Belarus is among the three poorest countries in Europe. Why do Belarusians live so poorly? The poorest cities

Purchasing Power Europe 2017, which analyzed revenues in 42 European countries. The European average was 13,937 euros per year, or 1,161 euros per month.

The residents of Liechtenstein have the best income with 63,267 euros per year. And the Ukrainians have the worst situation - the average annual income there, according to GfK, is 949 euros.

Belarusians, alas, are in the top three countries with the lowest income. According to a German research company, the average Belarusian lives on 2,558 euros a year, or 213 euros per month.

The description of the study states that the data are taken mainly from the national statistical agencies of different countries, which adhere to the European scoring system adopted in 2010 (ESA 2010). Regarding our country, GfK clarified that they use Belstat data.

I must say that in October, according to Belstat, the average salary in Belarus amounted to 841 rubles, or 364 euros at the average rate of the National Bank. But such a low salary, as in the rating, we had only in March 2006 (216 euros).

The experts who worked on the study could also take the median salary (see STAY INFORMATION!). The last time it was counted in November 2016, and then it was 528.3 denominated rubles, or 252 euros. This is much closer to the figure that was named in GfK.

STAY IN TOUCH!

What is median salary?

It shows how much most people actually get. For example, if one receives 100 rubles, the second 200, the third - 300, and the fourth - 2000, then the average salary will be 650 rubles, and the median - 200. Most often, national statistical agencies calculate just the median salary.

AND AT THIS TIME

Trade unions: almost 200 organizations in Belarus did not pay salaries on time

The report says that in October of this year, 178 organizations across the country did not pay salaries to their employees on time.

According to the FPB, state organizations were also among the debtors. For example, in the housing department No. 1 of the Oktyabrsky district of Minsk, the terms of payment of salaries and vacation pay are constantly violated, there are questions with the final payment upon dismissal. The trade unionists name the reason as follows: lack of working capital, delay in transfers from the treasury.

So, at the Minsk Experimental Fittings Plant there is an overdue debt on the payment of wages for August and September of this year. During these months, the employer paid the employees only 1.5 of the subsistence minimum budget. A similar situation is in the organizations of the regional rural construction of the Grodno region. Among the most problematic are also the organizations Unibox, Stroyka Veka and LLC Promstroyexport».

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has released its annual Global Wealth Report. The first three lines of the rating were occupied by Switzerland, Australia and the USA. Experts classified Belarus in the group of poor countries with the level of wealth per adult below 5 thousand dollars.

Experts included such countries as Ukraine, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria into the same group with Belarus.

According to the online edition finance.ua, Ukraine and Belarus share the 123rd line of the rating out of 140 countries: per capita wealth in the two countries is $1,563 per adult.

It should be noted that Belarus was previously included in the group of poor countries.

The richest countries are those with a per capita wealth of more than $100,000.

Switzerland is again the richest country in the world, with just over $530,000 per adult. The second line was taken by Australia (411 thousand dollars), the third - by the USA (404 thousand dollars). Belgium, Norway and New Zealand followed.

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The most important factor for the country is the environmental one, connected with the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the need for additional funds for people living in the affected areas.

Experts identify two methods for determining the level of poverty (table).

How Belstat works

When calculating the poverty rate in the country, an absolute approach is used. For the assessment, the average value of the PM budget per capita is used. In 2020, the latter in the republic is 1,697,000 bel. rubles. The subsistence level per capita is 169.

Against this background, the poverty rate in Belarus today is 5%. In 2016, this figure was 6.2%, in 2017 - 5.4%.

To get a complete picture of the situation in the Republic of Belarus, it is recommended to consider the relative level of poverty. Regional differences should also be taken into account.

These calculations help:

• Identify the most vulnerable categories of citizens.
• To see the provoking factors of impoverishment.
• Decide on the methods of social policy.

A difficult situation

Belarus is a poor country. Almost every second citizen spends about 200 Bel per month. rubles. One US dollar today costs 2.13 bel. ruble.

