Living standards in small Russian towns

The paper presents analysis of new empirical data from the sample survey of small town population conducted in October 2011 in Nizhny Novgorod oblast. The obtained results show that the living standards in small towns are much lower than in Nizhny Novgorod oblast on the average, and this concerns all main characteristics except the living space provision. However, the housing stock is characterized by a low level of comfort due to a high share of old private houses. The share of town-dwellers dissatisfied with the access to quality social services makes 10- 20%. About half of the households have plots of land out of town, which are mostly used for provision with foodstuffs. The main factors of the relatively low living standards are the specifics of town economy and labour market.