MOSCOW, 30 January 2024. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a monitoring study describing the financial situation of Russians and their financial goals.
Stability is key
Russians can be divided into three groups based on their financial expectations. The first group is the most numerous – those –who do not expect any changes (43%, -17 p.p. compared to 2014). This group is primarily represented by women (47% vs. 37% of men) and older age respondents (49% of those aged over 60 vs. 36-35% of the under 35s), as well as those who consider their financial situation as average (51%).
The other two groups are almost equal in size – optimists (28%) and pessimists (24%, +7 p.p. compared to 2014). The share of the optimists is slightly bigger; their percentage is an all-time high over the entire period of measurement since 2009 (15% in 2014).
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The group of those who do not expect changes in their financial situation has been dominant over the entire period of measurement since 2009. The balance between pessimism and optimism has almost been the same, with an exclusion in 2009 when the share of the pessimists was twice as big (26% and 12%).
Financial expectations are largely shaped by household income, figuratively speaking, the rich expect profit, the poor expect losses, those with average income do not expect anything.
At the same time such crucial factors impacting income as urbanization rate and education level do not directly influence financial expectations among Russians; on the contrary, the higher the level of education, the higher the level of financial pessimism (25% of optimists and 28% of pessimists in the group of those with incomplete higher and higher education; 41% of optimists and 13% of pessimists in the group of those with incomplete secondary education).
No more than others!
Russian financial goals are ambitious as never before. For the first time in a quarter-century every fourth respondent would like to live better than most families in his/her community (25%, 10% in 1999). However, many respondents still look up to the average household – 41% of respondents want to live no worse than other families in their city. This group of respondents has been the most numerous over the entire period of measurement, but since 2013 this share has been steadily declining (58% in 2013).
There has been an increase in the share of Russians who would like to live better than other families: both better than Russian (18% in 2013; 25% in 2024) and European and American families (2% in 2013; 8% in 2024). On the contrary, the percentage of those who set a goal just to survive is declining (11% today vs 27% twenty-five years ago).
For Russians there are two factors that have a substantial impact on their financial goals:
- Financial situation. Of Russians with poor financial situation, 37% set a goal survive (vs. 2% of those with good income), whereas well-off Russians want more - 39% would like to live better than most families in their neighborhood, and 14% want to live better than European and American families. Citizens with average income pursue stability rather than financial growth, eager not to live worse than others (49%).
- Age. The younger the Russians, the more often they set the bar to achieve better financial results. In total, more than half of the Russian youth under 35 (52-53%) want to live better than other Russian, American and European families (vs 17% among those aged older). Financial ambitions of those aged 45+ are declining; 44-47% want to live no worse than others; every fifth respondent aged 60 + sets a goal just to survive at a very primitive level (20%).
Half a million, not less!
There is an established opinion that a proper financial cushion should be six times our monthly payment. As the study suggests, respondent answers are close to this figure. Russians believe that 499,218 rubles is a minimum amount of money to keep as savings. Given that in Russia the average monthly wage amounted to 70,922 rub. in September last year, according to Rosstat data [1], the emergency fund should be seven times this amount.
Based on respondent assessments, over the ten years the minimum sum of money has grown 3.5-fold (143,314 rub. in 2013). The median value has also tripled, from 100,000 to 300.000 rub.
