CHALLENGES OF POVERTY OF THE RUSSIAN POPULATION AND WAYS TO SOLVE THEM

Abstract

The article studies the challenges of poverty and social inequality of the Russian population: status, features and formulated recommendations. According to Rosstat, the number of Russians living below the poverty line reached 19.6 million people in 2020. In 2013–2020, all Russians became 10% poorer. These figures confirm the urgency of solving the issue of combating poverty in Russia. The article presents the results of a study of the state of the issue, considers the factors, causes and conditions under the influence of which the level of poverty is formed, social inequalities in people’s living standards are created. These are the low level of primary incomes, which affects labor productivity, incorrect definitions by some officials of the causes of poverty, existing categories of “new poor” and chronically poor. As recommendations for combating poverty and social inequality, the article suggests: using world experience and, first of all, the experience of China, which has achieved great success in the area in a short time; a set of measures to ensure economic growth by increasing labor productivity and creating jobs with potentially high salaries; the development of the high-tech manufacturing, science, education and healthcare; the use of the digital, energy-saving and hydrogen technologies; improving the mechanisms of payment of various benefits and one-time payments, conditional basic income; significantly increasing the minimum wage. The presented solutions can be implemented both at enterprises and in the regions, and in the country as a whole. With an integrated approach, those solutions will be able to reduce the severity of the challenge of poverty and social inequality in full or bring it to a socially acceptable level.