According to Forbes’ rich list published in April this year, the combined fortunes of the richest 100 Russians are estimated to 522 billion USD, or more than one-third of the country’s economy. The figure is up 54 percent from March 2007, the Moscow Times reports. The number of citizens with a net worth of more than 1 million USD, so-called “high net-worth individuals,” increased 14.4 percent to 136,000 people in 2007, according to a report released in June by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, the newspaper adds. At the same time, the country’s average monthly salary stands at just 16,253 RUB (686 USD). In addition, 18.9 million Russians live below the poverty line, earning less than 4,000 RUB (170 USD) per month. Despite the continued high number of poor, there has been large reductions in poverty over the last years. Official statistics show that the share of the population living below the poverty line has plummeted from above 20 percent in early 2006 to 13.4 percent in the course of last year. From 2001 to 2007, the number of poor has been more than halved, from 40 million to 18.9 million. Yet while economic growth boosted by record oil prices has helped the government to achieve impressive numbers, inequality has grown, the Moscow Times writes.
