#2 - JRL 7228
RUSSIAN POPULATION'S EFFECTIVE INCOMES GROW BY A THIRD OVER THREE YEARS

St. PETERSBURG, June 18, 2003. /From RIA Novosti-North-west correspondents Dina Danilova and Svetlana Chikirova/--In Russia, the population's effective incomes have grown by almost a third over the past three years. Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of the Russian parliament), chairman of the organising committee of the 7th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum said opening this forum.

In his words, almost 4 million people " have left the ranks of the unemployed". At the same time, almost a quarter of Russian citizens, mostly rural dwellers from "depressive regions" and workers of budget-dependent organisations, have incomes below the subsistence wage.

As world experience shows, there are no rich and poor countries by definition, there are countries that are governed efficiently or non-efficiently," said Sergei Mironov. In his opinion, "people's living standards are the criterion of effective government".