Russia in 2015: Russia

èÂ‰ÒÚ‡‚ËÚÂÎ¸ÒÚ‚Ó èÓ„‡ÏÏ˚ ‡Á‚ËÚËﬂ ééç ‚ êÓÒÒËÈÒÍÓÈ îÂ‰Â‡ˆËË 119034, åÓÒÍ‚‡, ÛÎ. éÒÚÓÊÂÌÍ‡, 28 íÂÎÂÙÓÌ: 7 (095) 787 21 00 î‡ÍÒ: 7(095) 787 21 01 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2005 RUSSIAN FEDERATION http://www.undp.ru [email protected] Russia in 2015: Russia

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2005 RUSSIAN FEDERATION Development goals and policy priorities Russia

Human Development Report 2005 Russian Federation Russia in 2015: Development Goals and Policy Priorities The Human Development Report 2005 for the Russian Federation has been prepared by a team of Russian experts and consultants. The analysis and policy recommendations in this Report do not necessarily reflect the views of the UN system and the institutions by which the experts and consultants are employed.

Chief authors: Box contributors: Prof. Sergei N. Bobylev, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Prof. A.A. Baranov, Dr.Sc. (Medicine), Director Department of Economics at Moscow State of the Scientific Center for Child Health, University Russian Academy of Medical Sciences; Chair Anastassia L. Alexandrova, Ph.D. (Economics), of the Russian Pediatric Association, Social Policy Sector Director, Institute for Urban Academician Economics Prof. V.N. Baskakov, Dr.Sc. (Physics and Mathematics), Chair of the Independent Actuarial Information and Analytic Center Chapter authors: V.V. Gavrilov, Ph.D. (Physical and Mathematical), Prof. Vladimir A. Mau, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Deputy Director of the Department for Property Rector of the Academy of National Economy and Land Relations, Economics of Nature Uses under the Government of the RF (Introduction) at the Ministry for Economic Development and Lilia N. Ovcharova, Ph.D. (Economics), Trade of Russia Research Director, Independent Institute for A.T. Goliusov, Ph.D. (Medicine), Head of Social Policy; Head of Laboratory, Institute for HIV/AIDs surveillance Department at the Socio-Economic Studies of Population, RAS Federal Service of the RF for surveillance in (Chapter 1). consumer rights protection and human welfare Mark L. Agranovich, Ph.D. (Economics), Head of K.B. Koulaev, Head of North Caucasus the Centre of Monitoring and Statistics of Recovery Unit, UNDP Russian Federation Education, Deputy Director of the State Research O.B. Loginova, Ph.D. (Physics Education), Institute of IT for Education (Chapter 2). Deputy Rector of the Moscow Institute of Marina E. Baskakova, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Open Education Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Socio- Prof. A.B. Poletayev, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Economic Studies of Population, RAS (Chapter Head of Section at Institute for World 3 co-author) Economy and International Relations Elena B. Mezentseva, Ph.D. (Economics), Senior (IMEMO), Russian Academy of Sciences Lecturer at the Department of Economic M. Svedberg, M.A. (Political Economy of Sociology, State University – Higher School of Transition) from the London School of Economics; Research Fellow at the Moscow Economics, Chief Analyst at the Stockholm Center for Gender Research (Chapter 3 co-author) Institute of Transition Economics Kirill D. Danishevsky, Ph.D. (Medicine), Senior A.E. Sourinov, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Deputy lecturer at the Postgraduate School of Health Director, Federal State Statistics Service Management, Department of Public Health, Moscow Sechenov Medical Academy; Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Consultant at the Open Health Institute, Moscow (Chapter 4). Alexey V. Bobrik, Ph.D. (Medicine), Deputy Human Development Report 2005 for the Russian Federation/Edited by Prof. S.N. Bobylev and A.L. Director, Open Health Institute, Moscow Alexandrova; translation from Russian by Interdialect; editing (Chapter 5). in English by Ben W. Hooson. Cover and design by Lebrand Prof. Sergei N. Bobylev, Dr.Sc. (Economics), Agency; preprinting works by Samolet Design Project; print- Department of Economics at Moscow State ed by Tverskaya Printing-House, 2005, ….pp., incl. tables, fig- University (Chapter 6). ures and boxes. Prof. Lev S. Voronkov, Dr.Sc. (History), Department of European Integration at Moscow State Institute of International Relations; Chairman of the Commission on Readers are presented with the tenth Human Development Report for the Russian Federation. National reports such as MDGs of the UNA in Russia (Chapter 7). this are published on the initiative of the United Nations Natalia V. Zubarevich, Dr.Sc. (Geography), Development Programme (UNDP) in many countries of the Associate Professor at the Department of world. Global reports are also brought out annually. The Geography, Moscow State University (Chapter 8). reports are compiled by teams of independent experts. Galina P. Bodrenkova, Consultant of the State The present Report was put together by combined efforts Duma Committee on Social Associations and of all the UN agencies that function on the territory of the Religious Organizations, National Russian Federation, with the aid of the Foundation “Centre Representative for Russia at the International for Strategic Development”. The theme of the Report is Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE) (Chapter 9) “Russia in 2015: Development Goals and Policy Priorities”. The given theme is examined in the context of the Millennium Development Goals of the UN (MDGs), which were ratified by the entire international community. The Report is intended for use by high-ranking administra- ISBN 92-1-126171-6 tive personnel, political scientists, teachers, scientific researchers and students of higher education. © UNDP, 2005.

2 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Russia

The United Nations Development Programme in the Russian Federation expresses its sincere gratitude to the sponsors of the 2005 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation:

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

World Health Organization (WHO)

United Nations Information Center (UNIC)

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the rep- the UNDP Russia team: Stefan Vassilev – UNDP resentatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Resident Representative (until August 2005); Kaarina Russian Federation: Fedotov Y.V. – the (until June Immonen – Deputy Resident Representative; Shombi 2005) Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Granovskiy Sharp – Assistant Resident Representative (until July E.A. – Director of the Department of International 2005); Malanova E.M. – Programme Officer; Zotikova Organizations (DMO); Nebenzia V.A. – Deputy V.K. – Communications Officer; Voronkova N.V. – Director of DMO; Khairulin R.A. - the Third Secretary Project Manager; and Mariassin D.S. – UN of DMO; and Isakov Y.N. – Ambassador-at-Large and Coordination Analyst. the Special Envoy on the Russian G-8 Presidency. The authors also express their appreciation to For their invaluable support and contribution to the employees of the Secretariat of the Deputy Prime project, special thanks are addressed to the leader- Minister; employees of the Ministry of Health and ship and employees of the Foundation “Centre for Social Development of the RF and personally to Strategic Research”: Nabiullina E.S. – the President of Sharapova O.V.; to all the experts of the UN system in the Foundation: Dmitriev M.E. – the Scientific Russia who sent their comments, and to the partici- Coordinator of the Foundation; Fomichev O.V. – the pants of the Hearings on the Report, for their con- Director for Development; and also the members of structive criticisms.

