Abstract
Thearticleexamines the theoreticalfoundations, the essenceandstages of the process of forming an economic and geographicalreferencefactor for the settlement of the population. The logic of the formation of a supportingfactorcontributing to the spatialorganization of populationsettlementandindustrialdevelopmentinthestudy area is alsoanalyzed. The historical,physico-geographical, andeconomic-geographicalprerequisites that initiated the establishment of a referencefactor in theterritory of the SouthKazakhstanEconomicRegion have been identifiedandevaluated.Themainkeyandlinearelements of the basicfactor of settlementformed in thestudiedterritory are identified, theirinterrelationandfeatures of the territorialorganization are described.At the same time, the maingroups of nodalelementsforming the supportingfactoraresystematized, the configuration of the settlementstructure is analyzedandclassifiedbytype.Thefinalsectionpresentsspecificproposalson the areas of optimizationandimprovement of the economic and geographicalsupportfactor for the settlement of the population in thestudyarea.