Life in Russia Below Average Says OECD

Russian Federation - How’s Life?

The Russian Federation has made progress over the last decade in improving the quality of life of its citizens, despite lower than average scores in some topics on the Better Life Index. The Russian Federation ranks above the average in education and skills, and work-life balance but below average in the dimensions of subjective well-being, income and wealth, jobs and earnings, personal security, environmental quality, housing, civic engagement, social connections, and health status. These rankings are based on available selected data.

Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In the Russian Federation, the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is lower than the OECD average of USD 33 604 a year. In terms of employment, around 70% of people aged 15 to 64 in Russia have a paid job, above the OECD employment average of 68%. Some 76% of men are in paid work, compared with 66% of women. In the Russian Federation, very few employees work very long hours, at 0.1% compared with 11% on average in the OECD, with 0.2% of men working very long hours compared with almost no women.

Good education and skills are important requisites for finding a job. In Russia, 94% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, much higher than the OECD average of 78%. This is truer of women than men, as 93% of men have successfully completed high-school compared with 95% of women. In terms of the quality of the educational system, the average student scored 492 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), slightly higher than the OECD average of 486. On average in the Russian Federation, girls outperformed boys by 8 points, higher than the average OECD gap of 2 points.

In terms of health, life expectancy at birth in the Russian Federation is 72 years, eight years below the OECD average of 80 years. Life expectancy for women is 77 years, compared with 67 for men. The level of atmospheric PM2.5 – tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs – is 15.5 micrograms per cubic meter, higher than the OECD average of 13.9 micrograms per cubic meter. The Russian Federation could do better in terms of water quality, as only 55% of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water, lower than the OECD average of 81%.

Concerning the public sphere, there is a moderate sense of community and level of civic participation in the Russian Federation, where 89% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need,  the same as the OECD average. Voter turnout, a measure of citizens' participation in the political process, was 68% during recent elections,lower than the OECD average of 68%. Voter turnout for the top 20% of the population is an estimated 72% and for the bottom 20% it is an estimated 69%, a much narrower gap than the OECD average gap of 13 percentage points, and suggests there is broad social inclusion in Russia's democratic institutions.

In general, Russians are less satisfied with their lives than the OECD average. When asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Russians gave it a 5.8 grade on average, lower than the OECD average of 6.5.

http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/russian-federation/