< br />
MOSCOW, June 7 The population of the Russian Federation with cash incomes below the poverty line in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to 19.6 million people, or 13.5%, follows from the preliminary data of Rosstat.
The initial value of the «poverty line» is set at the level of the last calculated value of the subsistence minimum based on the consumer basket. This is the cost of living for the fourth quarter of 2020, which will increase quarterly in line with inflation.
As follows from the data of Rosstat, the basic poverty line in the fourth quarter of 2020 was 11,329 rubles. In the first quarter of this year, the value of the poverty line amounted to 14,026 rubles (an increase of 23.81% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020).
In the first quarter of 2022, the number of Russians with cash incomes below the poverty line was 20.9 million people, or 14.3%; in the second quarter — 17.6 million people, or 12.1%. In the third quarter of 2022, 15.3 million people (10.5% of the population) were below the poverty line; in the fourth quarter — 11.6 million people, or 7.9% (the lowest value in the history of observations).
«The population with incomes below the poverty line amounted to 19.6 million people, or 13.5% of the country's inhabitants. Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the share of the poor decreased by 0.8 p.p., from 20.9 million to 19 .6 million people. The implementation of targeted social programs aimed at the most vulnerable groups of the population, as well as the growth of wages, pensions and other types of income, influenced the reduction of poverty,» the statistical agency said in a comment.
The Statistical Office also notes that the volume of social payments to the population in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to 3.4 trillion rubles (19.4% in the structure of total cash income) and increased by 4.1% in annual terms.
According to the latest data from Rosstat, the number of people with incomes below the poverty line in the Russian Federation amounted to 14.3 million people, or 9.8%, last year.