What is the poorest city in Russia? Top of the poorest cities in Russia

Specialists of the Department of Sociology at the Financial University of the Russian Federation annually carry out a large-scale study on the citizens' assessment of the cities of their country's material well-being. The poorest city in Russia, according to experts, is Togliatti. In the studies involved cities with a population exceeding 500 thousand people. Residents of the country had to independently assess their level of welfare on a 5-point scale. Under number one, the situation is hidden when citizens of the state hardly earn their own food. The figure five speaks of the possibility of buying real estate. Based on these indicators, it was possible to calculate the poverty index for each locality.

10 most insignificant cities of Russia

According to the estimates of the Department of Sociology, the list of the poorest cities in Russia includes the following populated areas:

• Togliatti with a poverty index of 0.8.
• Astrakhan with an indicator of 0.68.
• Penza with an indicator of 0.6.
• Volgograd with the index of 0.59.
• Saratov with the index of 0.55.
• Rostov-on-Don with an indicator of 0.53.
• Lipetsk with the index of 0.52.
• Barnaul with a score of 0.5.
• Naberezhnye Chelny with the index of 0.5.
• Voronezh - the indicator of 0,49.

In contrast to the poorest settlements of the country, the smallest poverty index was recorded in Vladivostok and Moscow, in Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and Kazan. The assessment of the situation was not based on statistical official data, it was built solely on the opinion of the inhabitants of each individual settlement.

General characteristics of poverty by cities

The share of critically poor young men, recorded in the territory of Saratov, was 5%. This indicator for cities on average is 4%. To assess the situation, young people from 18 to 30 years old were considered. In the same village, the largest number of low-income men is about 36%, while the average for the country is 35%. The settlement was noted and the poorest youth, which accounted for at least 5% of the national average of 4%. Low-income youth is 42%, while the average for the country does not exceed 38%. The share of critically poor people is 14%, with an average of 11%, and low-income people - 53%, with an average of 51%. The total poverty index of this settlement is 0.55, and it ranks 5 in the rating. Despite record figures, the poorest city in Russia is Togliatti. The study provided information that the peak of poverty, which affected both the northern cities of Russia, and the southern ones, accounted for by the end of 2011. It was at that time that more than 18% of the country's inhabitants did not have the means to buy food. By mid-2012, the population, which referred to the poor, fell to 9-11%.

The reverse side of the medal or the most prosperous city

Russia's millionaires are the back of poverty. According to the evaluation of the Department of Sociology and with an orientation toward the poverty index, the most affluent inhabitants of the country live in the following settlements:

• In Vladivostok - with a poverty index of 0.08.
• In Moscow - 0.08.
• In Yekaterinburg - 0,14.
• In Kazan - 0,2.
• In Tyumen it is 0.23.
• In Krasnodar - 0,25.
• In St. Petersburg - 0,26.
• In Orenburg - 0,27.
• In Irkutsk it is 0.27.
• In Novosibirsk it is 0.28.

35 cities participated in the research. Interviewed in the most prosperous cities of the country did not practically consider the situation of lack of funds for food and basic necessities. Most of the respondents confidently attributed themselves to either the fourth or the fifth category of wealth, where there is an opportunity to purchase personal transport and real estate.

General summary of information

Togliatti is the poorest city in Russia. About 57% of the residents of the village are poor. The second place went to Saratov, where 56% of low-income people live. The top three leaders in this category are Penza, whose population is 53% poor. On the back of the scale - Vladivostok, Moscow and Yekaterinburg. According to the survey, only 2% of critically poor men and critically poor young people live on the territory of the Northern Capital. The share of poor people is only 10%. The category of low-income men here is 32%, and for low-income youth - only 33%. In total, the share of low-income residents is not more than 48%. It can be added that over the past 10 years, from 2003 to 2014, the number of critically poor people in the country has decreased from 37% to 10%. At the same time, there has been a tendency for the poor to grow in the last few years, from 46% to 54%.

A little about Togliatti

Top of the poorest cities in Russia is headed by Togliatti - a settlement on the territory of which about 700 thousand people live. According to preliminary data, 13% of residents are registered here, who have certain difficulties with the purchase of food products. The share of low-income people in the village reaches 57%. It is worth mentioning about 45% of young people who fall into this category. Twin-cities in the misery of Togliatti were the cities of Astrakhan and Penza with a population of 530 and 520 thousand people. The proportion of the poor is 56% and 53%. The statistics surprised the experts, since it was Tolyatti who was usually called the "capital of the domestic car industry". The city-forming enterprise that now decorates the poorest city in Russia is the flagship of the automobile industry, JSC AvtoVAZ. Information on whether the impact of the massive layoffs of 2014 had on the situation and statistics, nowhere appears and does not spread. There is only a risk of social unrest, which can cover cities in the south of Russia and the north.

What does the government say?

December 16, 2014 O. Golodets, who holds the post of vice president, said that in Russia recorded 15.7 million poor people. In the conditions of inflation, their number will increase systematically. The names of cities in Russia, which will fall into the category of the poor, will increasingly appear in the media in the future. According to Olga Golodets, the purchasing power of citizens of the country in the near future will significantly decrease. This trend will cover cities in both the north and south of Russia. Rosstat provided very interesting information that in the first 12 days of January 2015 the inflation rate in the country reached 0.8%. If we talk about this value for the last year, it was only 0.3%. According to forecasts, by the end of spring, the growth rate should reach a value of 15-17%. As for inflation, by the end of 2015 its value is expected to reach 13.7%.

Methodology of poverty assessment in Russia

The list of the poorest cities in Russia was compiled not just so, but on the basis of a large-scale study. The indicator was studied not on the basis of statistical data or even on the availability of access to goods. The poorest city in Russia was determined on the basis of a self-assessment of the level of well-being that the population itself made. In the process of sociological research, Russians were asked to answer the question of their own income, namely, to what category it is suitable. Five options were chosen:

• There is hardly enough money for food.
• Means are sufficient only for food and for daily necessities.
• The money is enough to buy large household appliances, such as a refrigerator, a washing machine.
• There is an opportunity to buy a new car.
• Means are sufficient for all needs, including for the purchase of real estate.

Combining categories into groups

To conclude that Togliatti is the poorest city in Russia, has allowed the following approach. According to the classification, the first group of people is a critically poor population. The first and second groups together form an interlayer of low-income population of Russia. The issue of poverty is very relevant and plays a great social and political role. This is due to the emergence of social unrest with a significant decline in the standard of living Russians. Such trends do not cover Russia's millionaires.

What was the basis for calculating the poverty index?

The poverty index, which made it possible to determine the names of Russian cities where the poorest population of the country lives, was calculated on the basis of the fact that the basis of the state labor force is not the low-income social group of citizens as such, but the unemployed youth. The study focused on the proportion of poor and critically poor men and young people aged between 18 and 30. In order to determine which southern and northern cities of Russia are most unsuccessful, it was decided to use only six classes:

• The percentage of critically poor young men from 18 to 30.
• The percentage of low-income young men aged 18 to 30 years.
• The percentage of critically poor youth from 18 to 30 years, both men and women.
• The percentage of low-income youth from 18 to 30 years, both men and women.
• The number of critically poor residents of the city.
• The volume of low-income residents of the city.

Each indicator was recalculated into a special index. The resulting poverty index, which became the basis for rating formation, is the arithmetic mean of all the above indicators. The higher the value of the index, the worse the situation within a certain locality. The conducted researches only confirmed the fact that in Russia and today there is a fairly large percentage of people who are used to treating themselves to the lowest secured property groups.