6 August 2026
In the fifth year of the war, Russians have felt its cost in their wallets. Their real, inflation-adjusted wages and disposable incomes (excluding mandatory payments) had been growing for three years in a row, but now they have stopped.
According to the HSE Development Center, adjusting for seasonality, real disposable incomes in June were 0.23% lower than at the end of last year, while real wages in May were 0.15%. Incomes declined significantly at the beginning of the year and then rebounded; wages, conversely, increased in January and February, then declined for three consecutive months. But the result is the same: people are in the red by the end of the first half of the year.
Russians’ incomes are being pressured by slowing wages due to the cooling economy and declining business and property income, notes Olga Belenkaya, an economist at Finam. Economic growth in the country has virtually stalled (0.3% for January-May, according to the Ministry of Economic Development), civilian industries are mired in recession, and small businesses are facing tax increases and are closing en masse. According to Sberbank, 12,000-15,000 organizations are closing monthly for economic reasons.
For those companies that remain in operation, profits are dwindling, and with them, the ability to raise wages, despite labor shortages and the exodus of people to the front and the military. It will be increasingly difficult for companies to achieve accelerated wage growth by squeezing profits—there’s “no room left to cut” them, according to experts at the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF). On the contrary, the number of companies cutting personnel costs is growing: according to a survey by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), 40% of large businesses are doing so. Meanwhile, 11% and 8%, respectively, plan to reduce staff or slash wages.
Wages are the main source of income for Russians, accounting for approximately 60%. Another approximately 16% comes from social benefits, including pensions. Property income, which includes interest on bank deposits, comes in third (10-11%). These incomes are declining along with interest rates, reducing people’s overall income, according to the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF).
People feel their incomes have stopped growing and the economy is deteriorating. According to a Gallup poll, 56% of Russian citizens report a decline in their living standards—the highest share in 20 years of observation. Overall economic pessimism has reached record levels since 2006: 60% say the economy is deteriorating—twice as much as during the first year of the war and three times higher than before the annexation of Crimea.
Low income is the main factor complicating life for Russians, according to a Levada Center survey. 48% chose this answer, followed by “poor health and difficulties with treatment” at 30%.
This is mafia land and mafia numbers so their real incomes and wages stopped growing well before this report, perhaps last year already or at the start of this year.