Putin: too many people in Russia live below the poverty line
Speaking at a meeting with cabinet ministers, Putin said that one of the country’s main unresolved problems is a large number of people living on income below the poverty line, TASS reports.
The Head of State noted that there are now 20 million poor people in Russia, and recalled that recently the figure had been 15 million people.
"The economic crisis of recent years, the decline in oil prices, and some other causes - including external constraints - have done their dirty work, and the number of people living below the [poverty] line has unfortunately increased," Putin said.
The President recalled his speech at the recent congress of United Russia, where he called for "targeting poverty".
In June, the head of the Accounts Chamber, Tatyana Golikova, said that the number of poor people in Russia had increased by 2 million in the first quarter of 2017, reaching 22 million. "This is more than the annual figure for 2016 [of] 19.8 million people," she noted. Minister of Labor and Social Protection Maxim Topilin reported in September that about 60% of poor families in Russia are families with children.
As a result of the second quarter of 2017, the living wage in Russia amounted to 10,329 thousand rubles ($179 USD). The minimum wage will increase to 9,489 ($165 USD) rubles on January 1, 2018.