‘Moscow Becoming a Very Uncomfortable City for Those Over 45,’ Pryanikov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 30 – In an attempt to compensate for falling incomes, Muscovites of middle age and above are increasingly renting out their own apartments and living full time in their dachas outside of the city, Pavel Pryanikov says.  As a result, now in summer months but soon over most of the year, the population of the city and of the oblast will be roughly the same.  

            In fact, the Moscow commentator says, this is changing the nature of the city, with longtime residents living outside the city limits and their places taken by people from other parts of the Russian Federation or even the CIS (rusmonitor.com/pavel-pryanikov-moskva-stanovitsya-ochen-neuyutnym-gorodom-dlya-lyudejj-starshe-45-50-let.html and moskvichmag.ru/pouehavshie-realnoe-naselenie-moskvy-na-16-mln-menshe-ofitsialnoj-statistiki/).

                Ever more dacha owners, Pryanikov says, are becoming landlords, with a large share of their income derived not from work but rather from rents, a shift that changes their attitudes toward the city and toward other generations in ways that few have paid much attention to (https://t.me/proeconomics/2385 and https://t.me/proeconomics/320).

            Many parts of Moscow, he continues, are being developed specifically for young urban professionals; and some of this is leading to a situation in which those over 45 are no longer comfortable or welcome. In part, this is simply the result of development. But in part, it is actively promoted by those looking to make money.

            Whatever the cause, however, Pryanikov says, “Moscow is becoming an ever more uncomfortable city for people older than 45 or 50” (cf. facebook.com/ppryanikov/posts).