Who is considered the middle class in Russia and can you refer yourself to it?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The status is influenced by income, education and several other important criteria.

What is the middle class

There is no precise and unambiguous definition of the middle class. It is believed that it includes families that are able to satisfy basic needs by their own labor, without the help of the state. This is how they differ from the poor, who need material support, and the rich, whose opportunities are not limited by basic needs. It also takes into account the conditions in which the family lives, whether they have savings, what they can buy and where to go.

For a long time it was generally accepted that there is no middle class in Russia. However, the researchers found that it is not just there, but makes up 38.2% of the country's population.

Taking into account the latest data, we will figure out who is considered the middle class and whether you can rank yourself among it.

What distinguishes the middle class

The middle class is characterized by the following indicators.

Income

The median salary is used for classification. This is not the same as the average, for the calculation of which all incomes are added and divided by the number of people receiving them. As a result, there is that anecdotal situation when "you eat cabbage, I am meat, and together we eat cabbage rolls." Not surprisingly, given the spread of wages in Russia, the average is skeptical.

The median salary is the median line: the same number of workers get more or less.

For example, in a company of 11 employees, five people receive 20 thousand rubles each, one - 30 thousand, four - 70 thousand each, and the CEO - 1 million rubles. The average salary in a company would be 128 thousand rubles. And the median is 30 thousand.

By default, the middle class is considered to be those who earn from 0.75 to 1.25 median. However, studies have shown that this does not work for Russia. In our country, the risk of becoming poor over the next five years for people with such incomes is 20%. And in general, they are characterized by an unstable financial situation.

In Russia, it is proposed to raise the lower level of earnings of the middle class to 1.25 of the median salary. To be considered the middle class, you need to receive from 76 thousand in Moscow, from 53 thousand in cities with a population of more than 100 thousand people and from 36 thousand in cities with a population of up to 100 thousand people and villages. But it would be more correct to consider the average per capita income - how much money is for each family member. This will:

• for Moscow - 35 thousand with a median of 28 thousand;
• for cities with a population of more than 100 thousand people - from 20, 5 thousand with a median of 16, 3 thousand;
• for cities with a population of less than 100 thousand people - from 18, 3 thousand with a median of 14, 6 thousand;
• for villages - 15 thousand with a median of 12 thousand.

Important: indicators of average per capita median income in the study are significantly lower than in Rosstat reports. Choose for yourself whether to believe official statistics or scientists.

On a per capita basis, dependents affect the chances of getting into the middle class. According to the study, having one child reduces the chances of entering the core of the middle class by 1.5 times, two or more - four times. Scientists conclude that the current level of wages "does not even provide for simple demographic reproduction", since the birth of children can throw a family out of the middle class and become poor.

Use of certain services

The indicator 1.25 of the median for income was not chosen by chance. Such wages not only reduce the risk of poverty. Having crossed this bar, people begin to massively use educational, health and tourism services.

Paid medicine stands out separately. People with less income also use it. But for them this is due to the inaccessibility of some free services: the polyclinic does not have the necessary doctor or does not do a specific analysis. People with an income of more than 1.25 median go to commercial polyclinics because they are dissatisfied with the quality of the work of state medical institutions.

Living conditions

As indicated in the study, over the past three years, 16% of the representatives of the group with incomes over 1.25 median have acquired new housing, and only 9.1% - with incomes of 0.75-1.25 median. The middle class houses and apartments are 20% more spacious and have access to all amenities.

Some approaches suggest taking into account the number of square meters per person. But in Russia this is not very productive, since it is not always directly related to income. For example, a house in a village may be larger in size than an apartment in the center of Moscow.

Professional status

The middle class more often includes:

• legislators;
• officials;
• top and middle managers;
• specialists of the highest qualification level;
• mid-level specialists;
• office clerks and customer service staff.

In addition, a person must have a power resource, that is, be able to influence what is happening in the organization and manage a group of subordinates.

Education

We are talking about at least one higher education, although in the Russian middle class only 47.1% of the population have it. And the total number of years of study must exceed 14 (the school also counts).

Saving

The middle class is distinguished by the presence of a country house or a second home or a large amount of savings, for which you can purchase this home or at least a foreign car without loans and borrowings.

How to know if you are middle class

People who meet all of the above criteria are considered the core of the middle class. But there are only 7, 5% of the country's population. Another 11.2% belong to the near periphery, 19.5% - to the far, but both of them fall into the middle class.

If you earn more than the median, but do not have the required education or professional status, or if you have education and status, but income is in the range of 0.75-1.25 from the median, then you are in the middle class.

By the way, it also matters what you think of yourself. Self-identification is one of the important hallmarks of this economic division.

For greater accuracy, you can use the following checklist. If you give “yes” to most of the questions, then you are in the middle class:

1. Is your salary higher than the median?
2. And has it grown since the spring of 2014?
3. Is your family's average per capita income higher than the median?
4. Have you studied for over 14 years in total?
5. Do you have subordinate people or other authority in the organization?
6. Do you have a summer cottage, a second home or a large savings in the amount of several salaries?
7. Over the past three years, have you used paid education, travel or health services (excluding medical services)? If you bought ready-made tours or traveled in general, visited a massage parlor or a sanatorium, attended any courses, answer yes.
8. Is your income sufficient to meet the needs of your family?
9. Is it easier for you to find help through social media than the national average? For example, if you want to change jobs, you are more likely to find a new offer through Facebook than through HeadHunter. In social networks, you will be quickly advised by a cool specialist - from a plasterer to a veterinarian for your beloved hamster. There is no reference point here, so you have to rely on personal feelings.
10. Do you consider yourself middle class?

What else you need to know about the middle class

If you categorize yourself in this category, consider retirement in advance. It is the representatives of the middle class who lose the most in income when they stop working after reaching the established age. To soften this blow, it is necessary to postpone for old age now.