>From: "Ulhas Joglekar" <uvj at vsnl.com>
>The Hindu
>
>Friday, Jul 04, 2003
>
>Rich-poor gap widening in Russia
>
>By Vladimir Radyuhin
>
>MOSCOW JULY 3. The gap between the rich and the poor in Russia is widening
>despite economic revival. The richest 10 per cent of Russians earn 15 times
>more than the poorest 10 per cent, according to government statistics for
>the first three months of this year. The Russian Academy of Sciences
>estimates that the difference in incomes has already reached 20 times over
>and keeps growing. During the past three years the country's GDP grew by 20
>per cent and per capita incomes by 32 per cent. Economic growth has helped
>reduce the number of the poorest, but has also made their misery look more
>crying.
With the usual caveats about not trusting official Russian income statistics, I would say this is mostly true. The middle class has been increasing in size as people from the lower classes join its ranks, but middle class purchasing power has been dropping due to inflation.
_________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail