipalities, the semi-periphery, the border periphery. The majority of the municipalities are characterized by a significant inter-dependence between the level of socio-economic development and the character of demographic processes. The type of geo-demographic development of the Kaliningrad region corresponds to the model described in John Friedman's classical theory of "Center-periphery". The regional center is the engine of development in the region, including pulling resources from other municipalities. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s7p34