3 Address to Readers

t becomes more apparent year by year In the Consolidated Report all government Ithat human development and its quality goals are grouped into four main blocks: are now the determining factors for success “Increasing the level and quality of life of of social and economic transformation in the population”; “Increasing the level of any country of the world. The 10th National national security”; “Securing high rates of Human Development Report looks at the sustainable economic growth”; and most important objectives in this field for “Creating potential for future develop- Russia and the world at large in the con- ment”. We were guided in choosing many ceptual framework of the Millennium of these goals by international experience, Development Goals, which were put for- including the Millennium Development ward by the UN for the benefit of humanity, Goals. and approved by the global community and The “goal-target” approach is increasingly by Russia. used for design of local socio-economic As many of the MDGs are intended primari- programmes in Russian regions. Another ly for developing countries, the authors of merit of the Report is its attempt to offer a the Russian Report had to answer difficult scenario for Russia’s development up to the questions: How could these MDGs be inter- year 2015. preted for our country? What are the prop- I am pleased to note that Report authors er targets for their achievement? What have liaised closed with state representa- could constitute indicators of relevant tives, experts from the Centre of Strategic progress? Development, and Government officials. These questions can only be answered by Fruitfulness of the discussions and meet- analyzing a wide range of problems that are ings, which have taken place, is reflected topical for Russia. These problems include: both in Chapters of the Report and in boxes increasing income levels and eradicating and inserts prepared by specialists in poverty; improvement of people’s health Russian ministries and agencies. and the acute demographic situation; This Report is a creative and innovative reform of all levels of education; environ- work for Russia, and one might take issue mental protection; and Russia’s place in the with some of the goals and indicators, global partnership of nations. which it describes. But value of the Report’s I would like to draw attention in particular professional analysis of social and econom- to the methods and approaches used in this ic problems, its forecasts and development Report. Following practice of the scenarios for different situations, is beyond Millennium Development Goals, the Report doubt. I am convinced that this Report is a on Russia makes extensive use of the triad good basis for further discussions in socie- “goals-targets-indicators”. A similar con- ty, the Government and the scientific com- ceptual approach is employed in pro- munity aimed at development of goals for gramme documents of the Russian human development and ways of achieving Government, for example in the them in Russia. Consolidated Report “Goals, Targets and Indicators for Activities of the Subjects of Budgetary Planning (i.e. Federal Ministries, and Federal Agencies and Services man- Alexander D. Zhukov aged by the Government of the Russian Deputy Chairman Federation)” (2004). Government of the Russian Federation

4 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Dear Readers!

am proud to present to you the 10th aggravated by behavioral, social and Iannual edition of the Russian National environmental patterns. These among Human Development Report – a publica- other aspects of socio-economic develop- tion produced jointly by the United ment are looked at in the context of the Nations Development Program, the current economic situation, ongoing poli- United Nations Country Team in Russia cy processes inside the country and from and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the viewpoint of international experience. Russia. In 2005, the report is special in a The authors analyze positive as well as number ways. First, as the title “Russia negative trends, and assess possible towards 2015: development goals and future scenarios. policy priorities” suggests, it discusses Furthermore, the Report also looks at the strategic outlook for the country’s Russia’s emerging role as donor and development – an ambitious task in provider of technical assistance. In the itself. Second, the report tries for the first context of the MDG+5 Summit in New time to relate the human development York in September 2005 and Russia’s dimension to the Government’s develop- Presidency of the G-8 in 2006 the Report ment priorities through the lens of the highlights Russia’s unique challenge to customized Millennium Development continue coping with internal develop- Goals (MDGs). Third, while remaining ment issues while becoming one of the the product of a group of independent driving forces in the global fight against national experts, it has been produced poverty. through a highly participatory exercise I trust the Report represents a valuable with contributions from various UN analytical tool for decision makers, civil agencies working in Russia and from society and the expert community and Government structures. will thus serve the purpose of furthering The report includes an in-depth analysis Russia’s human development potential. of the so called “MDG+” agenda for the Russian Federation. MDG+ is a concept developed to enable adaptation of the MDGs to each country’s particular context, which in the case of the middle- income countries implies setting goals and targets beyond the global goals. Each chapter of the Report is dedicated to one of the key human development challenges Russia is facing today and proposes an interpretation and a formulation of the goal/indicator relevant for Russia. The key issues include regional income differentiation and remaining pockets of deep poverty, unequal access to education and some of the basic social services, persistent gender stereotypes, alarming rates of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis preva- Kaarina Immonen lence as well as low life expectancy rate UNDP Resident Representative a.i.