According to data provided by the World Bank, the poverty line is $1.9/24 hours, $50 per month.

According to statistics, more than 520,000 Belarusians already live below the poverty line.

Income Information

The most important economic indicator is the real disposable income of the population. The well-being of citizens is determined precisely by them.

Per capita disposable resources by regions, in %

RRD is the difference between mandatory contributions to the state budget and all monetary income of citizens.

In the summer - autumn of 2018, there was a steady decline in real disposable income by 7%.

General indicators look like this:

• Wages - 62%.
• Enterprise income - 8.3%.
• Pension contributions, benefits, scholarships - 23.1%.
• Other income - 5.8%.

Falling wages

According to statistics provided by Belstat, it is 749.2 bel. ruble. Compared to last year, it decreased by 4%.

The poorest are:

• museum workers;
• archivists;
• librarians.

Their salary amounted to 419 Belarusian rubles. Salaries in agriculture decreased by 11.7% compared to last year.

Male and female

According to Belstat statistics, Belarusian men are more likely to fall below the poverty line and receive the status of unemployed.

In 2020, the actual unemployment rate among males was 7.3%, among women - 3.9%.

Composition of the unemployed by age groups

By the beginning of 2020, there were 33,700 people in the country who had the official status of unemployed, 22,400 of them were men. Against this background, the percentage of the poor among the latter is 6.8, among women - 4.9.

The total number of people below the poverty line has risen steadily since 2014.

Information about the gap in earnings of both sexes is presented in the table.

The gap in pension contributions (for women, the pension is lower) is as follows:

1. 2013 - 95,8 %.
2. 2014 - 97,6 %.
3. 2015 - 98,4 %.
4. 2016 - 98,6 %.
5. 2017 - 98,8 %.
6. 2018 - 98,9 %.

The poorest areas

Experts identify the 20 poorest regions of the country.

The first lines in the top are occupied by the Chernobyl zones. This factor is amazing.

According to Belstat, the poorest region of Belarus is the Kormyansky district. The average salary level here is 1039 bel. r., or 130 dollars.

The poorest cities

The poorest cities are those with a population of 100,000 or less:

Station Gomel, Belarus

Who is at risk

The most socially vulnerable groups of Belarusian citizens include:

• Children.
• Persons over 60 years of age.
• Single parents.
• Unemployed people of working age.
• Persons with poor education.
• Inhabitants of villages and villages.

The risk of relative poverty for these categories is 56%, absolute - 34%.

The vulnerable position of minors is associated with state support and employment of fathers and mothers.

The amount of state support is not very high. Generally, benefits are provided for children under the age of three. This helps to temporarily solve the problem of poverty of a particular individual, but not of a household.

The second type of state support is targeted social assistance. The maximum period of its provision is 6 months / 1 year.

Employment, wage growth, pricing - Alexander Lukashenko recalled this triad of his demands on May 2 at a meeting with the chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FPB) Mikhail Orda. “You shouldn’t think that this is some kind of populism or has nothing to do with the economy”, the president stressed.

Photo by the press service of the President of Belarus

Meanwhile, in March, it was not possible to reach the coveted thousand rubles of the average salary - it amounted to 926.8 rubles. Isn't it tempting to push a little more?

But! Economists note: wages are already growing inadequately, the growth of labor productivity, which is contrary to economic laws.

Salaries are pumped up artificially

Inflating earnings contrary to the laws of the economy is like the growth of a cancerous tumor. Such a crooked concern for the wallets of Belarusians invariably comes out sideways to them. Freshly printed rubles are being eaten up by inflation. And even in general, salaries in dollar terms, like a sickle, are cut off by another devaluation.

At the end of last year, the vertical, mindful of the president's directive to give everyone a thousand, in general furiously, with the help of all sorts of tricks, earnings (that's why they came up in January-February). The vertical is more afraid of the presidential whip than the warnings of economists and financiers. As a result, the vicious circle is not broken.

