Consumer basket 2021, or How to make ends meet in Russia

From January 1, 2021, the estimated cost of the consumer basket on average in Russia will be 11.2 thousand rubles per month. One half - 5.6 thousand - is spent on food, the second - on non-food goods and services, respectively, 2.8 thousand rubles each. Experts interviewed by DW believe that the current model of the consumer basket requires significant adjustments, since it does not take into account some vital expenses and cannot guarantee the preservation of health, as well as an acceptable standard of living.

Two halves of the same consumer basket

The current consumer basket model was adopted in 2013. The composition of its food supply is clearly regulated and includes a list of food products, the volumes of which are calculated for the year for four categories - for the entire population on average, for working-age citizens, for pensioners and for children. The cost of the consumer basket is equal to the cost of living, which is approved once a quarter.

In a Moscow supermarket

The food part of the basket consists of eleven items: baked goods, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar and confectionery products, meat products, fish products, milk and dairy products, eggs, vegetable oil and other things (salt, tea, coffee, cocoa, spices).

The second half of the basket—non-food goods and services—is calculated using the so-called counting method: there is no clear list of non-food goods and services, but there is an amount of money that is expected to be spent on them. And this amount should be equal to the cost of the food portion.

Lots of bread and little fruit

The above figures are the national average. But each region sets its own cost of living. It is the lowest in Mordovia. Its residents should have enough 4.6 thousand rubles for food and 2.3 thousand each for services and non-food products. The most expensive consumer basket is for an able-bodied Muscovite - 20,195 rubles. DW decided to calculate what a working Muscovite could afford to buy with this money.

Muscovites are offered to eat 10 kilos of bread per month

So, 10,097 rubles are allocated for food per month. If you distribute the annual standards over twelve months, you get 10.5 kg of bread, 8.4 kg of potatoes, 9.6 kg of vegetables, 5 kg of fruit, two kilos of sugar, 4.9 kg of meat, 1.5 kg of fish, 24 liters of milk and dairy products, 17.5 eggs, 0.9 liters of butter and less than half a kilogram of coffee, tea and spices. A day for a number of items turns out to be a rather meager diet - 160 grams of fruit, 50 grams of fish, 60 grams of sugar, half an egg and 10 grams of coffee.

However, even in this situation, apparently, Muscovites will have to reduce their food rations, because the 5 thousand remaining in the basket for services and 5 thousand for non-food products is clearly not enough for him. One metro ride per month will cost about 2 thousand rubles, the remaining 3 thousand for services will hardly be enough to pay for housing (and this is in the case of not renting, but owning your own apartment). Expenses for other services, in particular cellular communications, the Internet and current needs, will have to be raised from the grocery portion or from funds allocated for non-food products.

What expenses are not included in the consumer basket?

“The current food basket, in principle, allows you to maintain health if you follow its consumption standards, but the problem is that there is not enough money for all other expenses to ensure minimal consumption. Therefore, people are often forced to save on food to buy other essential goods and to pay off loans or debts,” Vyacheslav Bobkov, head of the laboratory for problems of standard of living and quality of life at the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told DW.

Expenses for sturgeon and sterlet are not included in the consumer basket

According to him, the reason for poor quality nutrition is the fact that Rosstat, to determine the cost of the consumer basket, identifies entire food groups from which people choose the cheapest goods. For example, a person can eat fruit, but it will be the cheapest bananas, from the “meat products” category he will choose the cheapest sausage, and so on.

In addition, the food basket does not include eating out, which also constitutes a significant expense item for a working person. For this reason, the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences insists on revising the consumer basket and including items such as vitamins and eating out.

An important omission, according to Vyacheslav Bobkov, is that the non-food part does not contain clear standards. As a result, the total cost of the basket is significantly underestimated, and for part of the population such important elements of modern life as a computer, medicines and treatment remain inaccessible. The current basket does not provide for the possibility of solving the housing problem and creating a financial reserve.

New basket model and poverty level in Russia

The scientist draws attention to the fact that in developed countries the consumer basket also includes expenses for education, healthcare, leisure, eating out, and rental housing.

Context

How Russians save on everyday purchases

Uncertainty about today and tomorrow affects the consumer behavior of Russians.
People are reducing the number of purchases and switching to cheaper products, experts say. (02/03/2016) The Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences is proposing a new basket model that would contain a clear list of non-food goods and services. The latter, in particular, include housing and communal services, transport, communications, education, medicine, legal, banking, insurance and consumer services. The government intends to review the model of the Russian consumer basket by the beginning of 2021, but the described method will most likely not be adopted. It is known that the Ministry of Labor does not support it.

