Statistics shows that the level of individual income over the country during the last three months of 2001 was about $ 56 a month (in market exchange rate). As is seen from Table 1, almost 60% of population have income lower than this level. Moreover, approximately 32% of our nationals earn less than the living wage ($ 38). Consequently, almost one third of Belarusians stay below the official poverty line. Let’s study the social-demographic characteristics of this group. We will compare it to those who have individual monthly income of more than $ 100, considering them “rich” according to Belarusian standards, though such income level is estimated as beggarly Europe.
Table 1. Distribution of the population by the level of monthly incomes per capita, %
As is seen from Table 2, the majority of the poor are women (55.6%), while almost two thirds of the “rich” are men (65.6%). The youngest and the oldest age groups representatives prevail among the poor (18–29 years – 24.3%, 60 years and older – 27.2%). Age distribution of the rich is distinctly skewed towards the young. However, people aged 40–49 prevail in this group (42.6%). On the whole, the average age of the poor is about 45 years, of the rich – 37 years.
Table 2. Social-demographic characteristics of the population depending on the level of incomes, %
| Characteristics |
Incomes per capita
|
The whole population
|
|
|
Below the living wage budget
|
Above $ 100
|
||
| Gender: | |||
| Male |
44.4
|
65.6
|
48.5
|
| Female |
55.6
|
34.4
|
51.5
|
| Age: | |||
| 18-29 |
24.3
|
27.9
|
24.0
|
| 30-39 |
16.3
|
23.0
|
18.3
|
| 40-49 |
18.4
|
42.6
|
21.0
|
| 50-59 |
13.8
|
3.3
|
14.4
|
| 60 + |
27.2
|
3.2
|
22.3
|
| Education: | |||
| Elementary and incomplete secondary |
27.1
|
–
|
20.2
|
| Secondary |
36.4
|
23.0
|
35.1
|
| Secondary vocational |
24.8
|
32.8
|
26.5
|
| Higher, (including incomplete higher) |
11.7
|
44.2
|
18.2
|
| Social status: | |||
| State enterprise employee |
45.5
|
35.1
|
48.9
|
| Private enterprise employee |
3.9
|
48.3
|
9.6
|
| Individual entrepreneur |
1.4
|
6.7
|
3.2
|
| Student |
9.1
|
6.7
|
7.1
|
| Pensioner |
32.2
|
1.6
|
25.9
|
| Housewife |
2.2
|
1.6
|
1.7
|
| Unemployed |
5.7
|
–
|
3.6
|
As one could expect, people without or with low qualifications prevail among the poor, while three fourths of the rich (77%) are people with a University or college education. Meanwhile every eighth-ninth among the poor has a higher education and every fourth has specialized (two-year college) education. Therefore, not everybody with a good education managed to obtain a high-income level. One can assume that these are first of all elderly people who could not adapt to the new life conditions. Furthermore, if we consider the fact that more than 40% of adult Belarusians would like to emigrate to another country, an assumption about a certain “peculiarity” of Belarus in terms of life and carrier possibilities suggests itself.
It is useful to indicate in this connection that state sector employees (45.5%) and retired people (32.2%) prevail among the poor, while 55% of the rich are employed in the non-state sector. On the whole more than 90% of the poor are people whose income considerably (and sometimes fully) depends on the state. The share of the rich who rely first of all on the state in their income does not exceed 45%. Thus, a reasonable conclusion suggests itself: the main cause of poverty in Belarus is the Belarusian state. The more the state interferes with the economic life of the people, the more paupers the country has!
Let us consider regional distribution of the population considering the level of per capita income (See Table 3). One can see, the biggest number of the poor is in Minsk and Gomel regions, while more rich live in the city of Minsk and in Brest region. The city of Minsk and Brest region count the smallest number of the poor, while the rich are the fewest in Grodno (!) and Mogilev regions. In order to consider the population numbers in every region we calculated the number of the poor and the rich per 1000 people. Now Grodno and Minsk regions “lead” in the number of the poor while most of the rich again turn out to live and work in the city of Minsk and in Brest region, leaving other regions far behind. These territories also boast the lowest specific poverty level.
Table 3. Administrative-territorial distribution of the population depending on the level of incomes per capita
| Place of living |
Incomes per capita
|
|||
|
Below the living wage budget
|
above $ 100
|
|||
|
Percentage to the country’s population
|
People per 1.000 of inhabitants
|
Percentage to the country’s population
|
People per 1.000 of inhabitants
|
|
| Region: | ||||
| Minsk |
8.3
|
223
|
45.9
|
104
|
| Minsk region |
19.2
|
632
|
8.2
|
23
|
| Brest and region |
10.4
|
361
|
19.7
|
58
|
| Grodno region |
16.3
|
682
|
1.6
|
6
|
| Vitebsk and region |
13.3
|
542
|
9.8
|
34
|
| Mogilev and region |
11.8
|
494
|
6.6
|
23
|
| Gomel and region |
20.7
|
612
|
8.2
|
20
|
| Type of settlement: | ||||
| Capital |
8.3
|
223
|
45.9
|
104
|
| Regional center |
13.1
|
396
|
21.3
|
54
|
| City (50,000 inhabitants and more) |
10.5
|
404
|
19.7
|
64
|
| Town (less than 50.000 inhabitants) |
23.7
|
548
|
8.2
|
16
|
| Village |
44.4
|
705
|
4.9
|
7
|
The data show, poverty is spread mostly in the rural areas and in small towns – more than two thirds of the Belarusian poor live here (68.1%). The rich, correspondingly, are abundant in the capital and in large cities – almost 87%. Specific data do not differ greatly.
Frankly speaking, this information only gives a quantitative proof of well-known facts. However, it lets us outline average social-demographic portraits of rich and poor Belarusians. Thus, a poor Belarusian is a retired woman or a young woman working at a collective farm with specialized education who lives in the rural area or in a small town in Grodno or Minsk region. A rich Belarusian is a man of 40–50 with a higher education employed at the non-state sector who lives in Minsk or Brest.