Subjective Approach in the Framework of Analysis and Assessment of Poverty Levels in Russia

Abstract

This paper casts light upon various approaches to assessment of poverty levels including absolute, relative and subjective ones, as well as their strengths and drawbacks. This work studies subjective poverty levels in the Russian Federation, their region-related differences and dependence on the social well-being factors. The study’s informational background is the data obtained from regions of the Russian Federation and the statistics based on the results of the opinion polls held by the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of HSE. In order to study the region-related disparity in the levels of subjective poverty, regions of the Russian Federation have been clustered, using k-means method, based on a number of socioeconomic indices. As a result, three regional clusters have been shaped: the leader regions, the depressed regions and the medium-level development regions. Region-related differences in the levels of subjective poverty and psychosocial well-being are studied using such statistical methods as multi-way tables and statistical tests for determination of significance of the differences across the groups. Comparative study of the subjective poverty levels in the abovementioned clusters have shown that the difference in such levels is quite insignificant, while the respondents from all three clusters attest to fairly positive social well-being.