Boris Vishnevsky’s commentary on Vladimir Putin’s statement that the middle class in Russia is 70% of the population

Boris Vishnevsky’s blog post at the Ekho Moskvi web-site, 19.03.2020

While discussing the coronavirus and Putin’s decree on appointing, despite everything, of a “nationwide vote” on amendments to the Constitution, in the evening I noticed something else, granite-strong statement made by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: it turns out that we have more than 70% of the middle class in our population.

What? What call would he made it? What do they smoke in the Kremlin?

Here is why.

Putin referred to the World Bank’s methodology, according to which the middle class are those whose incomes are 1.5 times higher than the subsistence level.

The subsistence minimum in Russia is 11,000 roubles (about 130 Euro).

In other words, those with monthly incomes above 17,000 roubles are those of the middle class.

And the subsistence minimum in Russia is the cost of the “consumer basket”.

Allegedly this is a sufficient minimum set of products, goods and services.

If it is possible to live on this “minimum”, then with great difficulty.

Because this is the level of poverty.

I wonder if officials of the government approving this “minimum” and the State Duma MPs would try to live a month on this “minimum”.

I think it would immediately turn out that a lot of vacancies emerge in the government and in the State Duma.

Why is the “minimum” so shamelessly low?

And here is why.

The system of receiving social benefits in Russia is designed in such a way that only those with incomes below the subsistence minimum are recognised as the poor, i.e. those who have the right to receive aid from the state.

And it is beneficial for the state to underestimate this “minimum”, accordingly reducing the number of those who need help. And saving on social benefits.

That is it about the allegedly “social state” as it is envisaged by the Constitution.

At the same time, the subsistence minimum in Luxembourg is 2,000 Euros, 1,200 Euros in Germany and Finland, 1,100 in Great Britain, 1,000 in Austria, and 850 in Italy.

In Russia, it is 130 Euros as of the present rouble/Euro rate.

Well, if you establish a subsistence minimum of 1,000 roubles, then the whole country will be categorised as the “middle class”…

But the point is that Putin lied once again.

The World Bank’s methodology implies that the middle class is people who can buy high-quality imported goods, cars, travel all over the world, get higher education by high international standards, have free funds that one can invest somewhere…

There are not 70% of such people in Russia, it would be good if there are 7% of such.

And this is a very optimistic assessment.

There is either complete incompetence or complete shamelessness of statements.

Well, what is there to say?

Originally published at the Ekho Moskvi web-site