As Russia becomes more poor.

The number of poor Russians in the current year for the first time in the past few years to grow. This writes the newspaper Kommersant, citing preliminary figures for the Ministry of Economic Development for 2008.
According to the ministry, last year the number of Russians with incomes below the average subsistence minimum amounted to 18.6 million, or more than 13 percent of the total population. This year the number of Russians with a minimum income has fallen by only 0.1 percent (one hundred thousand people).
According to the Ministry in on the growing number of poor in Russia will affect low income growth and high inflation. For example, in 2008, growth in real income of Russians has decreased almost in 4,5 times and amounted to 2.7 per cent. A year earlier the figure had reached 12.1 per cent.
In the middle of last year, according to a survey of fund "Public opinion, 45 percent of Russians believed that over the past two to three years in the country has more poor people. In doing so, 39 percent of respondents identified themselves as poor.