Poverty, Demographic Characteristics, and Public Policy in Cis Countries

2006

This paper deals with the causes and consequences of inequality and poverty in the countries east of the new frontiers of the European Union, mainly with the CIS countries. Poverty and inequalities in the former socialist countries were partly mitigated by the social policies of the state. The transition processes, however, have resulted in new distributions of income and wealth.

While within social protection debate, considerable attention has been paid to advanced welfare states and increasingly to countries in the Global South, the new independent states of the former Soviet Union have remained relatively neglected, with limited data available about transformations in the social protection system in these countries. The current paper aims to fill a gap in this area by examining the nature of the social protection model in post-Soviet Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and discussing the impact of relevant measures on poverty reduction in these settings. The study asks the following questions: (i) What policy innovations have occurred in social protection in these countries, and what have been the drivers of such policy change? (ii) How have social protection measures been implemented, and what effects have they had on poverty reduction? (iii) What explains the diverse measures undertaken by respective governments and the outcomes achieved? Post-communist transition involved the installation of a new welfare and social protection system. The Soviet universalist principle of providing assistance had been largely replaced in favour of means-tested support targeting the most needy groups in Central Asian Republics and more recently in Russia and Belarus. Responsibility for supporting society shifted away from the state to families themselves (Dugarova 2016a). As a result of economic growth in the 2000s and investments in the social sphere, poverty has been decreasing steadily during this period. In recent years, however, due to economic downturn there has been a reversal or slowdown in the poverty reduction trend in the region. To address poverty more effectively, the countries under examination have adopted a new approach to social protection that entails transition from social assistance to the activation of citizens’ labour potential and the development of their economic independence (Dugarova 2016b). This move entails the implementation of active labour market programmes which vary in scope, focus and outcomes across the countries. While the social protection measures aimed at labour activation have contributed to the improvement of living conditions of many families in these countries, they have been insufficient to eradicate poverty. In fact, a majority of those living below the poverty line in the region are employed (UNICEF 2015), whereas jobs are often low-paid and low-quality with no social security. The paper therefore concludes that increasing productive potential alone is unlikely to lift people out of poverty and a comprehensive set of measures in labour market, education, health and other services are needed.

ibidem Press eBooks, 2019

More than a quarter of a century after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the beginning of the wars of the Yugoslav succession, this book takes stock of the diverse and divergent welfare trajectories of post-socialist countries across Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It traces the impacts, in terms of poverty, well-being and inequality, of over two decades of transformation, addressing both the legacy effects of socialist welfare systems and the installation of new social, political and economic structures and, in many cases, new independent nation-states. It addresses different phases both of reform and of approaches to welfare, paying particular attention to the economic and financial crisis of the late 2000s. The book examines the rescaling of welfare arrangements, the privileging of 'economic' over 'social' policies, and the financial, institutional and capacity constraints which, at times, have resulted in reforms being both ineffective and inequitable.

Cerami, Alfio, Poverty and Social Structure in Russia: An Analysis of the First Decade of Transition, Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper no. 445, Luxembourg: Luxembourg Income Study., 2006

This paper has four main objectives: (1) to monitor the rise of poverty and income inequality during the first decade of Russian transition; (2) to analyze the performance of the welfare state in reducing poverty and income inequality; (3) to identify the most vulnerable groups of transition; and (4) to elucidate the changes occurring in the social structure in terms of wage and income differences. The empirical evidences provided in the paper lead to the conclusion that the impact of the Russian welfare state has been rather limited with welfare institutions having only marginally succeeded in reducing poverty among people in need. This study has also highlighted how the Russian society is now slowly acquiring those characteristics of differentiation present in Western societies, which for so many years had been advocated by the population. Unfortunately, differentiation in wages has also implied a dramatic and excessive differentiation in life standards and opportunities. These are all challenges that the Russian welfare state is called to deal with. The individualization and monetarization of risks are, in fact, accentuating the self-perpetuating character of poverty, especially for children, elderly, large families with children, single mothers, farmers, manual workers, unemployed and social assistance beneficiaries.

2003

This paper examines the impact of a decade of transition on the living standards of people living in seven of the poorest Republics of the former Soviet Union-Armenia,

2019

This report updates the assessment of the performance of the social protection (SP) system in Russia, using the 2014-2017 rounds of the Survey on Incomes and the Participation in Social Programs (VNDN in Russian) by the State Statistic Service of the Russian Federation (Rosstat), the largest household annual monitoring survey in Russia, and the main source of official data on poverty. The 2017 VNDN Survey round has a sample (about 150,000 households) that is 3 times larger than its standard sample size and it allows for a comprehensive assessment of the SP system performance both at the national and the regional levels. The context for the update is the 2018 May Decree by the President of Russia5, which defined the new strategic goals for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation in Russia. The Decree put human development and poverty reduction at the center of the Russia’s development strategy over the medium term. To achieve the May decree goals by 2024, the Government de...

2000

We are grateful to M.J. Ellman, K. Gërxhani, W. Saris, and an anonymous referee for useful comments. The usual disclaimers apply. We also like to thank M. Aldham-Breary for improving This paper is intended to shed light on the extent of poverty in the Russian Federation. We present estimates of poverty lines and poverty ratios derived from subjective questions used in a during data collection for a large household panel (RUSSET). We estimate poverty using a subjective approach, where the level of the poverty line is derived using the opinion of the individual, rich or poor, on poverty. This approach differs from the objective approach to poverty, which defines poverty according to the opinion of experts. Three subjective poverty lines are presented: one the Financial Satisfaction Poverty Line, two the Leyden Poverty Line, and three the Subjective Well-Being Poverty Line. The first two poverty lines are based on subjective questions regarding income and economic welfare while the las...

2005

2006

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014

The paper proves the need of a complex poverty measurement approach in Russian regions, including the analysis of socioeconomic situation, efficiency of existing institutes, and state of environment. We analyze the official poverty measurement approach in Russia and consider its main problems. To identify the complex picture of poverty in Russian regions, we compare indicators characterizing poverty according to the monetary approach.