According to the official statistics, the average monthly wage in Russia is 46,674 rubles (USD 595), but many locals only dream of earning this much. In capitals such as Moscow and St. Petersburg employees get much larger pay checks than in regional towns.

How much do Russians need to live “normally”?

A recent poll revealed how much money Russians feel they need to earn to “get a normal standards of living”, Lenta.ru reported.

The largest share of the respondents feel the size of the monthly salary should be not less than 50,000 rub (USD 637). This is somewhat curious, because it is basically the same number that the official statistics promotes as the actual average wage in Russia (locals say it’s not even remotely true and such wages remain a dream for the majority of workers).

Officially the median wage in Russia is about 35,000 rubles (USD 446), which seems more plausible. The difference is due to exorbitantly high wages of some executives and bureaucrats, which creates a disproportionate skew towards higher numbers.

Most women would prefer to be able to have at least some kind of a business or employment

Still, the figure of 35 thousand rubles per month could be higher than real numbers, as some workers aren’t employed officially and they usually get low wages. Experts estimate at least 1 in 10 employees isn’t officially employed. There are also issues with the official statistics that only counts companies with the number of employees over a certain threshold, thus leaving out the most disadvantaged workers employed in small companies.

In any case, 1 in 4 respondents in the survey said they would need 70-100 thousand rubles to “live normally”, while 22% of residents are ready to live in 35-50 thousand rubles per month.
In Moscow people have higher appetites, but life in the capital is more expensive as well (and so are the average wages). 1 in 3 Muscovites said they needed over 100,000 rubles monthly to live normally. About the same share of respondents stated they would require 70-100 thousand rubles to have a reasonable standard of life.

Employment in Russia

According to OECD data, over 70% of Russians are employed.

Fewer females are employed than males in every age group, according to Statista.

In the group aged 55-59, only half of female population was employed in 2017, but this is of course because the age of aged pension was 55 years for Russian women and 60 years for men. It is now being raised gradually to 60 years for females and 65 for males.

In the age groups 25 to 54, the share of females employed to the number of males varies from 86% to 92%.

How do you figure out if the Russian woman you have been talking to is going to want to work after the marriage or would rather stay at home and take care of the house and the family? Best to ask her what her intentions are!

Most women would prefer to be able to have at least some kind of a business or employment, even if not full time, as they are used to working. But there are some ladies would be happy to simply be a stay-at-home mom.

Read more:

• How much do people earn in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other countries of former Soviet Union?
• How much do teachers earn in Russia?
• Salaries in Russia: How much do Russian women earn?
• What do young Russian women love doing?