The concept of "middle class", although it has the same semantic load for different countries, implies a different income level for each of them. This layer between the poor and rich in each country also has a different quantitative expression and is an indicator of economic well-being, therefore it is of interest also as a criterion for the state of the economy in Russia.
There is no universal definition of such a concept as the "middle class", which, however, is often used by sociologists and economists as a statistical indicator. What meaning is invested in it depends on the particular country, its political and economic situation. That social stratum of the population, which can be called the Russian middle class, undoubtedly has become more prosperous in recent years, but its financial condition remains very unstable.
The living standards of the Russian middle class are much lower than those inherent in the middle class in the West, and there is no hope that in the foreseeable future they will become the same. If you focus on external signs of belonging to the middle class, adopted in the EU countries, then the Russian owners of smartphones, iPods, digital cameras and other signs of high purchasing power, in fact, do not belong to the middle class - their incomes are higher.
When determining the level of income, comparing the Russian middle class with the European one, it should be borne in mind that the cost of living in Russia is still lower. To recalculate, you can use such a parameter as purchasing power parity, which, using the IMF data, can be taken to be approximately equal to 28%. The middle class income should be increased by this coefficient when assessing them, in order to get a real picture.
For many years, experts at the Higher School of Economics have been dealing with questions about the number of people who can be attributed to the middle class and the level of their income. According to their assessment, today the pass to the layer called the "Russian middle class" is the amount of monthly income per person in the family of at least 30 thousand rubles. In addition, a family belonging to this social category should already be provided with their own housing, have a car and a bank account.
A couple of years ago, only 20-25% of Russian families fell into this category of the population. Currently, experts estimate this value at 27%, i.e. We can say that there is no noticeable increase in population income growth. As for the professional activities of those who are in this layer, these are traditionally those who are associated with the oil and gas industry, work in the foreign exchange sector, in the electric power industry, and in rail transport. Recently, among those who can be attributed to the middle class, the proportion of officials and the military has been increasing.
