You read about the new Russian millionaires, along with the criminal element now thriving in Russia, but is the average Russian’s life better than before the fall of communism? Has their standard of living increased, decreased or stayed roughly the same over the past 15 years? Is their healthcare better? Education better? Television and Movies better? Has life improved for the teaming masses?
I would like to believe that freedom and democracy has helped the living condition of the “average” Russian, but I’m having a hard time finding a cite that proves it.
Part of the problem is that there’s still a long way to go before Russia reaches “freedom and democracy”!
In purely economic terms, it’s said that in the Soviet days the average Russian had money but there was nothing to buy. Now, there’s plenty to buy, but the average Russian has no money. That’s very oversimplified, and certainly things have come a long way for most people since the lowest point, when wages and salaries weren’t paid for months at a time and old people were living on nothing but bread because their pensions didn’t stretch any further. Still, ordinary people’s standard of living has not improved much if at all from the Gorbachev era. Their problems are just different now.
Healthcare was probably better under the Soviet system; there have been outbreaks of TB and diphtheria, which had been pretty much under control in the “old days”. Education at the primary and secondary levels has not changed much. On the plus side, teachers and pupils have more freedom; on the minus side, there’s less money. (Your school is free to buy new history textbooks, and the budget should allow that in… 2012 or so.) More outside TV programs and movies are available, and the locally produced ones are more varied than in the pre-Gorby era, since they don’t always have to glorify the system. But note that this process was already starting in 1989.
The biggest progress is being made politically. Actual political parties are permitted, the secret police are gone, and votes count for something. But the president still has a lot of power, and people who are considered too dangerous by the powers that be still find themselves in court on flimsy charges, while those who work with the system (and pay the bribes) somehow manage to avoid prosecution. Still, it’s progress!
Here are some interesting 1999 numbers on standards of living (PDF; could not find newer numbers in this comprehensive form). The numbers look pretty dismal, in absolute numbers and also compared with other East European countries. For example, male life expectancy seems to have dropped from about 64 to 58 years from 1989 to 1994.
Having worked in Russia an the very early 90s I would agree with this.
The people I worked with - in a factory, so they would definitely be your average Jo(sef) - were content with their lot. Admittedly this was in the south, so the weather was good and food plentiful.
The one thing they envied about the west was shops full of goods. Unemployment was minimal and most people had plenty of roubles but little to spend them on.
Most assumed people in the west had plenty of money too and could therefore purchase anything they wished.