The economy may have grown every year since the 1998 financial crisis, but so has the gap between rich and poor regions, according to a new study.
Despite having less than 10 percent of the population, the two wealthiest regions in Russia -- oil-rich Tyumen in Western Siberia and the city of Moscow -- now account for nearly a third of gross domestic product, up from less than a fourth at the start of 1999, according to a research report by Aton investment bank.
"Those regions that were poor remain poor, and those that were rich remain rich," said Peter Westin, the report's author and Aton's chief economist.
Topping Aton's per capita output table at $8,981 per year is Tyumen (including Khanty-Mansiisk), followed by Moscow ($6,603), billionaire Roman Abramovich's fiefdom Chukotka ($5,093), diamond-rich Sakha ($4,568) and gold-filled Magadan ($3,245).
The top six regions by output -- Moscow, Tyumen, St. Petersburg, Sverdlovsk, Tatarstan and Samara -- account for half of the overall economy, according to Aton.
The study is based on data for 79 of the nation's 89 regions in the years 1999 through 2002, and it concentrates on such factors as gross regional product, or GRP, wages, real incomes, and alternative indicators such as car ownership and cellphone penetration.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/06/29/041.html
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