Comparative analysis of living standards in Russia and Germany

This article presents the comparative analysis of the Russian and German dynamic of the population’s living standard. The evaluation of the living standard is performed using the statistic materials of both countries’ sample household budgets surveys. The modern methodological approach to the calculation of the income adopted in the budget surveys is substantiated. The common dynamic of income and subsistence minimum is analyzed, and conclusions about the built tendencies in the living standard of the Russian population in 2000-2014 are made. The analysis of the territorial and social-demographic poverty profiles in Russia and Germany are performed, communities that have the highest poverty risk in both countries are defined. The long-term poverty peculiarities in Russia are described, such as poverty concentration in the countryside, poverty risk among the young population and families with kids, high poverty aptitude of the working population. In this article the consumption structures in Russia and Germany between 2005-2012 are compared. The built tendencies in consumption are connected to the living standard dynamic. Conclusions about the impairment of the positive tendencies in the consumption structure and in the living standard dynamic in the first half of the 2000-s.