In Russia, the number of citizens with incomes below the subsistence minimum for the first six months of 2017 decreased to 21.1 million people. Compared to 2016, when their total number was 21.4 million.

Such data was published by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). If we talk about the equivalent of the entire population of the country, then we are talking about 14.4% of Russian citizens. Directly in the first quarter of 2017, the number of poor was 22 million people, and in the second - 20.2 million. The figures above suggest that the country's poor population is decreasing. Whatever one may say, 800 thousand Russians broke out of the poverty line. This could well be facilitated by an increase in the subsistence minimum per capita. It grew by 4.2% in the second quarter of 2017. From 9909 to 10329 rubles per person per month, indicates Rosstat. Actually, the data is quite optimistic, which is to say. Yes, that's only with the data given do not converge figures announced in the middle of summer in the Accounting Chamber of Russia, writes "Free Press". "In the first quarter of 2017, the number of citizens who are below the poverty line - 15%, that is 22 million. This is more than the annual figures of 2016, "- said, speaking to the senators of the Federation Council, the head of the department Tatyana Golikova. She recalled that at the end of last year the number of poor in Russia was 19.8 million people. Based on the publication of the publication, some economists tend to trust more pessimistic reports. And they agree: Rosstat smoothes statistics. "I think the situation with the poor is closest to the truth of the Accounting Chamber figures. Rosstat refines statistics based on political goals. For example, underestimates consumer inflation. From the point of view of economic research, such an approach, as they say, beats backhand. Inflation, of course, is more than official indicators, "said Nikita Krichevsky, Ph.D. (Economics), professor, chief researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.. He was supported by Leonty Byzov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to the expert, they conducted their own research in this segment. And the conclusions were far from comforting, as Rosstat tries to present in its report. The number of poor in Russia at the moment is three million people. And this is for the most gentle indicators. "The number of poor in Russia is growing, and very significantly. This is evidenced by the data of studies conducted by our institute. This is, first of all, due to the subsidence of the most massive stratum of Russians, who in good times were drawn to the middle class. Perhaps, by all parameters in the middle class they were not included, but the poor were not considered. And the poor in prosperous times - before the collapse of the ruble in 2014 - accounted for 11-12% of the population of Russia. Even the figure of two million people, which was voiced by Tatiana Golikova, seems to me to be understated, "- said the expert.