The number of poor Russians in the second quarter of 2019 decreased from 20.9 million to 18.6 million people, the Federal State Statistics Service said. According to the agency, 12.7% of Russians receive less than a living wage.

“In the second quarter of 2019, 18.6 million people, or 12.7% of the country's population, had incomes below the subsistence minimum,” the Rosstat said. “The number of poor people in the second quarter of 2019 decreased by 1.6% compared to the first quarter of 2019.”

However, compared with the second quarter of 2018, the share of poor in Russia grew by 0.2% - a year ago, the indicator was at 12.5%. Rosstat explained: the growth of this parameter was due to the fact that the cost of living for the year increased by 7.1%, while inflation in annual terms was 5%. In addition, the department estimates the growth of “average per capita cash income” of the population over the past year at 5.6%.

“According to Rosstat, with an increase in the cost of living by an amount equal to the inflation rate of 5%, the share of the population with incomes below the cost of living would be 12.1%, which is lower than the same indicator in 2018 (12.5%),” noted in the department.

They specified that a more accurate estimate of the number of poor Russians will be given at the end of the year, when all seasonal and annual payments, as well as other forms of income of citizens, will be taken into account.

Commenting on this data, Vladimir Bessonov, Head of the Laboratory for Problems of Inflation and Economic Growth at the Higher School of Economics, in an interview with RT, explained that by increasing the cost of living (and, therefore, the share of the population recognized as poor), the authorities are expanding the number of people who can apply for state aid .

“If you raise the bar, which in our understanding separates the poor from the haves, that is, change the definition of“ poor ”so that the number of poor grows, then it really will increase. And this provides formal grounds for receiving state support. Can this be seen as a measure against poverty? Yes, of course you can, ”he said.

In turn, Sergei Vostretsov, member of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs, chairman of the Union of Trade Unions of Russia, noted that overall living standards in Russia are growing, but not significantly, so it’s too early to draw any conclusions.

“This is just a transition from one statistical group to another. As for incomes, there’s no need to talk about increasing the well-being of Russians, ”the source said.

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“Can't help but cause concern”

A few days ago, on August 26, President Vladimir Putin announced that the real incomes of Russians were growing too slowly. During a meeting on economic issues, he noted that this was against the backdrop of a country's GDP growth of 0.7% and industry by 2.6% with an inflation rate of 4.5%.

“Even against this background, and given the increase in salaries in the economy, real incomes of people are growing too slowly. This state of affairs cannot but cause concern, ”Putin emphasized.

At the same time, the government believes that the growth in real incomes of Russians in 2019 will be significantly slower than previously projected.

“Based on actual data, the forecast for the growth rate of real disposable income of the population to 0.1% was revised compared to the 1% forecasted earlier," said the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin.

However, the minister said that the Cabinet of Ministers still expects the growth of household incomes in 2020 at the level of 1.5%, in 2021 - 2.2%, in 2022 and 2023. - 2.3%, and in 2024 - 2.4%. We are talking about real disposable incomes of the population, which already take into account mandatory payments and inflation. Oreshkin emphasized that if it were not for payments on loans, then the growth of this indicator in 2019 would not be 0.1%, but 0.8%.

“The growth rate of the consumer loan portfolio, significantly exceeding the nominal growth rate of household incomes, while maintaining high interest rates, led to an increase in the debt burden on the population and, consequently, an increase in interest payments,” the minister added.

“It is important to reach every needy family”

It is worth noting that, as measures to combat poverty in Russia, various steps are being taken, including an increase in benefits and the introduction of soft loans, including for housing.

The consumer credit system is also being reformed to reduce the debt burden on Russians. The foundations of this integrated approach were laid in the course of the president’s message to the Federal Assembly.

“I emphasize: both in solving the problem of poverty and in developing the system of social support, it is important to reach every needy family and to understand its problems. In no case can one refuse to help just because the life circumstances of a person “a little” somewhere and somehow do not fit into the formal criteria of one or another of our programs, ”Putin said.

According to Vladimir Bessonov, statistically the proportion of the poor, in particular, depends on the stratification of the population. The specialist noted that now the Russian authorities are making efforts to reduce the difference in income.

“The share of the poor is highly dependent on income inequality. The greater the inequality, the greater the share of the poor can be, even with the growth of average incomes per share of the population. That is, if inequality decreases, the proportion of the poor will decrease. Given that measures are now being taken to reduce this differentiation (support for young families, families with children, preferential mortgages, etc.), if these measures have an effect, and they should have an effect, then we can count on the fact that the share of the poor will decrease, ”the expert stated.