A sharp economic slowdown and its split into a growing military sector and a declining civilian one have led to a critical rise in inequality among the population of Russia. According to Rosstat data, last year the Gini coefficient, which reflects income concentration, reached 0.422—the highest level since 2007. In 2024, the coefficient stood at 0.41, and the current growth rate has become a record in the history of observations since 1995.
Indicators of Social Degradation:
- Funds Coefficient: The gap between the incomes of the 10% richest and the 10% poorest Russians increased to 15.8 times (compared to 15.5 in 2024), marking a peak since 2018.
- Wealth Concentration: The top 10% of the wealthiest citizens now account for 30.8% of the country’s total income, while a year earlier this figure was 30.3%.
- Impoverishment of the Majority: When dividing the population into five equal groups by wealth level, an increase in the share of total income was recorded only for the top 20%, while it decreased for all other segments of the population.
Analysis of Resilience and Risks: This statistics exposes the true face of Russia’s “war economy.” While state resources are burned in the aggressive war against Ukraine, only a narrow layer of elites and individuals connected to defense contracts benefits. The system is effectively reproducing a class-based society model where the incomes of the majority of Russians are shrinking amid rising inflation and stagnation of the civilian sector. For the European Union and the international community, this is a clear sign of accumulating internal social tension: the regime’s economic foundation is becoming increasingly fragile, and inequality is turning into a time bomb under the stability of the RF state machine.
The Bottom Line: The Kremlin’s economic policy is leading to a rapid stratification of society. The concentration of resources in the hands of a few, alongside a general fall in the living standards for the majority, confirms the inefficiency of a system whose priority is war rather than the well-being of its citizens.