Income in Russia
The median income in Russia is about $29 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 83% of everyone alive. Half of Russia lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the bottom 2% of Russia.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's RUB, at each point on the curve of Russia (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Russia | RUB 189,557 | $14 |
| 25% of Russia | RUB 261,642 | $20 |
| 50% of Russia | RUB 387,124 | $29 |
| 75% of Russia | RUB 586,693 | $44 |
| 90% of Russia | RUB 876,368 | $66 |
| 99% of Russia | RUB 1,681,986 | $126 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Russia
How much of Russia and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Russia | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | <1% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 1% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 58% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 41% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayRussia <1% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayRussia 1% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayRussia 58% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayRussia 41% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 58% of Russia lives on Level 3, between $8.30 and $33 a day per person; worldwide, about 32% of people do.
The line that moved
In Russia, 6.2% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1993 survey; under 1% at the 2020 one — a fall of 6 points in 27 years.
Share of Russia under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in Russia
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Russia.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a rural pensioner with a dacha garden |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a shop cashier in a regional city |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a bus driver in Novosibirsk |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a schoolteacher |
| 65–82% | the earnings of an oil-field engineer — two weeks on, two weeks off |
| 82–93% | the earnings of an IT specialist in Moscow |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a senior surgeon |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of a resources executive — oil, gas, and everything they touch |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Russia (survey year 2023), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Russia's — and a few far from it, for scale.