Putin: Russians’ incomes remain quite modest

Russians’ incomes are growing, but still remain quite modest. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with moderators of sessions of the Eastern Economic Forum (WEF).

“Citizens’ incomes are growing today. And real wages are growing this year, this is true, and real incomes are growing. But overall, they are still quite modest,” said the head of state (quote according to TASS).

In this regard, Putin continued, it is impossible to “impose on people” the obligation to insure their housing. He noted that he cannot “order people to pay from today to tomorrow,” since citizens will incur additional costs. At the same time, Putin added that we need to gradually move towards compulsory home insurance.

According to Rosstat, the monetary income of the population in the second quarter of 2023 amounted to 21 trillion rubles, increasing by 7.8% compared to April-June 2022. The growth of real cash income during this period was 5%. In the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year, they increased by 3.9%.

In addition, in the second quarter of 2023, the share of low-income Russians decreased by 1.3 percentage points or by 1.9 million citizens compared to the same period in 2022 – to 15.7 million people, or 10.8% of the country’s population. In the first six months of 2023, the number of Russians with incomes below the poverty line decreased by 1.6 million people compared to the first half of 2022 – to 17.3 million people.