The number of people with income below living wage in the 1st quarter of 2013 ceased to get reduced and increased in comparison with similar period of last year by half a million people (from 19,1 to 19,6 million people, or from 13,5 to 13,8% of the population of Russia).
The chairman of Editorial board of Forum.msk Mikhail Delyagin emphasized illegality of the traditionally official name “poor” used towards Russians with income below living wage. In his opinion, it is possible to consider poor those people whose current income doesn't allow to purchase goods of long use, in particular, of simple household appliances. The share of such people in Russia, according to sociological polls (in particular of Levada center) steadily exceeds 80%. People whose income is below living wage (especially if to consider probable underestimated character of the last), as appears from its name, has no means for maintenance of life itself, who simply slowly die.
"It’s not poverty, it’s beggary", - known Russian economist specified, having emphasized that considerable part of the Russian not just poor, but starveling beggars works full time getting insignificant wages.
"There’s no real protection of the rights of citizens of Russia on worthy payment in our country", - he noted.
In his opinion, increase in number and especially in share of beggars is not simply demolition of one of favorable tendencies of last years, it’s social and economic expression of end of the period of so-called "Putin stability".
Mikhail Delyagin noted illegality of comparison of indicator of share and number of beggars with data of the last quarter "owing to exclusively high seasonality of the indicator, due to this fact it’s correct to compare data of the 1st quarter of this year to the data of similar period of last year, but not to the previous IV quarter".