5 Contents

Preface 10

Overview 11

Foreword 18 Box 1. UN Millenium Development Goals 19 Box 2. Targets of goal-oriented planning 28

Chapter 1. Alleviation of poverty as a priority for socio-economic development in Russia 30 1.1. Poverty in the perspective of the Millennium Development Goals 30 1.2. Specific aspects of poverty in Russia and measures for its alleviation 32 1.2.1. Poverty level and depth 34 1.2.2. Profile and causes of Russian poverty 35 1.3. Strategies for poverty reduction in various socio-economic development scenarios 37 1.4. Development of objective indicators for poverty monitoring 40 1.5. Conclusions and recommendations 40 Box 1.1. Poverty measurement in Russia 41

Chapter 2. Russian education in the context of the UN MDGs: current situation, problems, and perspectives 46 2.1. Russian education and the Millennium Development Goals 46 2.1.1. Relevance of the MDGs to education for Russia 46 2.1.2. Disparity in access to education 47 2.1.3. The content of education, modern life skills and the labor market 49 2.2. Assessment of the outlook 51 2.3. Goals and targets for development of Russian education in the spirit of the MDGs 53 2.4. Government education policy and the Millennium Development Goals 54 2.5. Conclusions and recommendations 55 Box 2.1. Problems of educational exclusion of some groups of children 47 Box 2.2. Monitoring data obtained during an experiment on improvement of structure and curricula of general secondary education, October, 2001 49 Box 2.3. Higher education and the labor market 51

Chapter 3. Promote gender equality and empower women 58 3.1. Gender analysis of legislation 58 3.2. National machinery for improving the status of women in the Russian Federation 59 3.3. Gender problems in Russian state policy 59 3.4. Statistical analysis of the current situation 60 3.4.1. Low (and falling) male life expectancy, especially in the able-bodied age group 60 3.4.2. Deformation of matrimonial profile of population 62

6 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 3.4.3. Employment and unemployment among men and women 62 3.4.4. Substantial (and growing) gender differences in labor remuneration 63 3.4.5. High employment in harmful labor conditions 64 3.4.6. Education 65 3.4.7. Spread of traditional gender roles and stereotypes 66 3.4.8. Crime 66 3.4.9. Gender aspects of violence in Russia 66 3.4.10. Participation of women and men in decision-making 67 3.5. Prospects for achieving the MDG goal to “Promote gender equality and empower women”: development scenarios 68 3.6. MDG performance monitoring and proposed indicators 69 3.7. Conclusions and recommendations 70 Box 3.1. Legal environment for implementation of the gender equality principle 59 Box 3.2. Russia’s accession to the WTO: assessment of gender impact 69 Box 3.3. Gender aspects of pension reform 70 Box 3.4. The official view of gender issues in the Russian Federation 72

Chapter 4. Reducing child and maternal mortality. MDG+ for health 74 4.1. Introduction: demographic situation in the Russian Federation 74 4.2. MDG 4, Target 5. Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate 75 4.2.1. Introduction: target under-five mortality level for Russia in 2015 75 4.2.2. Under-five mortality: comparing across countries and time 76 4.2.3. Exploring under-five mortality in Russia 77 4.2.4. Range of strategies to reduce under-five mortality 77 4.2.5. Potential effect of achieving MDG 4 79 4.2.6. Feasibility of achieving MDG 4 79 4.2.7. Suggestions for indicators 80 4.2.8. Conclusions on MDG 4 81 4.3. MDG 5, Target 6. Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio 81 4.3.1. Introduction: target maternal mortality level for Russia in 2015 81 4.3.2. Defining and measuring maternal mortality 81 4.3.3. Maternal mortality: comparing across countries and time 82 4.3.4. Exploring maternal mortality in Russia 83 4.3.5. Strategies needed to achieve MDG 5 86 4.3.6. Potential effects of achieving MDG 5 87 4.3.7. Feasibility of achieving MDG 5 87 4.3.8. Suggested indicators for monitoring MDG 5 87 4.3.9. Conclusions on MDG 5 88 4.4. What goals for health does Russia need and how can avoidable adult mortality from non-communicable diseases be prevented? 89 4.5. Conclusions and recommendations 90 Box 4.1. Defining and measuring under-five mortality 75 Box 4.2. Issues of terminology and data 77

7 Contents

Box 4.3. “Yes” to reform of primary medical care, “No” to exclusion of pediatricians from the primary level 78 Box 4.4. Distribution of birth weight in Tula Region (2000) and Sweden (1998) 79 Box 4.5. The official view on maternal and infant mortality issues 84

Chapter 5. Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 94 5.1. Analysis of the situation in Russia 94 5.1.1. HIV/AIDS 94 5.1.2. Other major diseases 97 5.2. Combating HIV/AIDS and other major infectious diseases in Russia 98 5.2.1. Analysis of current actions 98 5.2.1.1. HIV/AIDS 98 5.2.1.2. Tuberculosis 100 5.2.2. Adaptation of targets and indicators of Goal 6 to Russian conditions 101 5.3. Possible scenarios and target progress indicators 102 5.4. Monitoring of progress towards MDG 6 104 5.5. Conclusions and recommendations 104 Box 5.1. Russia’s efforts to achieve Goal 6 of the UN Millennium Development Goals: “To have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS” 101

Chapter 6. Ensuring environmental sustainability 108 6.1. Problems of ensuring sustainable development 108 6.2. Tasks for ensuring environmental sustainability for Russia 113 6.2.1. The outlook for sustainability based on Russian Government action 113 6.2.2. Adaptation of targets and indicators of Goal 7 to Russian conditions 114 6.3. Scenarios and target indicators for transition to sustainable development 118 6.3.1. Environmental sustainability of economic development scenarios 118 6.3.2. Target reference points for the MDG indicators 121 6.4. Monitoring of progress to Goal 7 and necessary conditions 124 6.5. Conclusions and recommendations 125 Box 6.1. The Russian Presidential Decree “Concept for Russia’s Transition to Sustainable Development” (1996) 108 Box 6.2. The structure of the Federal Target Programme “Environment and Natural Resources” 113 Box 6.3. “Market failures” 114 Box 6.4. From a speech by Russian President, Vladimir Putin 122 Box 6.5. Environmental charges 130

Chapter 7. Develop a global partnership for development 132 7.1. Russia’s historical heritage 133 7.2. Formation of Russia’s policy on the global partnership for development 134 7.2.1. Domestic factors 134 7.2.2. International factors 138 7.2.3. Russia’s participation in international development programmes 140 7.3. Russia’s urgent objectives in the context of global partnership for development 144

8 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 7.4. Monitoring of Russia’s advance to Goal 8 147 7.5. Possible scenarios 147 Box 7.1. Priorities of the international programmes of assistance for Russia 135 Box 7.2. Write-offs by Russia of debts owed to it by other countries 141 Box 7.3. Russia's participation in G8 148 Box 7.4. The new Swedish policy for global development 149

