"In many regions, half or more of their financial allocations are spent ineffectively in some sectors, and it amounts to billions of rubles [in losses]," Putin said at the State Council presidium session on problems of regional governance in Russia.
The president said the number of administration and support personnel in some regions make up two thirds of the total number of the working population, and that fluctuations in the number and structure of the population are not taken into account.
"As a result, a number of social establishments do not meet the population's needs," Putin said.
For instance, he said, in a number of regions with the same rural population sizes, the number of students per teacher can differ by a factor of two and more, while classes in a majority of cities do not have the required number of students.
Speaking about healthcare spending, Putin said most of the financial allocations were dedicated to in-patient care facilities.
"Regions give priority to in-patient treatment, but it is not always well-reasoned," Putin said, adding that in-patient care facilities require a lot of money, but that as a rule the quality of service is not taken into account.
"In some territories, the number of [hospital] beds exceeds objective needs by over 1.5 times and every third citizen is hospitalized annually. At the same time, the death rate keeps growing, especially among citizens of working age," Putin said.
He added the same situation has developed in other sectors besides education and healthcare.
