In recent years, Russia has been grappling with a serious economic crisis. The slowing pace of economic development is accompanied by adverse demographic trends. The purpose of our study is to assess the demographic potential of Russian regions and identifying groups that require the implementation of specific measures aimed at its development. We used hierarchical cluster analysis to model Russia's demographic space and segment regions with comparable problems related to forming demographic potential. Clustering was based on the indicators describing the demographic potential at the macro-level (regional) and meso-level (family level). The analysis identified the groups of regions that have the best and the worst conditions for the development of demographic potential. We proposed a set of measures that would be most relevant to the needs of specific groups of regions and could directly drive the development and actualisation of demographic potential. The analysis showed the need to use multifactor classification in the demographics of countries that have a high level of regional differentiation. Modelling the demographic space on the basis of cluster analysis can be seen as an element of the system of supporting administrative decision-making and the development of effective demographic policy.

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One of the important social roles the elderly perform is that of grandparents. Our study aims to identify groups of Russian regions with similar models of grandparental activity. The research focuses only on grandmothers. To determine these models, we applied the hierarchical cluster analysis. We used indicators that characterize potential (based on the age criterion) and active (based on intensive involvement in caring for grandchildren) grandparenting in Russian regions. In the process of clustering, we use the growth rates of active grandmothers in the total number of potential grandmothers in 2011-2014, 2014-2016, 2016-2018. The analysis based on the Ward method and the Euclidean distance allowed us to identify 4 models of grandparental activity (regarding grandmothers) in Russian regions. The models differ significantly in the specifics of changes in the degree of grandmothers' involvement in caring for their grandchildren. These models provide the framework for developing specific demographic policy measures with the regional heterogeneity in mind.

The use of materials for remote sensing of the Earth made it possible to identify a new type of crustal structures and features of their expression in relief. These are ring structures that complicate the structure of the studied structures of a linear type. As a result of the study of the morphology, geological and tectonic structure of ring structures, it was established that they represent formations of various origins: pluton-volcanic, cosmogenic, and anthropogenic. Cosmogenic structures of different ages and differ in various degrees of transformation. The relief of the identified cosmogenic structures within the limits of the Turan Plains, the Kazakh small hills and mountains of South-Eastern Kazakhstan is transformed by exogenous processes. The defining indicator features of cosmogenic structures include geomorphological, geological, structural tectonic, and also landscape. The degree of change in the initial cosmogenic relief depends on the time of formation, paleogeographic and modern physiographic conditions of the territories. Under the arid conditions of Kazakhstan’s epyhercynian platform, the main factor in the preservation of the “primary” morphology of meteorite craters is the lithologic stratigraphic complexes of the ring shaft. For the studied cosmogenic structures, in particular, the meteorite craters of Saryarka, a distinct geodynamic zoning of the development of exomorphogenesis processes is characteristic. The main exogenous processes include gravity-slope, surface washout, ravine and river erosion, processes of complex denudation and accumulation. The factors and processes of creating a modern crater relief morphology are established. These studies of cosmogenic ring structures of Kazakhstan have not only theoretical significance, revealing the role of cosmogenic processes of the formation of the Earth as a planet, but also have immediate practical importance. Meteorite craters are indicators of mineral deposits.