Criteria for Determining Low-Income Households: Building Practices and Prospects for Improvement

Abstract

The article considers the actual problems of the methodology for constructing criteria used in determining low-income households. The purpose of the research is to clarify the criteria developed by Russian statistics based on the accounting of monetary features. The approach proposed in the research to combining monetary and material components allows forming multidimensional criteria reflecting the minimum required level of household provision with financial and material resources, as well as resource capabilities of various household groups. The estimates developed on its basis also make it possible to identify intergroup differences for household groups formed according to multidimensional characteristics. The approbation of the proposed approach in the research was carried out on the basis of the data from the Russian official statistics of living standards, developed under the section «Income, expenses and living conditions of households». According to the approbation results, the deprivation characteristics of the decile income groups of the Russian population were revealed by the level of their provision with housing conditions, durable goods and resources for improving housing conditions. On the basis of criteria developed taking into account non-monetary components, in the low-income households the research identified groups with the status of extreme, desperate and moderate poverty, as well as a group with increased risks of changes in property status. According to the estimates, in 2019 restrictions on housing conditions and the availability of durable goods were fixed in all decile groups of households with per capita monetary incomes up to 35 thousand. rub. per month. This level can be considered as a criterion determining the boundary below which the corresponding income groups of households can be classified as poor on the basis of material resources.