Poverty is a common occurrence in Russia and the world. Its level in our country is quite high, but varies from year to year. The nature of poverty in Russia differs from that in other countries. The lowest level is recorded in Moscow and a number of regions with a developed extractive sector. Most non-cash people live in rural areas and provincial cities. Also, poverty in Russia is typically a chronic course. The distribution of poverty by years shows that at present its level is the same as it was in the mid-2000s. If earlier one of the main reasons was pension and salary debts, now it is the unfair distribution of the budget.
What is poverty?
Poverty is a common condition in the world in which a person cannot satisfy the minimum level of material needs, or spends all his savings on it. As a rule, the state of need implies the inability to spend money on entertainment, paid medicine, paid education, expensive things or products, recreation at resorts, a car, a house or an apartment, as well as carry out major repairs at your own expense or start your own business.
In different countries, the criteria for poverty are different. The threshold (line) of poverty for underdeveloped states is very low income figures, expressed in dollar terms. In Russia, the concept of “living wage” is used - the amount of income that can ensure the acquisition of a minimum amount of material goods and services. To determine the poverty threshold in Russia, the cost of the consumer basket is also used.
The cost of living in 2016 - 18 years. close to 10,000 rubles, which is several times lower than adopted in developed countries, but several times higher than that used for the poorest countries. However, in the United States this figure is only one and a half times higher than the Russian one. At the same time, the specifics of the living conditions of the population are not taken into account.
The specifics of Russian poverty
Poverty in Russia is one of the worst in the world. This is due to the fact that an ordinary Russian citizen has to spend a considerable amount on the cost of utility bills and heat saving systems from a living wage. In most other countries, the climate is warmer, and the cost of heating and insulation is less. Low temperature also leads to the need for increased power. Another negative factor is the poor quality of food and medical services. Left without housing, a person runs the risk of dying from cold and infectious diseases. Periodically flashing waves of inflation exacerbate the situation.
All this largely eliminates the difference between the subsistence level in Russia and the poorest countries.
In our country, most of the poor and poor are women. They account for 2/3 of the total number of poor Russians.
Differences between Poverty and Poverty
Poverty is an extreme form of poverty. The poor becomes poor if his income is not enough to satisfy even the most minimal needs. At the same time, a person often starts to starve. Since different people have different needs for calories, medicines; different expenses for utilities, debts, transportation, etc., it is quite difficult to determine how many poor and poor people are in the country.
Poverty Level in Russia - Statistics
According to Rosstat, the number of people with incomes is less than the cost of living - 20.3 million people. This is about 15 percent of the total number of Russians. These are mainly working citizens with low wages.Most pensioners receive more than the subsistence minimum, so their share in the number of official poor is small - 16.7%. Approximately 5.3 million retirees receive bonuses. However, the average size of pensions is quite small, and given the high spending on medicines, most retirees can be unofficially ranked among the poor.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service, 62.8% of the poor are working citizens. About 20 percent of the total poor are children under the age of 15. Moreover, according to official data, the share of the unemployed among the poor is only 1.6% (?). The main reason for poverty, according to the Federal State Statistics Service, is a low level of wages. Most of the poor live either in rural areas or in small provincial cities.
What is the real number of poor people in Russia?
According to the director of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Gorshkov, there are at least twice as many poor people in the country than according to official statistics. The ability to tolerate a living wage and not fall into poverty is a rather controversial point. In fact, paid medicine operates in the country, food prices are inflated to inadequately high levels, a lot of money is spent on fines, interest payments on debts (whoever has them), a large number of defective products, etc. The situation deteriorates sharply when there are non-working children and other family members, since actual unemployment in the country far exceeds official data from employment centers.
All this suggests that the number of poor in the country can be much higher.
How much has poverty increased recently?
