Almost five million of “the new poor” have appeared in Russia since the beginning of crisis. As TASS reported on Wednesday, May 25, this was reported by the Russian Presidential Aide Andrei Belousov on the eve of the meeting of the Presidium of the Economic Council under the President of the RF.

      The growth of the number of citizens with incomes below the subsistence level has become a serious problem for the economy, as Belousov stated. According to him, the Russian economy in general has overcome the crisis, but the number of poor proved to be much higher in the new equilibrium point. “The number of citizens with incomes below the subsistence level now makes up 13 percent of population, while it amounted to 10 percent before the crisis. There are almost five million new poor people” - the Presidential Aide specified. Belousov believes that it may take several years to restore the population’s income.