The role of consumer cooperatives in improving the quality of life of population

Development of consumer cooperatives is one of the factors of the socio-economic development of the country and improving the quality of life of the population. The article set tasks to assess the negative consequences of the sanctions and their impact on the standard of living of the population, the role of consumer cooperatives in supporting a decent standard of living of the population, the relationships between the desire of citizens to have cooperative stores in their city or village and the expectation of certain benefits from cooperative stores. A hypothesis was put forward that there is a relationship between development of consumer cooperatives and increase in the quality of life of the population; in the course of the study, the hypothesis was confirmed. Based on the conducted survey (N = 4422), an assessment of the financial situation of the respondents is made, life circumstances that affected the respondents during the introduction of sanctions are analyzed, the role of consumer cooperation in supporting a decent standard of living of the population is identified; the desire of respondents to have cooperative stores in their city or village is revealed, as well as the personal expectations and interest of respondents in opening such stores. Analysis of the territorial distribution of the respondents’ assessments made it possible to find the greatest interest in the emergence of cooperative stores and the desire to buy goods in them demonstrated by city residents — this can become the basis for developing a strategy for the socio-economic development of cities. It was found that the lack of great interest in visiting cooperative stores among rural residents is due to insufficient level of effective information measures to clarify the essence of consumer cooperatives and shops to in order to improve the quality of life of the population.

quality of life, population, consumer cooperative, cooperative store, cooperation