Abstract
<jats:p>One of the main goals of Russian Federation state policy at the present stage is the formation of prerequisites for sustainable socio-economic development, accompanied by improvement of the quality of life of citizens through the elimination of existing interregional disparities. These circumstances determine the high relevance and scientific and practical significance of analyzing the world’s best practices in regional development. In order to carry out such an analysis, we selected countries with geographical, natural and climatic conditions similar to the regions of the North-West of the Russian Federation: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. The fundamental documents and organizational mechanisms of sustainable development by international organizations of which the Russian Federation is a member (in particular, the United Nations) were also considered. The use of general scientific methods of cognition (deductive, comparative, synthesis, analysis, modeling of socio-economic processes) made it possible to ensure a high level of reliability of the results and conclusions obtained by the authors. The main instruments for implementing the state policy of regional development of the Nordic countries are established: consistent consolidation of municipalities in order to simplify administration; high level of social spending, especially in terms of human capital development (education, healthcare, social protection); high level of government spending on development of road and transport infrastructure in order to ensure the territorial coherence of the country; targeted government support for various sectors of the economy (taking into account the specifics of territorial localization) in the form of direct participation in corporate capital, provision of preferential tax regimes, administrative preferences; cluster approach to organizing regional development, implying the identification of the core of economic activity due to the optimal combination of available resources, crea-tion of administrative, organizational and economic conditions for intensifying growth rates; stimulation of interregional (intercountry) integration economic processes. The results of the study can be used by the government bodies and constituent entities of the Russian Federation in forming the directions and activities of the state policy of socio-economic development.</jats:p>