A couple of months ago Doug asked me on list about incomes in Moscow vs. outside Moscow, to which I answered anecdotally. What I should have done is jaunt over to the Russian State Statistics Committee's neat-o interactive income map (http://www.gks.ru/gis/D_02.htm ). Data are for January--August of 2005. It's in Russian, and I'm not going to put down the data for all 89 administrative districts, but I type a few below. As you van see, the idea that Moscow is super-affluent and every place else is mired in poverty is something of a myth, though it should be noticed that the real high-income regions have low populations and are heavy on natural resources. Chukotka in particular is Abramovich's feifdom. Sakha has a population of about a million in an area larger than India.
Average monthly income in Russian regions, official data, in rubles. Exchange rate is about 28 rubles to the dollar.
http://www.gks.ru/gis/D_02.htm
Chukotka Autonomous Region 20,139.7
Tyuman Oblast 19,005.1
Moscow City 12,964.4
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) 12,806.6
Republic of Komi 11,293.5
Moscow Region 9047.1
Primorskii Krai 8734.6
Leningrad (St. Peterburg) Region 8171.6
Vladimir Region 5917
Rostov Region 5667.4
Republic of Dagestan 3541.9
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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