29 October 2026

Almost a third of Russians are struggling to make ends meet, despite rising incomes and savings, as documented by statistics. In October, 30% of respondents to the Public Opinion Foundation stated that their income was less than their expenses over the past year.

Half as many (16%) reported making a profit on their personal budget. And roughly half of people live paycheck to paycheck: for 49%, their expenses roughly equaled their income.

Household consumption has become the main source of growth for the stagnating Russian economy. It remains the only driver preventing the economy from sliding into recession, according to analysts at Promsvyazbank. According to Rosstat, household final consumption expenditure increased by 4.4% in real terms (adjusted for inflation) in the first half of the year.

At the same time, Russians are increasing their spending faster than their incomes are growing. In January-September, real wages were 5.8% higher than a year ago, but disposable income (after mandatory payments) was 3%. Economist Yegor Susin noted a shift in people’s behavior from savings to consumption.

Savings continue to grow: over the first nine months, Russians spent 7.3% of their income on savings. This, however, is lower than last year, when savings accounted for 10.5% of income from January to September.

Moreover, savings are distributed extremely unevenly. Regular surveys commissioned by the Central Bank by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) show that approximately 60% of people simply have no savings (58% in October, while 38% have savings). Thirty percent of all Russian bank deposits are held by 0.13% of depositors, according to the Ministry of Finance, citing data from the Deposit Insurance Agency. And 43% of deposit income is accounted for by the 1% of depositors receiving more than 5 million rubles in interest per year. Only 14% of FOM respondents say their financial situation has improved over the past year, while 33% say it has worsened.

Susin attributed the shift from savings to consumption to high inflation expectations and increased lending activity. Banks’ retail portfolios are growing primarily due to mortgages, which offer preferential programs. Consumer lending, however, only began to grow in recent months: due to rising delinquencies and Central Bank restrictions, banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs) have tightened their retail lending. As a result, it has become much more difficult for the least affluent Russians to obtain a loan.

This is confirmed by FOM surveys: the share of Russians with outstanding loans has been declining recently. In October, 34% of respondents reported having a loan or credit, a nine-year low; the last time this low was in November 2017.

Meanwhile, servicing loans is becoming increasingly difficult. The share of those who have never encountered a shortage of funds for a loan payment has dropped to 20%. The remaining 14% admitted that they had not had enough money to make a regular payment in the past six months, including 6% who had experienced this situation three or more times.

https://ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/29/48-4-a210054