Chapter 8. Millennium Development Goals and regions of Russia 154 8.1. MDG indicators for regions 154 8.2. Regional development: positive trends and problems 163 8.3. Human Development Index 165 8.4. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: development variants 166 8.5. Monitoring MDG progress and required conditions 167 8.6. Conclusions and recommendations 170 Box 8.1. Programme of economic and social development in the North Caucasus 171

Chapter 9. The role of civil society in achieving the MDGs in the context of the Russian Federation 174 9.1. Civil society: widening its role in design of anti-poverty policy 174 9.2. Russia at a new stage of reforms and building civil society 176 9.3. Promoting inter-sectoral interaction and partnership 179 9.4. Scenarios 180 9.5. Setting up a support system for voluntary civil initiatives in the Russian Federation 181 9.6. Conclusions and recommendations 183

9 Preface Preface

eaders are presented with the tenth to improve the system of education and pro- RNational Human Development Report mote gender equality; we need to fight dis- for the Russian Federation. Similar reports eases and ensure ecological sustainability; are published in many countries of the world and finally, we need to create a global devel- on the initiative of the United Nations opment partner-ship. Using the MDG con- Development Programme (UNDP). cept, the authors of the Report discuss the Additionally, general reviews of human goals and priorities that are characteristic of development in the world at large are also the current development situation in Russia, issued annually. These reports are prepared as well as proposing scenarios and indica- by groups of independent experts at the tors for targets set for 2015. The Report high- request of UNDP. lights existing problems and constructive reform trajectories addressing human develop- he National Human Development Report ment in the Russian Federation. Tfor 2005 is a conceptual continuation of several previous national reports. The series he authors of the Report mainly used offi- is prepared by different groups of independ- Tcial data provided by the Federal State ent Russian experts with the support of Statistics Service, ministries and government UNDP Moscow Office. As previously, this agencies. References are made only when year’s Report does not constitute an account information was obtained from other of socio-economic development during a cer- sources. In cases where there were several tain period of time, but is in-tended as an data sources, priority was given to official academic and analytical study. publications. The authors used materials from public opinion surveys to account for his theme of this year’s Report is: specificities of current demand among the T“Russia in 2015: development goals and Russian population. policy priorities”. The subject is analyzed in the context of the UN Millennium he Report was prepared in close coop- Development Goals (MDGs), which have Teration with UN Agencies working in been approved by the international commu- Russia and the Foundation “Centre for nity. In order to realize these goals we need Strategic Research”, and involved an active to tackle the current level of poverty and dialogue with government agencies and attempt to increase average income; we need social organizations.

10 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Overview Overview

lobal trends in socio-economic develop- most developed countries. The need for trans- Gment present new opportunities for every formation of social sectors (education, public country, but they also raise new questions about health and other spheres directly connected social risk management and protection of vulner- with human development) is a serious chal- able social groups. These questions are reflected lenge for Russia under conditions of ageing of in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the population and growing requirements of the adopted by the UN member states, which to a labor market as regards quality of human capi- great extent determine the directions of socio- tal. For Russia, development policy must be economic strategies of many countries in the closely connected with structural reforms in var- world. The purpose of this Report is a compre- ious spheres to enhance efficiency of the state, hensive analysis of those aspects of the standard and to create and develop democratic institu- and quality of living and of state policy in the tions, which can meet requirements of the cur- Russian Federation, which are directly relevant to rent stage of national and global development. the MDGs. It also looks at costs and opportunities of realizing the human potential of the country to he subject of Chapter 1 is encapsulated in the fullest extent possible. The authors’ tasks Tits title: Alleviation of poverty – the priority included improving, modifying and expanding of Russia’s socio-economic development. the MDGs and the indicators, which monitor Poverty remains a characteristic feature of the their achievement, in order to account for the Russian landscape today, and halving the specific features of Russia. The results of the poverty level has been announced as one of the analysis should help to identify ways and mech- top priority objectives for development of anisms of enhancing effectiveness of state policy Russian society in the Medium-term to improve people’s well-being. Programme for Socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation (2005-2008). Poverty he Introduction to the Report shows that has been on the decline in Russia since 2000 TRussia’s principal task at the current stage thanks to positive impact of economic growth of its historical development is to overcome key on people’s income levels. Incidence of extreme technical and economic, humanitarian and poverty, measured according to criteria in the political challenges in order to travel a road of MGD objectives, is estimated at 1-5% of the total stable democratic development, with effective population. functioning of all its economic sectors and creation of conditions for development of human significant part of Russia’s poor house- potential. Discussing human development from Aholds are clustered around the poverty line: the point of view of the MDGs and the topics only about a tenth of poor households lack any considered in the Report, the authors note that means of subsistence. The fact that extreme many problems described in the MDGs as prob- poverty is rare in Russia should be considered lems characterizing poorer countries (preva- as a positive result from the point of view of liv- lence of infectious diseases, stagnant poverty ing standard dynamics, but the large number of and short duration of human life) need to be households close to the poverty line shows that addressed simultaneously with a systemic crisis there is still a high risk of widespread temporary in social sectors, which affects even some of the poverty. Families with children are the most

11 Overview

numerous group among the poor, and conformity of education to current needs are per- depressed regions and rural populations make a ceived as top priority issues for enhancing com- significant contribution to poverty. petitiveness of the Russian economy, and improving the well-being and quality of life of the he analysis suggests two critical directions Russian population. The Government has Tfor targeted activities. First, the number of defined the primary goal for socio-economic the poor can be significantly reduced at mini- development in the medium term as follows: “It mum cost by programmes, which target people is important that efforts to create a favorable just below the poverty line. Second, about 8% of environment for competitiveness should concen- poor families will stay poor even if a significant trate on reform of education. Russia should part of income is redistributed in their favor, so maintain a higher level of education compared to these families need special programmes to that typical in countries with comparable levels reduce the extent of their poverty. The second of social and economic development. The whole group should be the beneficiary of measures system of education, from pre-school to higher within the framework of Goal 1, which refers to professional level, must be reformed by improv- extreme poverty. ing educational programmes and standards and adapting them better to labor market needs.” owever, raising living standards of the Hextremely poor cannot be the core of the nalysis of Russia’s education performance Russian strategy for overcoming poverty. An Ain the context of the global MDGs offers a active innovation policy based on intensive relatively happy picture. Russians are among structural changes towards the high-tech and the best educated nations in the world. The information sectors of the economy and fact that 4% of children are left out of primary reduced dependence on exports of oil and gas education points to a problem, which needs to and other primary resources could create more be addressed, but indicators of access to uni- favorable conditions for reducing poverty versal primary education and equal access of among the economically active population. By both sexes to all levels of education in Russia pursuing such a policy, Russia should achieve are at a high level, comparable to those in the following results by 2015: industrialized countries. – cutting the level and extent of poverty by half; and owever, current inequality in access to – eliminating extreme forms of poverty. Hpre-school education implies growing inequality of starting conditions for children hese tasks are suggested for consideration living in less developed regions, rural areas Tas a Development Goal adapted for Russia. and children from less fortunate families. Since the task of eliminating extreme and reduc- Besides, results of international comparisons ing general poverty is to become a national show that no concept has been developed or development priority, poverty monitoring in implemented in Russia to date for introduction Russia must include indices allowing evaluation in education of new priorities that match the of the level, extent, profile and causes of poverty. needs of a post-industrial information society, while preserving the traditions and merits of hapter 2 deals with questions of Russian the Russian education system. Ceducation in the context of the UN Millennium Development Goals: current situa- or Russia, the target of education develop- tion, problems, and perspectives. Quality and Fment in the spirit of MDGs is to involve social-

