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The relevance of the study lies in the acute need to modernise the tools for a more accurate and comparable reflection of the demographic reality of spatial objects of different scales. This article aims to test the methods of "demographic rankings" developed by Yermakov and Shmakov. The method is based on the principles of indirect standardisation of the major demographic coefficients relative to the age structure.The article describes the first attempt to apply the method to the analysis of birth and mortality rates in 1995 and 2010 for 140 countries against the global average, and for the Baltic Sea states against the European average. The grouping of countries and the analysis of changes over the given period confirmed a number of demographic development trends and the persistence of wide territorial disparities in major indicators. The authors identify opposite trends in ranking based on the standardised birth (country consolidation at the level of averaged values) and mortality (polarisation) rates. The features of demographic process development in the Baltic regions states are described against the global and European background. The study confirmed the validity of the demographic ranking method, which can be instrumental in solving not only scientific but also practical tasks, including those in the field of demographic and social policy.

This paper analyses recent trends in industrial development in the Baltic Sea transition countries. The heavy industry collapsed during the first half of 1990s in most former socialist countries. However, since the second half of 1990s the industrial output, export, productivity and even employment (in some branches) has been increased remarkably. And instead of a de-industrialisation, which has been general trend in Western Europe since 1970s, we may speak about a re-industrialisation. Foreign investors have played major role in the restructuring and efficiency growth of manufacturing in transitional economies. The rising importance of foreign investors and the growing export and re-export to other BSR countries are showing, that the industries in transitional countries are becoming more and more integrated to developed BSR countries. Still, especially textiles and electronics that are concentrated on relatively low-skilled subcontracting are characterised by a sharp rise in re-exports. Hypothetically, when considering the price convergence in the case BSR transition countries joining the European Union, those low value added booming industries can run into crisis soon and relocate the production to further cheaper regions in Russia or South-East Asia. The empirical part analyses recent industrial development trends (employment structure, exports, investments) in three Baltic countries and Kaliningrad oblast. Finally, I try to compare the industrial restructuring within particular clusters in Estonia and Kaliningrad oblast using statistics and interviews. Key words: regional integration, transitional economies, industrial development

The article describes the place of St Peters-burg in international cooperation in the Baltic Sea region and the role of the Baltic region as one of the priorities of the international relations of the city. The authors show continual attention of Saint-Petersburg to developing international relations in the Baltic Sea region. The article indicates one of the most important areas of inter-national cooperation – the participation of the city in the renewed Northern Dimension policy.

More than 25 years of multilateral dialogue and cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region has been supported and overseen by the Council of the Baltic Sea States. These developments offer a multitude of insights in the implicit science diplomacy activities, which are presented in order to offer new ideas in the on-going work of honing the overall science diplomacy understanding in the EU setting. Likewise, various EU facilitated science, research and innovation cooperation strands are highlighted as potential avenues for exploring implicit science diplomacy practices adopted by EU or its funded authorities. Examples captured in this concise mapping exercise are presented to support comprehensive reflections on the existing set of practices characterising EU science diplomacy. Some of the lessons learnt, assessments and recommendations are brought into the spotlight in view on further reflecting on the EU Science Diplomacy Strategy.