Modern international scientific community recognizes that the territorial paradigm is of great importance for development of the region. Its essence is in the fact that the territory is considered as an arena of interaction of various driving forces

Currently the competition of territories, including municipalities, for investment and innovation has increased. In this competition, the advantage is given to territories

Assessment and analysis of the main characteristics of the socio-economic development of regions are among the most important ones that allow to solve strategic issues of the choice of optimal solutions in the sphere of regional governance and development prospects. As a rule, the division of groups and corresponding to them types (classes) of districts, each of which has significant, qualitative differences, is the result of such studies. Such division into groups objectively exists in any regional

At present, the increased competition between countries and regions made the problem of study of competitiveness and positioning of regions in the system of the world and national economy relevant. This problem becomes even more important in conditions of the development of globalization and transition of countries to the post-industrial stage of development. All this led to the necessity to find ways to assess the competitiveness and the necessity for deeper analysis of the concept of competitiveness. Competitiveness of countries, regions and other territorial entities should be considered in mutual balance of all the principles of socio-economic development by a range of indicators of the following subsystems: population, economy, infrastructure, environment.

The