Economic and geographical analysis of changes in the economic specialisation of the cities of Belarus

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A comparative geographical characteristic of the economic specialisation of cities of regional subordination and the city of Minsk in the context of the main sectors of the economy (sections of types of economic activity) was carried out for 2010–2020. Using materials from the database of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the coefficients of specialisation for the considered cities were calculated. Using the cartographic method, the leading economic specialisation (the highest values of the coefficients) of the cities in the intra-republican division of labour is reflected. The research allows us to talk about changes in the economic specialisation of the cities of regional subordination and the city of Minsk, while the nature of the dynamics of economic specialisation differs by city. A general pattern in the dynamics of economic specialisation has not been established for the entire group of analysed cities. The most cities are characterising by the absence of pronounced changes in specialisation for 2010–2015. The dynamics of economic specialisation takes place for Baranovichi, Pinsk, Novopolotsk and Mogilev. The minor shifts were revealed in specialisation of eight cities and a pronounced change in specialisation of Grodno for 2016–2020. The authors developed a grouping of cities according to the number of specialised sections of types of economic activity. Spatial differences are revealed between western and eastern cities in economic specialisation in terms of production and service sectors.