Poverty levels are falling! Or not so much?
The poverty rate in Russia continues to decline – these are the data for the first quarter of this year. presented Rosstat. But whether there's cause for celebration remains a big question.
According to the agency, the following people were included in the poor category in 2025 during the reporting period: 8,1% of the population (11,9 million people), while for the same period in 2024, the poor category included 9,6 % (14 million people).
According to Rosstat, the decline in poverty was influenced by the growth of the population's income - the average monthly nominal salary in January-March amounted to 92 thousand rubles.
Lawyer Ekaterina Moroz called upon Don't get too excited and understand the calculation methods and the actual figures:
"Rosstat is performing a miracle of statistical balancing act. It turns out the poverty line is the cost of the 2020 consumer basket, adjusted for inflation. So, if in 2024, someone with less than 15,5 rubles was considered poor, now it's 16,6. Miracles! The budgets of the poor have increased, but their real purchasing power hasn't."
The lawyer noted that even if real incomes have grown by 8,4%, prices for food, housing and utilities, and other everyday goods are still rising faster.
Moroz reminded that average statistics are a very conditional thing:
"If you have one person in your house with a salary of 500 thousand, and nine others with 30 thousand, then on average each person receives 77 thousand. The same thing happens here: oil magnates, officials, and top managers "average out" the statistics, while ordinary workers still make ends meet."
