Self-development of rural areas under digital economy conditions as exemplified by Northwestern Federal District regions

The present article is addressing theoretical aspects of self-developing regions evaluation under digital economy conditions. The present article is (i) giving evaluation of main Northwestern Federal District (NWFD) regions in accordance with self-developing region identification methodology proposed by domestic scientists and (ii) substantiating the necessity of additional investigations aiming to identify the criteria of self-developing region. It is presenting analysis of problems associated with NWFD rural areas endogenous development under digital economy conditions. It has been found that in digital economy conditions any region acquires additional possibilities for self-development including also local population's entrepreneurial activity growth without sacrificing the authentic territorial features. The paper presents indicators of digital economy development in RF rural areas and identifies strategic objectives which, if achieved by country inhabitants, will help them use digital economy advantages and facilitate region's socio-economic development.