12 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ly vulnerable groups in the education and social- dents and homicide differ almost four-fold to ization processes, and to equalize financing and men’s disadvantage, also largely reflecting gen- accessibility of the general secondary and pri- der behavior stereotypes. The sphere of labor mary vocational levels of education. The follow- and employment is mainly an area of female ing tasks are no less important: gender problems, of which the most salient is – Revision of the content of general secondary lower salaries paid to women. However, there education in order to develop skills, abilities are also unresolved problems connected with and practical application of knowledge. employment of men in hard and harmful work- – Adjustment of the primary vocational and ing conditions (also a determinant of the tertiary education curricula and quality to extreme male mortality rate). suit requirements of the modern economy and labor market. mplementation of a balanced state gender poli- Icy remains in the future. However, today we can he above-mentioned MDGs modified for already identify promising approaches to gender TRussia offer a starting point for dialogue in equality and, thus, to attainment of MDG 3. society regarding future development of education. It is important to design a system of defi- he gender development goal adapted for nite measures for achieving the education TRussia can be formulated as an aggregate MDGs modified for Russia and to include these of the following items: measures in federal programmes for education. – Aligning access to political institutions for women and men. uite substantial additions to the global goal – Eliminating discriminatory practices in the Qof gender alignment are suggested in labor and employment sphere. Chapter 3, which is entitled Promote gender – Creating a system of real mechanisms pre- equality and empower women. While the MDG venting violence against women. is formulated for the world as elimination of – Reducing impact of unfavorable socio-eco- gender inequality in the sphere of education, nomic conditions on health and life research in Russia has shown that achievement expectancy, especially male. of gender equality in education is a necessary but not always sufficient condition for achieving hapters 4 and 5 of the National Report are gender equality in other aspects of social life. Cdevoted to the problems of public health. Sustainable human and economic development The chapters adapt the three health-related in Russia requires greater opportunities for both MDGs (reducing child mortality, improving sexes, so problems of gender development in maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, Russia concern men as well as women. malaria and other diseases) to Russian conditions, as well as emphasizing other priorities: the ow life expectancy of Russian men is main- MDG+ for health. Chapter 4 notes that problems Lly due to an extreme mortality rate among of reproductive health attract much attention in men of working-age men and is a critical aspect Russia due to the low birth rate, which influ- of gender problems in today’s Russia. The high ences both formation of the labor market and mortality rate among Russian men reflects the process of depopulation. However, in order socio-economic and behavioral factors closely to set health priorities in Russia it is important to connected with gender stereotypes, including understand that since the mid-1960s adult death consumption of tobacco and alcohol. Rates of rates have risen to a much higher levels than in mortality of men and women due to road acci- the industrialized Western countries and even

13 Overview

than in countries with lower average income per and most other transitional countries need to capita. Unreasonably high adult mortality rates prioritize the issue of adult ill-health, which are what call for urgent measures, whereas birth causes a disproportionate economic and demo- rates are not very different from those in most of graphic burden. Bringing mortality from dis- the developed world. eases of the circulatory system and from external causes to level similar to other industrialized he MDGs include a goal of reducing under- countries would give tremendous boost to Tfive mortality by two thirds by 2015 com- Russians’ life expectancy and quality of life. pared with 1990. Considering the relatively low Reduction of preventable mortality would level of mortality within this age group already require not only improvement of medical care achieved in Russia, this would mean reduction to but, first and foremost, policies to address con- a level of approximately 7 per 1000 population, sumption of tobacco and alcohol, road safety, which is similar to the level observed in most physical activity and nutrition. Significant and developed countries. Perinatal mortality (in the comprehensive efforts will be required to pro- first week after birth) accounts for around two mote a healthy lifestyle in Russia. thirds of mortality among children under-five, so solving this problem would largely facilitate hapter 5, entitled Combating HIV/AIDS, achievement of MDG 4. Much could be done by Cmalaria and other diseases deals with the updating standards of obstetric care and improv- problem of infectious diseases, which cause ing support to women living in an adverse social major demographic losses in Russia and have environment, including measures to ensure suffi- very negative impact on human capital and cient nourishment, healthy lifestyle, safer sex, the economy. and reduction of smoking and alcohol consumption from the pre-conception period. ropagation of the human immunodeficiency Pvirus in the Russian Federation has hapter 4 also analyzes the problem of assumed the character of an epidemic. The Cmaternal mortality in Russia. The majority Russian epidemic is now entering its second of women in Russia deliver their children in a stage characterized by a slower spread of the medical environment and visit medical institu- virus among the population at large. The major- tions repeatedly during the prenatal period. The ity of Russians infected with HIV are young peo- maternal mortality situation in Russia can be ple with low-income, and often with a record of considered satisfactory against the background drug consumption. Most of them have no ade- of many developing countries. Further reduc- quate access to social or medical services and tion of maternal mortality and improvement of are unaware of their rights and obligations in maternal health in general could be achieved by connection with HIV infection. Moreover, a prej- enhancing the safety of pregnancy, childbirth udiced attitude towards everything pertaining and abortion and reducing the number of abor- to HIV/AIDS and infected people still prevails in tions, especially illegal ones. Measures are Russia due to insufficient knowledge, fear of the needed to make relevant assistance more read- disease and inaccurate information about it. ily accessible to vulnerable population groups. he beginning of the 1990s was marked by hild and maternal mortality are important Trapid development of an epidemic of sexu- Cindicators, but only reflect a small part of ally transmitted infections (STI), the scale of the burden of disease in Russia. Despite impor- which was unparalleled in industrialized coun- tance of child and reproductive health, Russia tries at the end of the 20th century. Russian

