Socio-economic contradictions have become the key obstacles in the transition of contemporary Russian society to a new model of development, which is to replace the obsolete “gas and oil” one. The novel model involves social consolidation to form a civil Russian nation. On the base of statistical analysis, the author’s empirical data (mass all-Russian and regional focus group inquiries) confirm that the social inequality between the rich and the poor has reached extreme critical values making them a disfactor of national integrity. If the gap does not decrease, the Russian society will experience serious difficulties. A number of indicators show that social inequality is caused by inefficient ruling system. Despite positive changes in the quality of life and living standards, the inertia of the social ties destruction and anomie still continue. The transition of the socio-economic system to a new model of reproduction supposes that the values of justice, gradualness, and continuity will be supported by the majority of the population.

The purpose of the article is the interregional analysis of human potential. In comparison with the quality of life of the population, the quality of population itself is studied far less. The article presents an expanded characteristic of human potential in seven directions: economic activity, demographic processes, physical health, cultural potential, social health, educational potential and the attitude of the population to the environment. On the basis of statistics for 2008–2012 years, 63 indicators of human potential for all directions are selected. In the final result, the correlation analysis has led to the substantiation of the system of indicators consisting of 10 indicators. Three economic and seven social indicators characterizing human potential are included into this system. On the basis of the indicators by means of hierarchical agglomerative methods of cluster analysis, a classification of the Russian regions is carried out in two versions: with economic indicators and without them. The result of the calculations is a stable temporal typology of regions by indicators of human potential covering 74.4 % of the population of Russia. The article provides a substantial interpretation of dividing regions into groups, identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each cluster, shows the specific features of the regions included into the clusters. The obtained results can be used in the development of measures for the reduction of the interregional inequality in terms of human potential. It is possible to define what measures can be effective by studying the strategic directions of the development of regions in the cluster which is the most successful regarding the characteristics of human potential.