World business, finance and political news from the Financial Times– FT.com Europe. Russian Middle Class to Number 74 Million by 2050, HSBC Predicts. Russia’s middle class will double to 60 percent of the population by 2050, benefiting hotels and restaurants, according to a report by HSBC Holdings Plc.
(HSBA) By that time, about 74 million Russians will earn between $3,000 and $15,000 a year, making them part of the middle class, according to an HSBC report received by e-mail today. That compares with 42 million, or 30 percent of the population last year, when 14 million people made less than $1,000, it said. By 2050, 49 million people will earn more than $15,000, according to the London-based lender. President Vladimir Putin, who returned to the Kremlin for a six-year term in May, wants to boost the size of the middle class to as much as 70 percent of the population, while reducing the country’s income gap.
To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Tanas in Moscow at otanas@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net. What is Russia’s middle class? Russia’s middle class must grow - Putin. The middle class must grow significantly in Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in the preamble to his upcoming election agenda, published on Monday in the Izvestiya daily.
Putin, who usually caters his comments to the country's blue collar workers, said in his article that Russia had seen a rise in the amount of people who could be called middle class over the last 10 years. “These are people with incomes that allow them to choose whether to spend or save, what to buy and how to spend their vacations,” Putin said. “These are people who can choose their politics.
As a rule, they have the educational that allows them to relate to politicans with awareness, and not vote with the heart alone.” Putin said that the Russian middle class now comprises from 20 to 30 percent of the population. However he also pledged to tackle poverty within the next ten years. “Ten to eleven percent of our nationals are still beneath the poverty line due to various reasons. Russia's Middle Class Is Prosperous but Powerless.
In Moscow, they are "non-Soviet Russians.
" In New Delhi, they are a "political Goliath" that may soon awaken. In Beijing and Sao Paolo, they are lawyers and other professionals who complain about glacial state bureaucracies and endemic graft. Prosperity is spreading in many emerging market nations, but political change is not. Economic liberalization has sparked vast economic changes in the BRIC nations of China, India, Russia and Brazil. A middle class that was once made up of government servants is now dominated by private-sector employees. At the same time, government institutions that once provided the basics of life — education, health care and employment — are crumbling. For middle-class Russians, economic power has not brought political power. Non-Soviet Russians have a modern outlook free of Russia's traditional state paternalism. "They want modernization," a Russian analyst who asked not to be named, said in a recent interview in Moscow.
Untitled Document. Bureaucracy..elite..social layer..unstable Does a middle class exist in Russia?
By Maria Fyodorova FreedomForum The middle class in Russia scarcely resembles the middle class in the United States or Western Europe where it represents more or less the majority of the population and is defined by a certain (high) level of income, an educated and professional status, ownership of a decent real estate, a healthy political conservatism and an interest in maintaining the status quo. According to some analysts, the middle class per se does not yet exist in post-Communist Russia, with its huge gap between the living standard of a small elite and the rest of the population.
Nevertheless, in Russia, a social layer is gradually forming that belongs neither to the elite nor to ''the poor.'' Its foundations consist of three basic groups. BRIC Middle Class. Russia’s middle class: at the centre or on the periphery of Russian politics? 16 February 2012 by Lilia Ovcharova The peaceful demonstrations in the wake of the Duma elections on 4 December 2011 came as a surprise not only to the international public but also to the Russian leadership.
The obvious discontent of the urban population and their demand for fair elections and more political participation sheds new light on Russian society. After years of political apathy a new social stratum, often categorised as the ‘Russian middle class’, seems to be emerging. This may form the crucible for more profound political changes in the future.
Creating a middle class from scratch? After several years of economic growth, in the middle of the last decade Russia’s political leadership defined new priorities for the country’s long-term development. Several years later, however, a closer look at the revenues, professional activities and ‘financial strategies’ of Russian households reveals that the Russian leadership’s policy is still far from achieving its aim. Conclusion [2] T. A Rising Middle Class Will Fuel Growth in Russia. Stable gross domestic product growth, declining inflation and a record-low unemployment rate are pointing to positive consumer purchasing power in Russia.
The Russian middle class, which stands at 104 million strong, is fueling that power. This segment of the population is projected to rise 16 percent between now and 2020, at which point it will represent 86 percent of the population and amount to $1.3 trillion in spending—up 40 percent from 2010, based on a global study of the emerging middle class and related databases by Dr. Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution. “There is an equal share of money at the top and in the middle,” said Dr. A Rising Middle Class Will Fuel Growth in Russia. Reimagining Russia's Middle Class - Sean's Russia Blog. Making it work in Russia - Middle class consumer profile. The middle class in Russia is stronger than other emerging markets and growing vigorously.
Consumer products companies have a great interest in the Russian middle class and mass markets. They are promoting international brands at price points comparable with local products. Still, buying power is stronger in urban markets than rural ones. In Search of Russia’s Middle Class. The 2011-2012 pro-democracy rallies in Russia pointed to a growing political awareness and political muscle of the country’s middle class.
Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, discusses the Russian middle class, its social nature and its political potential. The demonstrations in the wake of Russia’s falsified 2011-2012 parliamentary and presidential elections came as a shock not only to the international public, but also to the Kremlin. After years of apathy, a new social force—the Russian middle class—seemed to be emerging, with a message that included not only a political, but also a moral and emotional rejection of the corrupt authoritarian state that developed during the Putin era.
While some observers had previously noted a growing sense of popular frustration, most did not expect the opposition to mobilize so soon or so quickly. БГД - Социально-экономические индикаторы бедности в 2008-2011 гг. What is the Russian Middle Class? Probably Not What You Think. What is the Russian Middle Class? Probably Not What You Think.