14 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 prevalence of STI diseases now exceeds that in hapter 6 entitled Ensuring environmental countries of the European Union by more than Csustainability starts by pointing out that 10 times. Young Russians engage actively in Russia is the main ecological donor on the plan- unprotected sexual intercourse. There is also a et, making the biggest single contribution to serious problem that presence of any STI dis- biosphere stability. The country has the world’s ease significantly increases chances of HIV largest forest areas, largest areas undisturbed infection being transmitted. by economic activity, huge water resources, and unique ecosystems and biological diversity. The he Russian Federation also has Europe’s natural-resource capital of the country includes Thighest level of TB mortality. Tuberculosis, a significant part of the world’s deposits of which used to be routinely curable disease, is many natural resources, representing a highly now turning into a disease that requires expen- important factor for the global economy. sive treatment and often has a lethal outcome. It Therefore achieving sustainable environmental strikes an excessively large number of working- development in Russia is important for the age people, especially men, and is one of the whole of mankind and not only for Russians. main causes of mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS. he Chapter shows that Goal 7, its targets Tand indicators reflect the need to resolve n recent years Russia’s leaders have been two main problems in order to secure envi- Ipaying much more attention to combating ronmental sustainability: to reduce the influ- HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and Russia has ence of human activity on the environment confirmed its willingness to assume interna- and exhaustion of the natural resources; and tional obligations at a high political level to to improve ecological conditions for human fight those diseases. Nevertheless, significant- development and reduce ecological hazards ly more state funds need to be earmarked for threatening human safety, health and living dealing with infectious disease. The problem standards. The Chapter also examines prob- of fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other lems connected with impact on environmental infections lies outside the scope of the public indicators of Russia’s investment policy, health system. These diseases have serious decentralization of its environmental manage- consequences for the demographic situation ment system, and inefficiency of a number of in the country, human development, the econ- its environmental protection standards and omy and defense capacity. The only way to mechanisms of their application, as well as deal with the problem successfully is to apply other aspects of political and economic activi- a versatile approach based on best global ties. It is stated the achievement of sustainable practices in the field of prevention, treatment, development will depend on including the care and support, as well as observing human environmental factor among basic socio-eco- rights. Major reforms will be needed in the nomic development indicators, which is in system of public healthcare, financing of pre- keeping with MDG ideology. Application of vention measures must be stepped up and that ideology by all Russian Government bod- efforts by government agencies, representa- ies for purposes of environmentally sustain- tives of the business community, NGOs, and able development would assist management people living with HIV/AIDS need to be coordi- and resolution of the country’s environmental nated. None of these tasks is easy to accom- problems and reduce the ecological hazards plish but performance of each of them will that pose a threat to the population’s health. have very positive impact. This objective, which is reflected in many fun-

15 Overview

damental UN documents, has been adopted written off more debts of the world’s poorest and supported by Russia, but it needs to be countries compared with its national GDP than pursued more vigorously. The Chapter not any other state. Successful completion of only analyzes problems of sustainable envi- internal reforms, achievement of a high rate of ronmental development but also suggests economic growth and elimination on that conceptual goals as well as practical solutions. basis of the negative socio-economic consequences of reforms will enable Russia to he Chapter also covers MDGs related to increase its role in the global partnership for Timproving the supply of pure drinking development. The adapted MDG on global water and improvement of housing condi- partnership is formulated as follows: tions. Improvement of public services and “Participation in global cooperation serving amenities as well as the quality of housing Russian national interests and aimed at: facilities are viewed as an important task, and – creating favorable international conditions acute problems of housing conditions of peo- for elimination of internal obstacles to ple with low-income are raised. Environmental human development and achievement of priorities in state policy need to be strength- MDGs in Russia itself; ened and a number of measures need to be – rendering foreground assistance to resolu- implemented to ensure that ecology favors tion of global problems whose manifesta- human development, tions inside Russia are most acute; and – gradually expanding the scope of Russia’s hapter 7 is devoted to formation of a global contribution to international assistance pro- Cpartnership for development. The respec- grammes as a donor state”. tive MDG supposes joint accomplishment by the international community of such tasks as ussia is gradually shedding the role of a state creation of open and non-discriminatory trade Rthat receives international development and financial systems, providing duty-free and assistance and making efforts to achieve the quota-free access to the world markets for MDGs domestically using its own resources. It is goods exported from the least developed coun- also making efforts to expand scope of its contri- tries, as well as resolution of the problem of bution to programmes of international aid and indebtedness of developing countries, etc. international development initiatives. The Within the framework of the global partnership Chapter suggests that Russia’s policy in respect of for development, low-income countries are the global partnership, and forms and volumes of recipients of international aid while high- Russia’s development aid, should become sub- income countries act as donors. Medium- jects for open public discussion, that the process income countries may act in both capacities. of decision-making in this field should be trans- This is applicable to Russia which comes into parent and its contents should correspond to pub- the category of a medium-income country with lic opinion and national interests. large external debts. hapter 8 entitled Millennium Development n developing a national policy for global CGoals and regions of Russia is especially Ipartnership Russia needs to decide an opti- important for a country as large and multifari- mal correlation between efforts to resolve its ous as Russia. The author notes that a disaggre- own internal problems and expanding scope gated system of MDG indicators, designed for of its participation in international efforts to Russia’s special features, is needed in order to facilitate development. As of today, Russia has take account of regional diversity in developing

