EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EST, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1998
Public Information Office CB98-210
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-4067 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov
Marc Rubin
301-457-1362
Poverty in Russia Explored in Census Bureau Brief
People living in Russian households where householders are unemployed,
female, under age 64 or never got beyond high school are more likely to be
poor than counterparts who are employed, male, over 64 or went on to
higher education, according to an analysis by the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau of data collected by the Russian State Statistical Bureau,
Goskomstat.
According to Marc Rubin, author of the Census Brief, Russia's New
Problem Poverty, CENBRF/98-5, a significant factor determining if
one is poor in Russia is the availability of "transfer income," defined
as disability allowances, pensions, private gifts, stipends for dependent
children and unemployment benefits.
"These income sources generally are not as available to younger workers,
hence this group's much higher risk status," Rubin said. "In fact, 60
percent of poor households with householders between the ages of 18 and 54
had no such supplemental income."
The Census Bureau study found that of the Russian demographic groups
surveyed in 1992, people in households with:
- unemployed householders were four times more likely to be poor than
those with jobs;
- female householders were 3.7 times more likely to be poor than those
with male householders;
- householders under 64 were 3.2 times more likely to be poor than those
in households with elderly householders;
- householders who have the equivalent of a high-school education or
less were twice as likely to be poor than those with more schooling.
Goskomstat conducted the longitudinal monitoring surveys in 1992, a year
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and again in 1995. In both
surveys, the Russian agency used World Bank-sanctioned household-income
standards.
As with all surveys, the data in the Russian surveys are subject to
sampling variability and other sources of error.
The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant
and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In
more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the
first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information
about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