Today, the president repeated his thesis that there are no grounds for rising prices in the country. And if someone raises them unjustifiably, then it is, they say, for the sake of their own gain.

Is it really so?

This is what not some malicious oppositionist says, but the head of the main department of monetary policy and economic analysis of the National Bank Dmitry Murin:“The growth of real wages and real disposable incomes of the population at a pace that outpaces the dynamics of labor productivity forms the prerequisites for increasing inflationary pressure both now and in the short term.”

Let's translate it into simple language: it is precisely the rise in salaries without taking into account the real state of the economy that provokes a rise in prices.

At the same time, it is significant that "regulated prices and tariffs are often raised by the state by an amount exceeding the established inflation target", notes Murin . To put it simply, it is precisely the officials who, through the price tag, are the most active in getting into the people's pocket.

Total: in the first quarter, consumer prices rose by 2.5%, while the plan was no more than 6% per year. That is, with the rise in wages, it's time to slow down.

Again about bad private traders

Meanwhile, the country's leadership hopes that the loyal FPB will take care of the well-being of the working people. In particular, through price controls. Although their growth, as we see, is only a consequence of deeper processes, which the FPB, by definition, is not capable of influencing.

GDP growth this year is already slowing down. The government recognizes that the growth itself is mainly opportunistic. Russia began to give more oil, and oil itself rose in price. This is an ephemeral rise, tomorrow it may melt like a dream, like a morning mist.

Meanwhile, there have been no reforms capable of ensuring sustainable dynamic growth of the economy. And until it does. Lukashenka did not even mention them in his April speech.

Without reforms, as economists predict, Belarus will lag behind even neighboring, not the richest EU countries. There is at least some progress. The Belarusians, without options, will get stuck among the poorest nations in Europe, and no FPB will save even a crack here.

Request text: " I would like more information about Belarus. All sorts of "nezalEzhnye" media tell about us or nothing, or a lie. I would like the truth about our calm, really independent and benevolent Blue-eyed."

We continue, now not a very positive post ... although I read your posts about meat consumption and the number of cars in Belarus - but there is such information ..

2012 - Belarus is in the 10th place of the poorest countries in the world.

Business Insider published its annual World Poverty Index 2012. Greece, which is experiencing the worst economic times in its history, was not included in the list of the most unfortunate countries, but Belarus was on the 10th line of the rating. Record inflation in 2011 - 52.4% allowed Belarus to fall so low in this rather controversial economic rating. In addition, experts have calculated that more than half of Belarusians (53.4%) live below the poverty line.

The welfare level of a country is calculated based on the number of unemployed and the rate of inflation.

That is, the faster the national currency falls in price, the lower the state falls in international financial ratings, writes "Market Leader".

Zimbabwe is the poorest country in 2012. In this country, almost 100% of the population lives below the extreme poverty line, and the unemployment rate has reached 95%.

It is worth adding that according to the data of Belstatan for May 2012, the highest salaries in Belarus in the Soligorsk region are more than 5.5 million rubles. And the lowest ones are in Kormyansky. Here, the average salary in the first quarter of this year amounted to 1.985 million rubles.

2013 - Belarus is already in the 5th place of the poorest countries in the world.

The Misery Index-2013 compiled by the company includes 197 countries of the world, but Belarus is the only European country in the top five. Another post-Soviet republic - Turkmenistan (4th place) got into the TOP-5 of the rating. The rating also includes the Serbian province of Kosovo recognized by the US and the EU (9th place). In 20th place - Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the explanations for the publication, when compiling the rating, Business Insider was guided by the methodology of economist Arthur Orkum, distributing countries according to the results of summing up inflation and unemployment data.

It should be noted that, according to official data, less than 1% of the total number of economically active population is registered in Belarus as unemployed, however, independent experts do not consider this indicator to reflect Belarusian realities. However, the American company assumed 1% unemployment and 70% inflation.

