Is Russia a poor country?

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Rillifane

Yes and no.

Russia has vast natural resources which it can and does sell and is therefore able to generate a fair amount of cash.

On the other hand its GDP is something like 2 Trillion dollars as compared to the USA with a GDP of over 13 trillion dollars.

Russia is largely an extractive economy which is incapable of producing manufactured goods, other than vodka, that anyone outside Russia is willing to buy. Eventually the oil will run out, the forests will all be cut down and the Russian people will revert to a hunter gatherer economy.

Moreover the Russian economy benefits principally a tiny number of oligarchs who are, for the most part, politically connected to the corrupt brutes in the Putin regime.

In fact, so dire is the situation in Russia that it is the only modern industrial state which has ever trended downward in population or in which the average life span has declined absent a major war. The life expectancy of a Russian man is 61.5 years while that of an American is 75.20 years.

It is hardly surprising that rich Russians invariably keep most of their funds outside the country and are usually careful to maintain a principal residence in the west.

P.S. All the "thumbs down" by Russians who are deluding themselves into thinking the FACTS quoted by me are not true won't change the reality that they are.

EDIT@Captian Insano The total American national debt is about 9 trillion dollars which is about 8 months of American's national income. Not a big deal at all. That's why Americans, who are 5% of the world's population can afford to consume 25% of the worlds resources.

pkwater

they would be if they dide nt have trillions of dollars of oil under there soil

Lloyd

It depends what you mean by "poor".

Grow up.

123th345345466666663464534534534

some parts are, but there are rich parts

Kam

Somehow I'm getting the feeling that most people who answered this question never been to Russia. Just because they saw a video on TV from the 80s that mentioned that Russia was poor doesn't hold much water these days.
And no Russia is not poor. If you wanna talk poor, think Africa.

sin_talk

russian is a country with a developing economy.and we do have TV and bananas in the country.There are no bears walking on Red square not everybody is drinking vodka and we do have all 4 season too(it`s not cold all year around)

slipstreamer

Yes and no. They reportedly have more billionaires/millionaires than any other country and tons of oil money...but they have quite a few poor people and depressed areas as well. In other countries with more stable economies like the UK, France and US the wealth is more dispersed and there is a pretty large middle class that is well off.

Russia does have a lot of debt. A decade ago Russia defaulted on a 80 billion loan - not sure where that stands at present. It still has not been paid back, and with interest rates...? It's very complicated. Several countries finances intersect.

I do not know this from personal experience as I am not a Russian citizen, but I do have several Russian friends who have talked at length about this (it's one of the reasons they emigrated) and I do follow the international financial news reports.

Ã‡etin

Hi,
i think , Russia isn't a poor country...
http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/info/country.html

I'm Special

in what sense? it's a 1st world nation but if you mean financially they are much better off than America who's like an infinite amount of money in debt.

Anne

Define poor...
Their public debt is little. Their GDP low.
US's GDP is high. Our public debt massive.

2007 numbers:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html

ptrobrn

They are not as well off as we are in general but we have poor here too.

Maggie ja BieÅ‚aruÅ›

Yes / No / *** Backwards By Choice / Want to Be More Like the Western World / Very Misinformed / Putin Has a Small PP

Alex N

As far as I understand the word "poor" - yes! What is "poor"? The poor are NOT people who have little money, in some countries EVEN if you have no money you can sleep in the street and eat just-grown bananas.THE POOR is someone who CAN'T afford anything without money. What can anyone do in Russia without money, esp. in winter. Nothing is not a right answer! If you have no money in Russia you're just sentenced to death. Look at Russian bums and tramps, they're looking for a warm place to sleep just to wake up alive! Fruit don't grown in the street. They can easily have trobles with police. The other category are pensioners. After a whole life of work they just get few miserable bills (I even can't call it "money") which is enouh only for paying for appartment and electricity and buying a basket of really common food. WHat kind of care is it? In many cases medical care is expensive, is you choose free medical care, you'll come across with bureaucracy and lines.The next category is Single-parented families. A lonely mother working all day for "some bills" gets a "benefit" from the state which is not enought to buy a good toy or clothes or much food.Next, if you go to work in the city where you're not registered (this kind of "registration" means you have a stamp which says your ADDRESS in your passport! and you can do anything only in your city - it's a violation of Human Rights, really ) you won't get a well-payed job.The situation in jails is really bad even for a jails!Because of bureaucracy and bribes it's so hard, even impossible to find justice. If you have money, you can turn the state law into any direction, if you don't you can't prove anything to anyone.Journalists broadcast payed articles and programs, which are full of lies. Why? Because money has a power everywhere and has a SUPERPOWER in Russia.

zoltan

yes russia does have more billionares and millionares....becuse they made thier money by taking your details from your credit card when you bought some thing from the net...so yeah keep on buying stuff on the net ..give them money they are poor...

swampy

The people are poor but the government has plenty of oil money to spend on the military.

Carlos G123456

sure is not like USA,some people most of them are very poor,but now is appear a new rich clase,

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