Russians Below Median have had Worst Decline in Incomes since 1980 in the World, Economic Inequality Database Shows

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 13 – Few things infuriated Soviet citizens in the last decade of the USSR than having their country referred to as “Upper Volta with missiles,” an apt characterization of a situation in the Soviet Union had modern weapons but only at the price of the Soviet people living in penury.

            Now, a prominent Moscow economist, Nikita Krichevsky says the situation with regard to economic growth at the bottom and top of the Russian wealth pyramid is such that “one must not even call us ‘white Africa’” because the numbers for Russians are so disturbing (ru.telegram.one/glavmedia/44321).

            Using the World Economic Inequality Database for economic growth at the bottom and top of the economic pyramids of various countries between 1980 and 2016, the economist notes that Russia is the only country in the world where the incomes of the bottom half of the population fell and not by a small amount but by 26 percent.

            The rate for the incomes of the Russian population as a whole increased 34 percent over this period but only because the further up the income latter, the greater the percentage growth.  Those in the middle 40 percent stratum saw their incomes go up by five percent over those 36 years. But the people in the 90^th percentile and above saw their incomes skyrocket.

            Those in the top one percent saw their incomes grow by 686 percent; those in the top 0.1 percent saw theirs go up by 2562 percent; those in the top 0.01 percent saw theirs rise by 8239 percent; and those in the top 0.001 percent saw their soar by 25260 percent, the data show.  The wealthiest have done better everywhere but nowhere as well as in Russia.

            Once these figures are known -- and the situation is getting worse in the current crisis – no one should be surprised that the Russian people are dissatisfied. They have every right to be: “This income stratification is horrific.”  According to Krichevsky, “one must not even call us ‘white Africa’” after becoming familiar with these figures.