16 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 and implementing national strategy. One of the porting institutional reforms to improve the most popular indices is the Human investment climate in strong regions. Less Development Index (HDI), as used to reflect con- developed regions should continue to receive trasts between regional development levels in support, but it must depend on efficiency of the Russia. Only the two Russian leaders – Moscow policy pursued by the regional authorities. and Tyumen Region – have HDI readings that match the level of industrialized countries. In 12 special feature of the 2005 National Report other regions the indices are higher than the Ais inclusion in the final Chapter 9 of an average country level. Half of these are in the analysis of the role of civil society in achieving European part of the country, where there are MDGs in the context of the Russian Federation. more balanced indicators of income, education This is no coincidence because successful and longevity, and the other half are resource- achievement of MDGs depends on the extent of extracting regions in northern and eastern parts public involvement in the process. In the of the country. In 50 regions the HDI indicator is Russian Federation MDGs are already used as about 5% below the Russian average. The lag of guidelines by civil society organizations – less developed regions has been reduced signif- including non-professional organizations and icantly in recent years. professional associations, women’s groups and coalitions of non-governmental organizations – he chapter analyzes the topicality and prob- which seek to achieve the same goals and, pri- Tability of achieving the MDGs for Russia’s marily, to reduce poverty. Using the MDGs as a regions. Using MDG indicators, a typology of rallying point could be a catalyst for establish- the regions is suggested comprising different ing strong partner relationships between civil sets of social development problems, ranging society, government agencies and the business from the most well-to-do regions (characterized community. A greater role for NGOs will by rapid information modernization, mitigated enhance results of socio-economic reforms and gender inequality in terms of income, better human development, and increase society’s access to the labor market for young people, a confidence in the government. relatively low level of infant and maternal mortality and most comfortable housing, but also he Chapter also points out a major by significant problems of HIV/AIDS and distinct Tuntapped resource, which is willingness of polarization of the population in terms of ordinary Russian people to take a more active income) to the less developed regions (areas of role in society, as recorded by public opinion steady degradation characterized by a high surveys. The gap between desire of citizens to degree of poverty, high infant and maternal take part in socially-useful work and their actual mortality rates, spread of tuberculosis, acute involvement shows lack of a systematic problems of youth employment, less developed approach by the Government to encourage and communications, a low level of public services support voluntary civil initiatives. Success of and amenities, and dilapidated housing). Russia’s MDG strategy depends on creation of legal, organizational and economic conditions, he author indicates that in the long run the which enable citizens and civil-society organiza- Tmost effective regional policy must be tions to become active participants in processes based on “growth centers”, which arise natural- of social development and fully-fledged partly across the country. This primarily means sup- ners of the Government.

17 Foreword Foreword

1. NEW PHASE IN THE armed forces. The nature of the tasks is DEVELOPMENT OF POST- complex, and they cannot be reduced to COMMUNIST RUSSIA: FOCUS mere economic, social or military issues. ON LONG-TERM GOALS They require large-scale efforts to modernize all aspects and sectors of contem- he most important feature of Russia’s porary Russian society. Teconomic and political progress in the last few years has been the return of focus he expansion of time horizons fea- on long-term challenges. During the first Ttures increasingly in Russia’s contem- post-communist decade this theme disap- porary economic and political life. The peared completely from the economic Government assembles medium-term and political agenda, as priority was given programmes for development of the to overcoming the crisis and creating country and for its own work with three- basic state institutions, which Russia had or four-year time horizons. A recent new almost completely lost during the period issue on the national policy agenda has following disintegration of the Soviet been preparation of a three-year budget Union. However, the return of political correlated with relevant forecasts and and economic stability has made the with the current medium-term pro- issue of strategy relevant once more. gramme of socio-economic development. Intensive work is underway to increase n 1999 Vladimir Putin reinstated solu- efficiency of budget expenditures, using Ition of long-term socio-economic prob- guideline targets for work by ministries lems as a national priority for the first and agencies to improve living standards time in post-communist Russia when, as and enhance competitiveness of the Chairman of the Government, he high- Russian economy. lighted the need to devise a Socio- Economic Development Strategy for a 10- hese guideline targets are based on a year period. Prepared by the Summer of Tsystem of goals developed by the 2000, the Strategy laid the basis of the Government of the Russian Federation, Russian Government’s Programme in fol- consisting of four critical groups: lowing years and remains a reference – improving living standards and quality point of government policy planning. of life; – improving the level of national securi- ater, in his annual addresses to the ty; LFederal Assembly, the Russian – ensuring a high and sustainable rate of President formulated some key long-term economic growth; goals and targets, which became the – creating future growth potential. basis for plans and actions by the executive branch of power. The targets includ- oncurrently, a number of leading ed: doubling of GDP in a decade, eradica- CRussian research centers and public tion of poverty, and modernization of the associations have become actively

18 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 involved in long-term development Box 1. UN Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a system of indicators that issues. These include such institutions as was put forward by the UN as a yardstick of human development performance in different countries. All 189 UN states committed themselves to the Institute of World Economy and reach the goals by 2015. The MDG system has a three-level configuration International Relations of the Russian highlighting the 8 most critical development objectives, each broken down into more specific targets, including quantifiable targets. Each of the 18 spe- Academy of Sciences (RAS), the cific targets has a set of statistical indicators – 48 in number. A distinctive Transition Economy Institute, the RAS feature of the MDG system, setting it apart from numerous other international and national indicator systems, is introduction of a time period (1990- Institute of Economics, Club 2015 (an 2015) and specific numerical measures of indicator changes – their increase association of managers and entrepre- or decrease during the period. The MDG priorities are based on the concept of human development, but neurs) and others. At the same time at the their choice and the articulation of specific objectives reflect understanding of the importance and seriousness of specific social problems. The struc- international level the UN has come up ture of goals and targets is as follows: with an extremely relevant and unique Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose material devoted to the Millennium Goals income is less than USD 1 a day (Box 1). Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education ll the above factors made it univocal- Target 3. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling Aly clear that now is the time to Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women address long-term national development Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015 problems, and we should give credit to Goal 4. Reduce child mortality Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mor- the UNDP Russia team, which suggested tality rate devoting the “National Human Goal 5. Improve maternal health Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal Development Report 2005” to goals and mortality ratio priorities of Russia’s development up to Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS 2015. This time horizon is becoming Target 8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malar- increasingly relevant to both researchers ia and other major diseases Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability and businessmen. It is at once sufficiently Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse loss of environmental resources distant for relevant designs to be built Target 10. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable into the foundations of a business strate- access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation Target 11. Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of gy and sufficiently close to prevent us at least 100 million slum dwellers slipping into a realm of fruitless fantasies Goal 8. Development of global partnership for development Target 12. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discrimi- in discussion of Russia’s development natory trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good gov- trends. ernance, development, and poverty reduction, both nationally and internationally) Target 13. Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries nother feature of this Report is a fair- (includes tariff- and quota-free access for Least Developed Countries’ exports, enhanced program of debt relief for heavily indebted poor Aly substantial modification of MDG countries [HIPCs] and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to targets and indicators to suit Russia, since poverty reduction) they were originally designed for devel- Target 14. Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing states (through the Program of Action for the oping countries. This corresponds to the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd MDG+ approach, which, while preserving General Assembly provisions) Target 15. Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing the general MDG concept, makes adapta- countries through national and international measures in order to make tions to suit peculiarities of the country in debt sustainable in the long term Target 16. In cooperation with developing countries, develop and imple- question. A similar approach was used in ment strategies for decent and productive work for youth Target 17. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access Poland and Thailand. to affordable essential drugs in developing countries Target 18. In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications s will be shown below, modernization technologies. Apolicies vary a great deal as applied

