Current and future financial wellbeing of old age Russian pensioners

This paper compares pensioners' income with cost of living and subsistence minimum level to gauge financial wellbeing of pensioners. Using data from Russia Longitudinal Monitoring survey (RLMS-HSE), I formally test whether pensioners' income covers the cost of living across five regions: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Tomsk. The results reject the null that pensioner's income is sufficient at the 1 percent level in all but Krasnoyarsk. These results imply the depreciation of housing and lack of maintenance will put an increasing pressure on the structure of Russian economy. Therefore, either free housing needs to be provided for the pensioners or the youth will need to save or work during their own retirement.