Statistics of the poverty level in Russia by years, voiced by the Federal State Statistics Service, clearly shows the worsening situation in recent years. In 2013, people with incomes below the subsistence level were only 8.8 percent, which corresponds to 12.5 million people. In 2015, this number approached 16 percent. Data on the dynamics of poverty over the past 2 years are rather contradictory. According to some reports, the poor became slightly less, and according to others, a little more. However, it is clear that the poverty situation has generally stabilized and is no longer deteriorating.
Comparison of the current situation with what happened in the 90s and early 2000s shows that there were twice as many poor then than now. The situation reached a modern level around the mid-2000s. At the same time, the 2008 crisis did not affect the number of poor people. The best situation was noted in 2012-2013, when there were only 10-11% of low-income citizens.
Poverty statistics in Russia by region and city
In Russia, there is a great territorial difference in the level of poverty. The poorest are regions such as the Smolensk Region, the Pskov Region, Altai Territory, Ivanovo Region and the Republic of Dagestan. The figure shows the level of well-being in different regions.
The most materially secured regions are the city of Moscow, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Sakhalin Oblast and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. It is easy to see that in our country, areas specializing in oil and gas production, as well as the Russian capital, are more prosperous. Thus, the poverty level of Russian regions varies quite a lot.
The most prosperous cities, in addition to Moscow, are Tyumen, Vladivostok, Kazan, Yekaterinburg.
Cities with the lowest living standards are Astrakhan, Saratov, Volgograd, Penza, Tolyatti. It is easy to see that they are all located in the Volga Federal District.
Causes of Poverty in Russia
The main causes of financial and material distress in Russia in the early 2000s and now are quite different. Thus, according to population surveys, in 2003, in almost half the cases, one of the main causes of poverty was the long-term non-payment of salaries and pensions. Now this reason is important only for a quarter of Russians.
In second place in the early 2000s, according to respondents, there was unemployment. Now her role is also significant, but not so critical. Disease and / or disability ranked third among the most important causes of poverty in 2003, and now it is in second place. Now, in the first place among the reasons the Russians see alcoholism and drug addiction. 12 years ago, she occupied only the fourth line.
And then, and now, the last line among the causes of material distress is occupied by refugees and migrants. The total number of reasons indicated by respondents was 15.
However, if we talk about the root cause, then one of the main causes of poverty in recent years has been the unfair and incorrect distribution of the Russian budget.
A feature of modern poverty is a sense of hopelessness, in contrast to the 90s and early 2000s, when people had more hope for an early exit from this state.
Types of Poverty in Russia
When analyzing the poverty level, two of its varieties are distinguished: income poverty (wage) and opportunity poverty. Usually, the first option is taken as the basis, but the situation in our country is much worse by the second indicator. In Russia, poverty in opportunities covers a quarter of the total number of residents, while in developed countries it is only slightly more than 15%. At the same time, the poverty level in Russia in terms of wages is approximately equal to that of abroad. The development of poverty in terms of opportunities is associated with financial dependence on relatives, including due to unemployment or the lack of normal work, not “for good”.
Another difference between poverty in Russia and developed countries is the predominance of the chronic type of poverty in our country, while in the West it is more often situational in nature.
Unlike Western countries, Russia has a high proportion of the poor among working citizens. In our country, even fairly qualified specialists can fall into the group of poor people. And salaries in budgetary institutions are much lower than in private ones.
Unfair distribution of income
In Russia, more acute than in other countries, there is the problem of property inequality and income distribution. So, according to international organizations, about 70 percent of material goods belong to only one percent of the population of our country. In terms of material inequality, Russia is one of the first places in the world. Recently, this is one of the main reasons for the spread of poverty.
Conclusion
Thus, poverty in Russia is a complex social phenomenon due to the interaction of a number of factors. Analysis of the dynamics of the poverty level in Russia shows that it remains a significant phenomenon in the life of the population and the state economy. However, if adequate measures are taken, it can be eradicated. To reduce poverty in Russia, measures are needed to combat unemployment, increase the minimum wage, introduce social programs to support the poor, develop processing industries, fight inflation and increase the price of essential goods and goods, reduce income inequality, etc. .