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Half of Russians Lack Money for Food
The portion of Russians who spend their entire income on food has dropped significantly in the last 15 years, Levada Center pollsters found. In 1992, 63 percent of all Russians indicated that they spend “almost all” their incomes on food. Now that figure is only 14 percent. Nonetheless, the portion of those who spend half or more of their income on food has risen.
Lowering of the share of income that goes to food is a sign of a rising standard of living. In developed countries, expenses on food do not exceed 15 percent. Therefore, experts continually point out the extremely high poverty rate in Russia, estimating that it engulfs between 13 and 20 percent of the population, around 20 million people. The Levada Center found that mostly pensioners, the unemployed, the handicapped and people over 55 without a higher education spend “almost all” their income on food.
A recent poll by the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) found that 52 percent of Russians limit their food buying due to high prices. However, Levada Center sociologists found that, on the whole, Russians spend less than half their incomes on food. But there is “fully enough” money for food, on the whole, among Russians with good educations between the ages of 25 and 40, who are most often entrepreneurs and managers.
Economists stress that economic growth and income growth are not enough to eradicate poverty, if able-bodied citizens are unable to guarantee themselves a socially acceptable standard of living because of low wages. Sociologists also uncovered a low standard of living. When asked “Is your current income sufficient to feed yourself and your family?” 40 percent answered “on the whole, yes” (compared to 33 percent in 1992), and 48 percent answered “on the whole, no” (52 percent in 1992). The lack of change in those proportion of those answering no cannot help but be alarming.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 16, 2008
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Photo: Vasily Deryugin
