Project description:

We have created a ranking of the Belarusian regions to see if the situation is really so bad (spoiler alert: yes) and what needs to be done to unleash the potential of individual parts of our country. Note that the text found at link No. 1 is dated January 31, 2020. The article is just a translation into English, users have not seen it. The original text was published in Russian on September 2, 2019. Link No. 2 leads to the original text.

Impact reached:

We highlighted the problem of the ongoing process of stratification of regions in Belarus. The article received positive feedback from our readers on social media and our forum, which leads us to the conclusion that we raised the public awareness on the problem. Our work and insights also inspired our colleagues to further research the issue and publish new texts, i.e., about the youngest region in the country or the one which lost the largest number of people.

Techniques/technologies used:

MS Excel, QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, Datawrapper.

What was the hardest part of this project?

It was challenging to find and put data together. Then we had to analyze the data and choose the stories to show it in the most exciting way. This is when we found the regions affected by the Chernobyl accident with a high percentage of young population, the dramatically growing gap between Minsk and the rest of the country and others.

What can others learn from this project?

The project shows how an analysis of several simultaneously mainly economic indicators can get you to the level of households and individuals. This way, one can observe people leaving regions, where large enterprises closed or entrepreneurs moving to the suburbs of big cities to open small businesses there, etc.

Project links:

news.tut.by/society/670884.html

finance.tut.by/news648075.html