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VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 20 January, 2024. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. Data were weighted for social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of January 20, 2024: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8168; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0186; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1046. Calculations are based on the corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
In your opinion, how will the financial situation in your family or of people who live with you change in the next 12 months? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||||
| 2009* | 2011* | 2012* | 2013* | 2014* | 2022 | 2024 |
Likely to improve | 12 | 19 | 17 | 22 | 15 | 22 | 28 |
Likely to be unchanged | 48 | 47 | 57 | 59 | 60 | 45 | 43 |
Likely to deteriorate | 26 | 21 | 15 | 12 | 17 | 26 | 24 |
Don’t know | 14 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 |
In your opinion, how will the financial situation in your family or of people who live with you change in the next 12 months? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
| Total | Men | Women | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Likely to improve | 28 | 32 | 25 | 53 | 39 | 29 | 23 | 19 |
Likely to be unchanged | 43 | 37 | 47 | 36 | 35 | 42 | 44 | 49 |
Likely to deteriorate | 24 | 25 | 22 | 10 | 21 | 23 | 27 | 26 |
Don’t know | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
In your opinion, how will the financial situation in your family or of people who live with you change in the next 12 months? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
| Total | Very good, good financial situation | Average financial situation | Very bad, bad financial situation |
Likely to improve | 28 | 51 | 23 | 10 |
Likely to be unchanged | 43 | 38 | 51 | 18 |
Likely to deteriorate | 24 | 8 | 22 | 64 |
Don’t know | 5 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
Speaking about the life of your family, what goals are you and the members of your family pursuing? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||||
| 1998* | 1999* | 2000* | 2006* | 2008* | 2009* | 2013* | 2014* | 2019 | 2024 |
To survive, even primitively | 27 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 11 |
To live no worse than any other family in our city, district | 49 | 54 | 48 | 45 | 45 | 48 | 58 | 52 | 41 | 41 |
To live better than most families in our city, district | 11 | 10 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 25 |
To live the way any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A lives | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 4 |
To live better than any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A. lives | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
Don’t know | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 11 |
Speaking about the life of your family, what goals are you and the members of your family pursuing? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
| Total | Men | Women | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
To survive, even primitively | 11 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 20 |
To live no worse than any other family in our city, district | 41 | 40 | 42 | 37 | 29 | 40 | 44 | 47 |
To live better than most families in our city, district | 25 | 21 | 28 | 39 | 39 | 33 | 21 | 12 |
To live the way any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A lives | 4 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
To live better than any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A. lives | 8 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 5 |
Don’t know | 11 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
Speaking about the life of your family, what goals are you and the members of your family pursuing? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
| Total | Very good, good financial situation | Average financial situation | Very bad, bad financial situation |
To survive, even primitively | 11 | 2 | 9 | 37 |
To live no worse than any other family in our city, district | 41 | 33 | 49 | 26 |
To live better than most families in our city, district | 25 | 39 | 23 | 9 |
To live the way any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A lives | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
To live better than any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A. lives | 8 | 14 | 6 | 10 |
Don’t know | 11 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
Speaking about the life of your family, what goals are you and the members of your family pursuing? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||
| Total | In your opinion, how will the financial situation in your family or of people who live with you change in the next 12 months | |||
Likely to improve | Likely to be unchanged | Likely to deteriorate | Don’t know | ||
To survive, even primitively | 11 | 5 | 7 | 26 | 7 |
To live no worse than any other family in our city, district | 41 | 36 | 50 | 33 | 30 |
To live better than most of the families in our city, district | 25 | 35 | 24 | 18 | 16 |
To live the way any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A lives | 4 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
To live better than any average family in the Western Europe, the U.S.A. lives | 8 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 9 |
Don’t know | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 37 |
In your opinion, what is the minimum amount of money in rubles necessary to consider that a person has savings? What is the minimum amount of money to be called savings? (open-ended question, one answer, trimmed mean, rubles) | ||
| 2013* | 2024 |
Trimmed mean[2] | 143 314 | 499 218 |
Median[3] | 100 000 | 300 000 |
In your opinion, what is the minimum amount of money in rubles necessary to consider that a person has savings? What is the minimum amount of money to be called savings? (open-ended question, one answer, trimmed mean, rubles) | ||||||||
| Total | Men | Women | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Trimmed mean | 499,218 | 691,092 | 365,357 | 257,977 | 477,207 | 667,252 | 614,467 | 418,092 |
*Before 2017, surveys were conducted through household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage quota-based sample; quotas based on socio-demographic parameters, representative of the Russian population aged 18+ by settlement type, sex, gender, education. Sample size, unless otherwise stated, is 1,600 respondents.
[1] https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/osn-10-2023.pdf (p. 194)
[2] The mean value is calculated without the consideration of the 2.5% of the lowest and the 2.5% of the highest values; it is used to minimize the impact of the outliers.
[3] The median is the number in the ordered set of data which divides the set into two equal parts. It represents the value where 50% of the observations are below and 50% of the observations are above.