According to Belstat, in 2012 inflation was just under 23%. In January 2013, the unemployment rate in Belarus, according to Belstat, was also below 1% (0.7% at the end of January 2012 and 0.6% in January 2013), and inflation did not exceed 3% (with an annual forecast inflation at 12%).

2013 - Belarus is the second in the ranking of the poorest countries in Europe in terms of the purchasing power of the population.

According to the GfK study "Purchasing power in Europe: 2012-2013", the lowest purchasing power is among residents of Moldova, Belarus and Kosovo.

On Wednesday, the GfK research “Purchasing power in Europe: 2012-2013” ​​was published, which analyzed this indicator in 42 countries of the continent. It turned out that the richest in Europe are citizens of Liechtenstein. They in 2012 have a purchasing power of 57 thousand euros per capita.

According to ukrinform, Luxembourg, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Germany, France and Belgium are also in the top ten European countries with the highest level of purchasing power.

Recall that 42 countries “participated” in the study. So, places No. 40 and 41 were divided among themselves, Kosovo, which did not even celebrate the fifth anniversary of independence, as well as Belarus. The purchasing power in the countries is approximately 2,000 euros per person. The worst situation is in Moldova. The average citizen of the country can afford to spend no more than 1257 euros per year on goods and services.

At the same time, the average level of purchasing power in Europe, according to GfK, is 12,802 euros, which corresponds to the capabilities of citizens of a country like Spain.

Salary in Belarus

We were surprised by the salaries of Russians: on average, they turned out to be higher than the salaries of Latvians and Lithuanians. And Ukrainians in December received an average of 30 euros more than Belarusians.

Unfortunately, our salaries turned out to be the smallest. At the same time, even if on average we earn the promised $500 (or 375 euros), we will not catch up with the Europeans, but we will get ahead of the Ukrainians.

Belarus is the most inaccessible, unknown and underestimated country in Europe

One of the most reputable publishing houses, Lonely Planet, has not yet released a single guide to Belarus. In the 2000 guide to three countries: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the authors singled out 39 out of almost 800 pages for Belarusian sights and routes.

There are other "mass graves": the Lonely Planet guide to Eastern Europe, where Belarus neighbors 16 countries, and the guide to budget European destinations, of which there are 45 in the guide, including Belarus (the latest 7th edition was published in October 2011) . If you wish, you can download a pdf version of the chapter on Belarus from both guides for only three British pounds.

By the way, according to Lonely Planet, the country is primarily known for its dictator-president Lukashenko and the tragic consequences of the Chernobyl accident, as well as as a "reserve of the Soviet era" and "a farm for growing supermodels." At the same time, among the few interesting facts about Belarus, Marc Chagall is several positions below ... kvass. However, another publishing house that enjoys authority among foreign tourists - Dorling Kindersley - generally ignores the existence of Belarus.

In the world's largest online store Amazon, you can also find, for example, the Insight Guides for 2000 for Russia and Belarus with Ukraine, where several pages are devoted to Grodno and Minsk. Last year saw the release of the first guide to Belarus in Arabic, prepared as a joint project of the Italian publishing house Nur Edizione and the Belarusian "Riftur". The first for many years guide to Belarus "Step by Step", published in Russia, was published not so long ago by the publishing house "JEM". At the moment, another Russian specialized publishing house - "Polyglot" - is also preparing to issue a guide to Belarus.

However, traditional paper guides are becoming less relevant every year, and a lot of tourist information portals appear on the Web that give advice for free. However, the quality of information sometimes leaves much to be desired. For example, on one of these portals, which Google searches for "Belarus travel guide" among the first 10 results, it is still advised to dine in a restaurant on the top floor of the Belarus Hotel to enjoy national cuisine and a magnificent panorama of the city. Moreover, the authors of this online guide with the "unpretentious" title Europe Travel Guide advise you to buy a matryoshka and local delicacies in Belarus as a souvenir: vodka, caviar, chocolate, "Soviet champagne" and marshmallows, although in the "About us" section it is said that one of the co-authors of this online guide was born and raised in Minsk.