A view of Russia's money, coins and 5,000-ruble banknotes
Photo: Pavel Soloviev
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Middle Class Grows Atop
Of all population groups, the families with annual income of $125,000 to $250,000 manifested the record growth of 164 percent past year. The pace is well above the 13-percent growth shown by the poorest portion of the middle class, earning between $16,000 and $25,000 per family a year. On the other hand, there were some 200,000 families with the annual income above $1 million. This information of Russia’s state insurer Rosgosstrakh has confirmed the conclusion of country’s statistic service Rosstat, whereby the social stratification continued past year.
According to Rosgosstrakh, the number of families with the annual income above $1 million doubled to 200,000 past year, and some 5,000 families benefited from the annual revenues of $40 million. Official statistics proved the expansion of wealthiest sector - the Genie factor (the index of income concentration) of Rosstat reflected the progress in social stratification. The indicator stepped up to 0.422 from 0.416 in 2006, while the fund factor (the income ratio of the wealthiest to the poorest 10 percent of the nation) grew to 16.8 in 2007 from 16 a year earlier.
Today’s trend is that the middle class, i.e. the people with monthly per capita revenues of $500 to $3,000 is outpacing the super-rich segment. But the acceleration is evident for families with the annual income of above $125,000, while the poorest portion of middle class ($16,000 to $25,000 a year; some 10 million families) could hardly boast of the speed of this extent.
So, another social problem in today’s Russia is that no more than roughly 10 percent of the nation use all advantages of market economy, but some 20 percent to 25 percent have the potential and desire to earn money.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 27, 2008
|
|
|
