THE KMRI METHODOLOGY FOR COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS

Abstract

Regional development assessment remains one of the most complex and contested
methodological challenges in economic science. Traditional approaches relying predominantly on
single-indicator measures such as gross regional product or per capita income have demonstrated
significant limitations in capturing the inherently multidimensional nature of regional
development. This article presents the KMRI (Kompleks Mintaqaviy Rivojlanish Indeksi —
Comprehensive Regional Development Index) methodology, a multi-criteria composite
assessment framework developed for the systematic evaluation of regional development in
Uzbekistan. The KMRI integrates five weighted dimensional indices — economic productivity,
social development, institutional quality, infrastructure endowment, and environmental
sustainability — into a unified composite score enabling both inter-regional benchmarking and
longitudinal monitoring. Pilot application to all thirteen administrative regions of Uzbekistan and
the Republic of Karakalpakstan using 2019–2023 data reveals pronounced inter-regional
disparities (KMRI range: 0.251–0.831) and a pattern of divergence rather than convergence over
the study period.