The subsistence minimum in the Russian Federation is a statutory value that determines the order of the cost of living in our country. How has it changed in recent years?
The legislation in force on the territory of the Russian Federation establishes that the cost of living in official statistics means the current value of the so-called consumer basket. The latter, in turn, is a minimum set of food products, non-food products and certain services that a citizen of the Russian Federation needs to ensure physical survival. Thus, we can say that the subsistence minimum is a cost estimate of the minimum acceptable standard of living in Russia.
The procedure for calculating the subsistence minimum
Federal Law No. 134-FZ of October 24, 1997 "On the subsistence minimum in the Russian Federation" establishes that the subsistence minimum is established, firstly, at the all-Russian level, and secondly, separately for each constituent entity of the Russian Federation. At the same time, Article 4 of this normative legal act determines that the all-Russian subsistence minimum is calculated on a quarterly basis. The basis for its calculations is the data of the Federal State Statistics Service on prices for basic food products, services and non-food products.
Change in the size of the living wage
It is no secret that the price level in our country is subject to the constant influence of inflation: in other words, over time, there is a steady tendency to increase it. In this regard, it is quite natural that the value of the subsistence minimum from quarter to quarter is becoming more significant. So, for example, in the first quarter of 2012, the value of the all-Russian subsistence minimum, calculated for all categories of citizens, was 6307 rubles per month. This size of the cost of the consumer basket was established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 613 of June 19, 2012 "On the establishment of the subsistence minimum per capita and for the main socio-demographic groups of the population as a whole in the Russian Federation for the I quarter of 2012". At the same time, two years later, in the first quarter of 2014, this amount, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 586 of June 26, 2014 "On the establishment of the subsistence minimum per capita and for the main socio-demographic groups of the population as a whole in the Russian Federation for I quarter of 2014 ", already amounted to 7688 rubles per month. Thus, over two calendar years, the size of the subsistence minimum in the Russian Federation has increased by 21.9%.