According to calculations by the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the new technique will make the basket approximately three times more expensive. This means that the state would have to admit that the level of poverty in the country is several times higher than announced (today more than 20 million Russians officially have incomes below the subsistence level, and they are considered poor). “The current level of poverty will automatically turn into a poverty level, and the majority of the population will have to be recognized as poor,” Dmitry Zhuravlev, general director of the Institute of Regional Problems, told DW.

“The current basket is easier to defend before legislators. There are fewer inconvenient questions - why Russians need so many pairs of shoes or transport trips, and not so many,” Bobkov explains the logic of the authorities. In his opinion, the government is most likely scared by the large share of expenses on paid ones.

See also:

• Moscow 2017: two steps from alms to luxury

General tax benefits

A similar concept was found in Russian legislation. Previously, pre-retirement citizens were considered to be citizens who had 2 years left before taking a break from work. Such people were given one single preference - the opportunity to retire early for people who lost their jobs due to layoffs.

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Expert opinion

For example, if a person who has reached retirement age was fired during the year, support will be transferred every 18 months for a year. In other words, a citizen receives money for a year, but does not receive it for six months, and the cycle repeats again.

To pay for groceries or other goods necessary for a pensioner, you must inform the cashier in advance that social certificate funds will be transferred as payment. At the same time, it is not necessary to write off all 2,000 rubles at once when paying for one purchase - they can be spent gradually. The main thing is to use the value of the certificate until the end of its validity period, otherwise the points provided will “burn out.”

The rules for providing targeted assistance to the population in the form of providing a certificate for products are established by Moscow Government Decree No. 215-PP dated March 24, 2009. According to this document, a social certificate is provided to pensioners, disabled people and families with children who are in a difficult life situation and in need of government assistance . The place of residence of such citizens must be the city of Moscow.

Who is entitled to a food certificate for 2000 rubles

Muscovites whose income does not exceed one and a half times the subsistence level established in Moscow per capita can apply to receive 2,000 rubles for food (that is, no more than 27,043.50 rubles per month, taking into account the minimum wage established for the 3rd quarter of 2021. ).

Benefits for travel on urban public transport differ in Russian regions. Check with your regional social security authorities for more information. Pensioners in Moscow, for example, are issued social benefits cards, along with which they receive the right to travel for free both in the metro and in ground public transport.

In regions in the Far North, due to its rather harsh weather conditions, all residents are entitled to additional social support. However, other regions also provide benefits for senior citizens.

Are there new benefits for pensioners in Russia in 2021?

Property should be understood as a residential building, room or apartment, cottage, garage, any structure and premises. To receive benefits, pensioners need to submit appropriate applications to the tax department.

Among the planned changes is a revision of groups of persons, of which there are only three. The able-bodied category will be expanded. After the changes, it will include all persons over 16 years of age who have not yet reached the old age insurance pension or disability groups I and II.

In total, you need to spend 969 rubles on the consumer basket in December. Over the month, the total cost of food increased by only nine rubles. Let us note that our consumer basket does not contain butter, cottage cheese, sour cream, chicken meat, citrus fruits and many other products; with them our purchase would become more expensive - about 2000 rubles.

Consumer basket for 2021, composition, price per month

1. establishing benefits and social assistance for citizens - at what level this should be carried out.
2. what is the minimum level of living required for citizens;
3. comparison of indicators with other countries;
4. in what direction are economic trends changing;

The situation is so deplorable that the authorities openly call this assistance a payment of 2,000 rubles to pensioners for food. For those who are lucky enough to improve their poor financial situation a little, read below.

Legislative standards

Since the correct calculation of the cost of the minimum food package directly affects a number of statistical indicators, it is carried out by specialists from Rosstat. The cost is recalculated quarterly, taking into account real changes in prices for consumer goods over the past period.

In 2012, legislation No. 44 was automatically repealed due to the entry into force of the Federal Law on the consumer basket No. 227. This law regulated the principles for calculating its cost and configuration. It also contains a list of basic products necessary for normal human life. In Art. No. 2 of Federal Law No. 227 indicates the amount of consumption in kilograms per person of different ages.

Pensioners have the right to receive social assistance

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1. Receiving free medications intended to treat the underlying disease and included in the approved list. For example, if a person is diagnosed with hypertension, he can receive blood pressure medications with a doctor's prescription.
2. Providing free vouchers to sanatoriums for rehabilitation therapy.
3. Providing free travel to the sanatorium.
4. Free home care by a social worker (grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning).

What is included in the social package: federal benefits

There is a law providing for state social assistance to pensioners. The package of social services includes federal and regional benefits. Its composition depends on the region in which the pensioner lives. The benefits of the social package include free services as well as goods. A pensioner with benefits can replace a set of his benefits with monetary compensation.

