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ECONOMIC RESEARCH

TITLE

On the Sustainability of the Standard of Living of Russian Households

Elena V. Odintsova

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RAR (Research Article Report)

JEL I31, P36, R21

https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2026_22_1_6_87_104

AUTHOR

Elena V. Odintsova

Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7906-8520

SPIN-code: 1866-4793

ResearcherID: U-7061-2019

FOR CITATION

Odintsova Е.V. On the sustainability of the standard of living of Russian households. Uroven' zhizni naseleniya regionov Rossii=Living Standards of the Population in the Regions of Russia. 2026;22(1):87–104. https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2026_22_1_6_87_104 (In Russ.)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the research presented in this publication is to develop and refine methodological and measurement approaches for studying the standard of living in the context of identifying its (un)sustainability. The empirical basis of the study draws on microdata from The Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE), as well as a sample survey of household budgets by Rosstat. A generalized characteristic of the standard of living is proposed from the point of view of assessing its (un)sustainability based on the “normative framework” – criteria-based social standards that specify requirements for purchasing power of per capita monetary income, quality of housing conditions, availability and volume of savings. The classification of households based on compliance with the criterion social standards of identification of a sustainable standard of living is carried out. It was revealed that 0.3% of Russian households with children have a sustainable standard of living, while 2.4% of households without children have a sustainable standard of living. In 65.2% of households with children and 48.5% of households without children, the standard of living is unsustainable, not reaching criterion social standards according to all three criteria applied. The remaining households (34.5% and 49.1%) are in intermediate groups, not meeting one or two criterion social standards. It is shown that a complex, multi-criteria measurement (compared with a single-criterion one) makes it possible to increase the accuracy of estimating the prevalence of unsustainable living standards among households: the proportion of households with unsustainable living standards decreases from 70.0%–96.7% (depending on the criterion) among households with children and 67.4%–87.9% among households without children, to 65.2% and 48.5%, respectively, with a multi-criteria assessment. The proposed approach to studying the standard of living from the perspective of assessing its (un)sustainability is considered from the perspective of other research areas (socio-economic inequality, precarization, social mobility).

KEYWORDS

standard of living; sustainability; unsustainability; criterion social standards; purchasing power; quality of housing conditions; savings; households

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elena V. Odintsova

PhD in Economics, Leading Research Worker of the Department of Socioeconomic Research of Living Standards and Quality of Life at the Centre of Development of Human Potential, Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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