Russians on savings

At the end of 2023, more than half of Russian families (52%) had no savings. Four out of ten households (40%) have savings in rubles. In 7% of households, savings are a mix of domestic and foreign currencies. And only 1% of Russians keep all their savings in dollars or euros. These are the results of a nationwide ROMIR* survey conducted in the fourth quarter of last year.  

Diagram 1: Savings in Russian families (%)

Data source: ROMIR, 4th quarter of 2023

As can be seen from Diagram 1, the situation with savings among the Russian population has remained almost unchanged for the last one and a half years. The shares of Russians with and without savings change insignificantly, actually within the statistical error. Thus, starting from the second half of 2022, 50-53% of Russians declare that they have no savings. About ruble savings say 39-42% of respondents. The share of those who keep savings in rubles and currency or only in dollars and euros remains unchanged. 

However, in the first half of 2022, the picture was somewhat different. The shares of Russians with and without savings were identical - 45% each. Moreover, in the first quarter of 2022, hybrid savings (a mix of rubles and currency) were reported by 11% of respondents against 7% in subsequent periods.

Diagram 2: Length of time during which Russians can live solely on their savings (%)

Data source: ROMIR, Q4 2023

If we talk about the size of savings of the Russian population, then, judging by the results of the survey, the volume of savings is not only not decreasing, but even gradually growing. The shares of those who hope to live on their savings for a year or three and more are gradually growing, and the shares of answers about shorter-term plans are decreasing. Probably, we can conclude that the savings of Russians remain comparable, at least, with the general growth of prices and inflation.  

Thus, starting from Q2 of last year, the share of those who hope to live for more than 3 years on their savings doubled compared to the beginning of 2022 - from 2% to 4% respectively. In the second half of last year, the share of those who expect to live on their savings for a time period of one to three years also slightly strengthened - every tenth Russian with savings indicated this answer option. The number of our compatriots who plan to use their savings for life in the perspective of up to six months, from the beginning of 2022 to the end of 2023 decreased from 70% to 65%. 

"Judging by the trend of the last year, the issue of Russians' savings has stabilised, and our fellow citizens have adapted to the economic situation in the country. There is a positive trend towards saving money: if earlier most of them had no savings or looked at a very narrow planning horizon of 3-6 months, in the last six months this trend has received a positive growth with an expansion to a year", - comments the results of the study Senior Director of Customer Relations at ROMIR Lyudmila Fukova. 

Methodology:

The survey was conducted on the basis of ROMIR's Unified Data Panel. More than 4,300 Russians over the age of 18 took part in it using a nationally representative sample.