What is included in the cost of living?

For sure, each of us at least once heard the words "minimal consumer basket" and "subsistence minimum". Many know that these indicators are based on the calculation of subsidies and payments. But what is included in the cost of living, and what makes up the consumer basket, know not all.

The minimum consumer basket includes not only food products, as it may seem at first glance, but also a number of non-food products, as well as services. School-written goods, shoes, hats, electricity, transportation services, necessities and much more - that's what's included in the consumer basket. It regulates the number and time of consumed products separately for children, separately for adults working people, separately for retired people.

For example, it is estimated that an able-bodied person should consume 133.7 kg of bread, cereals and pasta per year. The same figure for the child is 84 kg.

In addition to flour, this list includes potatoes, vegetables and fruits, confectionery and sugar, butter and vegetable oil, meat, dairy and seafood, eggs, salt, spices and tea. As you can see, the list is quite full and the menu is quite diverse. Another thing is that the number of products leaves much to be desired. For example, an adult person is entitled to only 23 kg of fruit per year - about 600 grams. for 10 days. Or take the same sugar with confectionery. Put 22.2 kg per year, which corresponds to 60 gr. A day - two tablespoons of sugar or a tablespoon of sugar and a couple of biscuits. Of course, it is not necessary to talk about decent living with such figures.

Approximately the same picture in non-food goods. An adult able-bodied person is supposed to have 3 things from the top coat group (which includes coats, jackets, coats) for 7.6 years. And 5 pairs of pantyhose, stocking or socks per year.

What is included in the subsistence minimum and how is it related to the consumer basket? In fact, the subsistence level is the consumer basket, expressed in monetary terms. Somewhere milk costs 30 rubles, somewhere around 50. Based on real prices for products and services in each region and deduce the size of the minimum subsistence minimum. In total 33 names of food products, 85 items of family and individual goods and services are all that is included in the subsistence level.

For someone, it will most likely be unexpected that the largest living wage is not in the capital and St. Petersburg, but in the Chukchi and Nenets Autonomous Areas and the Kamchatka Territory. This is due to the high level of prices for the most needed products. And vice versa, the lowest is in the southern regions, where prices for fruits and vegetables are lower.

Why is it important to know what is included in the cost of living and what is its size? Low-income families, in which the average per capita income is lower than this indicator, can issue subsidies for housing, utilities, have the right to receive targeted assistance. Moms in the decree, whose income does not reach this minimum, can receive free meals for the baby, as well as a small amount of material assistance from the state.

It's no secret that it is included in the subsistence minimum and payment for utilities, central heating, and utilities. True, if you believe the calculations, for one person in the family relies 18 square. M. Of the total area of the apartment. Of course, if people live in a family of 2-3 people in a one-room apartment, each will have 18 squares and even less. But elderly and lonely, living in apartments of 35-36 square meters. Meters is difficult, because the real costs for utility payments will be much higher than calculated.

In general, the amount of the subsistence minimum determines how much money a person needs to minimize all his needs.