Inequality rising in Russia – data

Income disparity among the Russian population increased in 2023, according to the latest report on the social and economic situation in the country by Rosstat, the official statistics agency.

Rosstat uses the Gini index, a measure of income distribution across a population, which assesses inequality on a scale from 0 to 1, where higher values indicate higher inequality.

The index reading rose to 0.403 last year, up from 0.395 in 2022, meaning that the income gap among the population had increased, according to Rosstat.

“In 2023, according to preliminary data, the 10% of the population that are the highest earners accounted for 29.7% of total income (29.1% in 2022) and the 10% most disadvantaged population accounted for 2.0% (2.1% in 2022),” reads the report.

The document also states that real wages in Russia increased by 7.8% last year. ‘Real wages’ is a term used to describe income adjusted for inflation, or wages in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought.

The average monthly salary at the end of last year, according to preliminary data, amounted to an equivalent of $810.

In a keynote speech at the Federal Assembly on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin tasked the government with reducing poverty among the population from the current 9% to below 7% by 2030.

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