A region in the national economy: Some approaches to the ranking
Subject This article deals with the issues of formation of a system of comprehensive monitoring and comparison of the levels of development of subjects of the Russian Federation.  Objectives The article aims to determine the position and role of regions ranking in the Russian economy, investigate the existing approaches to ranking of the Russian Federation subjects, and propose recommendations on compiling a composite rating of the Russian regions' competitiveness.  Methods Having considered the used various rankings of the Russian regions, including the composite ones, I analyzed the modern approaches to the ranking process.  Results The article proposes a conceptual approach to the regional ranking, highlights the key aspects of assessing the competitiveness factors of the Russian Federation subjects, and presents a ranking structure.  Conclusions It is important to take into account the uneven distribution of resources between regions and their competitive advantages when compiling regional rankings. Evaluation criteria should be ranked according to the main goal, i.e. the improvement of the quality of life of Russian people. The use of the same indicators gives a different final assessment of the competitiveness of regions. There is no approach to summing up the capacities of the region in the current methodologies. To obtain qualitative indicators, analytical centers are needed in each constituent entity of the Russian Federation.