In 2024, **** million people in Russia lived below the poverty line, marking a considerable decrease compared to the previous year. The number of Russian residents that earned an income below the subsistence minimum was nearly ** million higher in 2000. What percentage of Russians live in poverty? Looking at annual figures, Russia’s poverty rate has declined since 2015, when it exceeded ** percent. Over ***** percent of the population of Russia lived below the national poverty line in 2024. Several other Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Latvia, reported higher poverty rates. Subsistence minimum in Russia Starting from January 1, 2025, the monthly per capita subsistence minimum in Russia stood at ****** Russian rubles for the working-age population and at ****** Russian rubles on average. That figure includes the cost of essential goods, such as food products, clothing, and medicines, and services, such as utilities and transportation expenses. The subsistence minimum was lower than the average wage in Russia, which was set at ****** Russian rubles from January 1, 2025.

In February and March 2020, 84 percent of polled Russians considered the inequality between the rich and the poor in their country to constitute a major issue. Sharp social divisions and an unequal income distribution worried nearly 30 percent of Russians in 2019.