For the last few years, there has been an ongoing narrative indicating that the so-called BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, would eventually supplant the United States as the leading engine of global economic growth.
To a certain extent, that has happened, but not to the degree that many had expected. With the possible exception of India, the BRIC nations have been disappointing, and that has not only helped produce a weak global economy, but has impacted domestic populations.
For instance, as reported by the Associated Press, Russia’s state statistical service indicates that the number of people living in poverty there rose by nearly twenty percent last year. The statistical serve reports that last year, there were nineteen point two million Russians living in poverty, or about thirteen percent of the population.
This group is living on less than nine thousand nine hundred and sixty two rubles per month, which translates into approximately one hundred and forty dollars. During last alone, three point one million Russians fell into poverty.
The Russian economy has been deeply and negatively impacted over the past two years by low oil and natural gas prices as well as by Western sanctions attributable to Russia’s role in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.
