OREANDA-NEWS  Rosstat plans to conduct research on the level of poverty in Russia by the modernized method since 2020, reported in the Ministry of Labor. The analysis of the current methodology carried out in the Department showed the need to expand the sample of respondents.

​"Rosstat plans to supplement the sample with those categories that are not currently presented in the study. For example, women with children under six years," the Ministry said. Preparations for the transition to the new methodology will be completed this year.

President Vladimir Putin in his May 2018 decree set the task of achieving a twofold reduction in poverty by 2024. According to Rosstat data for January-September 2018, 19.6 million Russians had incomes below the subsistence minimum, which is 13.3% of the population. The subsistence minimum in the third quarter of 2018 amounted to 10 451 rubles.

Modernization of the methodology can increase the overall rate of the number of poor in the country, warned the Director of the Institute of social analysis and forecasting Ranepa Tatiana Maleva. "Of all families with children, this category (women with children under six years) is the most vulnerable," she stressed.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection Maxim Topilin said that to reduce the number of poor citizens twice need a "breakthrough". According to him, about 80% of families below the poverty line are families with children. "Efforts should focus on families with two children and large families," the Minister said.

The inclusion of women with children under six in the sample is due to the fact that this category is at risk of poverty, explained Maleva. "The state encourages the birth of children, but social support for families with children is very uneven in age: it is provided to the family until the child reaches one and a half years, but then there is a sharp decline in family income. It is difficult to hold out until school," said Maleva. Starting from the age of seven, children go to school, where students from low-income families have social support measures, for example, free food, travel, etc., she said.