Abstract
The regions of Kazakhstan, like those of many other countries, exhibit significant diversity in terms of natural-resource and economic potential. This heterogeneity gives rise to regional disparities and may cause intra-regional imbalances in socio-economic development, ultimately disrupting the sustainability of development trends. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the magnitude of these imbalances and propose measures for their mitigation. The objective of this article is to justify the selection and testing of methodological approaches for assessing socio-economic development imbalances using the example of underperforming regions of Kazakhstan, and to develop recommendations for their reduction. The following methods were employed: logical analysis, comparative analysis, systems approach, correlation analysis, standard deviation, index method, analogies, and generalization. The results include the substantiation of the need to measure the scale of regional imbalances; the proposal of methods such as standard deviation based on the coefficient of variation and the calculation of an integral index to evaluate economic and social disparities across Kazakhstan’s regions; the identification of significant interregional disparities and socio-economic development imbalances in the Atyrau, Mangystau, and Turkestan regions; the justification of criteria for selecting appropriate assessment methods; and the development of policy recommendations to reduce imbalances. Practical significance: the proposed approaches offer applicable and Kazakhstan-specific methods for assessing the degree of intra-regional socio-economic imbalances and identifying measures for their reduction.