The poor account for 15% of Russia's total population / Photo from nk.org.ua
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets says that the number of poor people in Russia has reached a critical level of 22 million, which is about 15% of the total population.
"Unfortunately, forecasts have been justified: according to official statistics, the number of poor people has reached 22 million people. This is critical," Golodets said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 (Russia 24) TV Channel on Monday, according to the BBC's Russian Service.
The Russian Federal Service of State Statistics reported that the number of Russians with income lower than the living wage in the first quarter of 2015 rose by 3.1 million people year-over-year, to 22.9 million people.
The growth of the poverty rate in 2015 was due to a significant increase in the size of the living wage as a result of high inflation, the Russian authorities said.
The living wage in Russia in the first quarter of 2015 grew to RUR 9,662 (about $170 at the official forex rate as of July 14) per person per month from RUR 7,688 (about $135).
The population of Russia as of January 1, 2015, was 146.27 million people, according to the Russian statistics service, which also counted the population of the annexed Crimea.