Each Russian region has various benefits for pensioners. They are always directly dependent on the state of regional budgets and the requirements of local legislation, as well as on the conditions in which citizens live and work.

What is a consumer basket

In Russia, it is an approximately calculated set of goods, reflecting the consumption structure of each individual average Russian family. It is one of the most important indicators for calculations made by statistical departments and expert councils under power structures - governments and parliaments at various levels.

From the point of view of sociology and social policy, there is another definition of the consumer basket. According to this definition, the basket includes a set of products necessary for every person for normal life. Its size gives a clear idea of ​​the real costs of each individual citizen. Unlike abstract and abstract statistical studies, this tool gives a real idea of ​​the minimum budget of a Russian for each year. Thus, the cost of living and the consumer basket are strongly linked.

Composition and structure for citizens of different ages

The composition of the consumer basket for 2021 is still regulated by the provisions established by Law No. 227. Previously, it was planned to review the food package every five years. But over the past seven years, no changes have occurred regarding the structure and composition of the consumer basket. In December 2021 Federal Law No. 421 was adopted, according to which the next revision of the list of products and the number of consumption standards should occur no earlier than December 31, 2020. This is due, first of all, to the internal economic problems that began in 2014. Consequently, in 2021 the composition of the consumer basket will remain unchanged.

For adults, children and pensioners, the minimum annual consumption of essential products is:

As you can see, the consumer basket in Russia for 2021 is different for different categories of citizens. This differentiation occurs due to the different needs of people of different ages in certain product groups. For example, as can be seen from the table, the minimum consumption of fruit and milk by children is much higher than that of working people or pensioners. Working-age citizens, on the contrary, consume more flour products, cereals and meat.

But these calculations, made in 2012 by Rosstat experts, do not at all coincide with the size of the minimum consumer basket in Russia, calculated by medical specialists. These data are shown in the table below, and for clarity, the average level of food consumption in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s is shown nearby.

As you can see, Rosstat’s consumer basket is somewhat different from that recommended by the Ministry of Health for the rational nutrition of a working person. It only characterizes the possibility of living in conditions of austerity with a minimum acceptable income.

Where is the payment issued?

When receiving one of the listed types of income or social subsidies, the duty of an elderly Russian is to report the changes to the social service. Indeed, in this case the total income of the citizen increases. The same applies to pensioners changing their permanent place of residence within the borders of Russia. Each region has its own cost of living, so pensions are recalculated.

Supplement to pension up to the subsistence level

If a pensioner’s pension payments are less than the subsistence level, the Pension Fund specialist will recalculate and add funds to the required amount. Also, additional payments can be regional and federal, one-time (as is the case with 2,000 rubles for Muscovites in 2021).

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Certain categories of citizens are given a 50% discount on housing and communal services, regardless of income level. In particular, this right is given to disabled people, combatants, WWII participants and pensioners who live in residential premises under social tenancy agreements.

Compensation applies only to trips by city public transport (without private buses, minibuses and taxis). Discount tickets for trips on commuter trains and trains are available only to certain categories of people. In this case, the frequency of monetary compensation for travel costs is determined by federal or regional legislation (for example, no more than once every 2 years from the date of receipt of the last payment from Social Security).

The benefit is provided for payment for water supply, gas supply, electricity supply, as well as for the maintenance and servicing of the local area. The amount of the subsidy is calculated individually, taking into account the amount of monthly income (pension payments).

Documents (the list will be presented below) should be submitted at any “My Documents” center in Moscow . Department specialists will send the papers to the department of social protection of the population (department at the applicant’s place of permanent residence).

The country began talking about pre-retirement status after raising the retirement age. Russian citizens who have retired enjoy a wide range of social benefits, and therefore older people, whose retirement has been delayed by several years, are concerned about their situation. To prevent mass discontent, the Government made concessions and retained the right to some payments and compensation for people who began to be called pre-retirees. Find out more about the new status and what benefits are available for pre-retirees in Moscow from January 1, 2021 in our consultation.

Pre-retirement status - definition, citizen’s age

Before 2021 (before the law on raising the retirement age came into force), citizens of our country had the right to resign and retire 5 years earlier. Immediately after giving up work, the pensioner began not only to receive an appropriate monthly benefit, but also could take advantage of a wide range of social services . However, the situation has changed since the beginning of this year:

Pensioners who continue to work will receive an annual increase from August 1. An allowance is provided for them, which has a three-point system. In monetary terms, one point is equal to 93 rubles. This means the maximum increase amount is 279 rubles. The surcharge adjustment is carried out automatically.