The richest slice of Russian society has doubled its wealth in the past 20 years, while almost two-thirds of the population is no better off and the poor are barely half as wealthy as they were when the Soviet Union fell, according to researchers.
Experts at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics found that the purchasing power of the average Russian has grown by 45 percent since the early 1990s, but income disparity is widening by the year.
The report reinforces a widely held view that oligarchs got rich quick by snapping up the country’s choicest assets in the turbulent post-Soviet period.
“The principal issue for Russia’s economy and society today is the level of inequality. Only the best-off 20 percent of the population is successfully participating in the rise in prosperity which became possible as the result of creating a market economy,” the school’s scientific director and former economics minister Yevgeny Yasin said.
Food is slightly cheaper relative to income and simple pleasures have become more accessible. The average adult buys more vehicles and televisions and can afford more alcohol and cigarettes than at the beginning of the 1990s.
“Drinking, smoking and burning around in a car have become a lot cheaper,” the report found.
However, most Russians can only stare in envy at the super-wealthy with their Bentleys and dachas (second homes). According to the report, income inequality between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s has increased eight times more than in Hungary and five times more than in the Czech Republic.
The huge gap between rich and poor “largely negates the economic and social achievements of recent years,” the report said.
Yasin added that the study indicated there were “two Russias.”
The wealthiest fifth of the population received a pay check equivalent to 198 percent of its value in 1991, while the poorest fifth made only 55 percent in real terms. In total, 60 percent of the population has the same real income or less than the average 20 years ago.
“Many things are required to change this,” said Vladimir Gimpelson, one of the report’s authors. “We need more political and market competition, enforcement of property rights, rule of law, systemic change in labor market institutions and stronger social protection for the needy.”
Two prominent Russians much richer today than they were 20 years ago published income declarations on Monday, showing their earnings dropped between 2009 and last year. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared US$170,000, compared with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s US$114,000.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS