Rosstat published data on the population with income below the poverty line in Q4 2022
In Q4 2022, the poverty line was 13762 rubles. The population with income below the poverty line in Q4 2022 was 11.6 million people, or 7.9% of the country's residents. This is 0.8 million people fewer than in Q4 2021. In general, in 2022, the number of low-income Russians decreased by 0.7 million people compared to 2021 and amounted to 15.3 million people, or 10.5% of the country's residents. Poverty reduction is associated with an increase in social benefits and the implementation of targeted social programs aimed at the most vulnerable groups of the population, as well as with an increase in wages, pensions and other types of income.
Q4 2022
The poverty line in Q4 2022 amounted to 13 762 rubles.
The population with incomes below the poverty line in Q4 2022 was 11.6 million people, or 7.9% of the country's residents.
Compared to Q4 2021, the population with incomes below the poverty line decreased by 0.8 million people – from 12.4 million to 11.6 million people – or by 0.6 percentage points (from 8.5% in Q4 2021 to 7.9% in Q4 2022).
Compared to Q3 2022, it decreased by 3.7 million people, or by 2.6 percentage points.
The main reason is the growth of the average per capita nominal monetary income of the population by 13.1% – from 48 169 rubles in Q4 2021 to 54 466 rubles in Q4 2022.
In general, the monetary incomes of the population in Q4 2022 amounted to 23.8 trillion rubles, an increase of 12.6% compared Q4 2021, and by 18.4% compared to Q3 2022.
The main drivers of reducing the number of low-income Russians were:
- an increase in social benefits
- social payments in Q4 2022 amounted to 4.7 trillion rubles (the share in the income structure is 19.7%);
- compared to Q4 2021 social payments increased by 542.0 billion rubles, or 13.1% to Q4;
- compared to Q3 2022, the volume of social payments in Q4 2022 increased by 316.1 billion rubles (from 4.4 trillion rubles to 4.7 trillion rubles), or by 7.2%.
- targeted state support for various categories of the poor (as of January 1, 2023)
- over 3 million families with 4.2 million children aged 3 to 7 years inclusive have received monthly cash payments for children;
- the monthly cash payment for a child aged 8 to 17 years (introduced on April 1, 2022) allowed to cover 3.7 million families with children. In 2022, more than 5.5 million children regularly received benefits;
- growth of wages and average salaries in various industries and activities
- the share of wages in the structure of household income in Q4 2022 amounted to 53.9%, or 12.8 trillion rubles;
- the average gross salary in nominal terms in Q4 2022 amounted to 71 377 rubles, an increase of 12.7 compared to the IV quarter of 2021%;
- the average gross salary in real terms increased in Q4 2022 by 0.5% to Q4 2021 and by 14.7% to Q3 2022;
- growth of business income
- income from business activities increased by 291.2 billion rubles in Q4 2022 compared to Q4 of 2021, or by 26.8%;
- the share of income from business activities in the income structure amounted to 5.8% in Q4 2022, an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to Q4 2021.
Due to the significant amounts of funds allocated for targeted social support measures, the incomes of the lowest income groups of the population (10% of the country's residents with the lowest incomes) increased by 41.0% in nominal terms in Q4 2022 compared to Q4 2021.
2022
The poverty line for 2022 as a whole amounted to 13 545 rubles.
The population with incomes below the poverty line in 2022 was 15.3 million people, or 10.5% of the country's residents.
Compared to 2021, the share of the country's poor population decreased by 0.7 million people – from 16.0 million to 15.3 million people – or by 0.5 percentage points (from 11.0% in 2021 to 10.5% in 2022).
The monetary income of the population in 2022 amounted to 79.1 trillion rubles, an increase of 12.2% compared to 2021. The average per capita nominal monetary income of the population increased by 12.4% in 2022 compared to 2021 to 45 272 rubles. The gross average monthly wages in nominal terms in 2022 amounted to 64 191 rubles, an increase of 12.6% compared to 2021.
The share of social benefits in the income structure in 2022 was 20.7%.
The share of income related to wages increased by 4.8 trillion rubles – from 40.4 trillion rubles in 2021 to 45.2 trillion rubles in 2022, accounting for 57.2% of the income structure in 2022. Business income increased by 989.2 billion rubles to 4.9 trillion rubles (the share in the income structure in 2022 is 6.2%).
Nevertheless, it should be noted that in 2022 there was a decrease in real monetary income of the population in the first three quarters of 2022 and a slight increase in Q4. In general, in 2022, real cash incomes decreased by 1.4% compared to 2021, and real disposable cash incomes decreased by 1.0%. Among the reasons are high inflation, as well as the effect of a high base in 2021, when recovery growth was recorded in most industries after the COVID–19 pandemic.
For more information, please see Rosstat official publication.