19 Foreword

to countries with different socio-econom- Dynamics of separate indicators are no ic development levels. Agrarian and less important, since they make it possi- urbanistic societies, post-communist and ble to measure efficiency of actions by post-authoritarian countries, the states of government. The objective of achieving the Goals can help in designing measures Introduction of explicit goals and targets to improve efficiency of budgetary dis- for the system of state regulation not bursements and in developing a budget only increases efficiency of state expendi- system based on results (the latter task is tures but also creates a serious incentive currently being addressed in Russia). for restructuring the mechanisms and institutions of a responsible state. ntroduction of explicit goals and targets Ifor the system of state regulation not Asia, Africa, Latin America or the former only increases efficiency of state expendi- USSR cannot be approached in an identi- tures but also creates a serious incentive cal manner in any attempt to overcome for restructuring the mechanisms and their backwardness. And the very notion institutions of a responsible state. This of “backwardness” does not apply to motivates renewed dialogue between them all in a similar way. However, this society and the state regarding selection thesis should not diminish the basic idea of development priorities and trajectories, of formulating the Millennium which, in turn, is bound to foster future Development Goals (MDG) and designing civil society development and democrati- ways to achieve them. MDG is a good zation. Emergence of such a chain of stim- methodological practice, which makes it uli is not rapid, but the general trend is possible to pool the intellectual and polit- undoubtedly positive. ical efforts of different countries and international organizations to address the acute problems, which face the world at 2. THE CURRENT PHASE OF the beginning of the new millennium. MODERNIZATION IN RUSSIA

he start point in addressing the eveloping long-term forecasts and TMillennium Goals is to accept the Dscenarios for a country’s socio-eco- principle on which they were created, nomic development is an important task, namely the desirability and appropriate- but we need to take account of several ness of working out a set of criteria or ref- important circumstances, which influence erence points to assess a country’s devel- the character and realism of such fore- opment level, and the direction and effi- casts and scenarios. These are, first, the ciency of socio-economic policies being level of social-economical development of pursued in that country. the country in question and, second, the nature of the problems facing that coun- herefore, we are interested both in the try. Let us expand on what that means as Tabsolute values and the dynamics of applied to contemporary Russia. the proposed indicators. The absolute values are the basis of an inter-country here is no doubt that modernization is analysis to determine the comparative Tthe long-term goal of any contempo- development level of a particular country. rary country. However, the concept of

20 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 modernization is too broad and of little nature. Discussion of crises in education help in explaining the problems of any or healthcare and of poverty are relevant specific country. There are at least two to both groups of countries. But we major groups of tasks, which are current- should remember that we are talking ly referred to by the term “moderniza- about quite different extents of these tion”, each presupposing qualitatively dif- problems and quite different types of ferent patterns of behavior by national poverty. These problems have to be governments. The first group is relevant approached from quite different angles to countries with a low level of socio-eco- with respect to the two groups of coun- nomic development, in which the agrarian tries. sector is often dominant. Dominance of agriculture is not only an economic factor, his does not have to imply that gov- but also marks political, social and cultur- Ternments cannot design general con- al institutions. The second group is rele- cepts or action plans to accelerate devel- vant to countries with a high level of eco- opment of a country in the process of nomic development, universal literacy modernization. The Millennium and generally advanced economic and Development Goals offer just such a gen- political institutions. eral methodological policy framework.

t is clear that the strategy of moderniza- At the turn of the 21st century Russia is Ition is substantially different in the for- facing the problems of structural transfor- mer and in the latter cases. In the former mation from an industrial to a post-indus- case it is a matter of industrialization and trial society. step-by-step urbanization, i.e. formation of basic institutions characteristic of contemporary economic growth. In the latter ut discussions of modern Russia need case we have to face the challenges of the Bto remember the specific nature of the post-industrial world, i.e. the transforma- challenges, which the country faces, and tion of industrial economic (and political) its specific ways of confronting them. structure into a post-industrial structure. When we say “specific” we do not mean any allegedly national, cultural or reli- ixing of these two approaches may gious traits that may set Russia apart from Mconfuse researchers and politicians other nations. What we have in mind are alike. It is very important to take this into some peculiarities regarding the level of account when articulating the Millennium national socio-economic development Goals – a document, which denotes cer- and Russia’s experience in recent decades tain essential issues of socio-economic of solving problems of a strategic and development in varying country-specific structural character. contexts. While recognizing the need for the Millennium Goals, we should not for- t the turn of the 21st century Russia is get that the difference between develop- Afacing the problems of structural ing countries (in Africa, and some regions transformation from an industrial to a of Asia and Latin America) and post-com- post-industrial society. The crisis of indus- munist countries are not merely quantita- trial society was at the root of negative tive but (more importantly) qualitative in trends in development of the Soviet

21 Foreword

Union during the last 10 to 15 years of its tions. At the time of its disintegration the existence. That crisis was akin to the diffi- Soviet Union lacked democratic political cult transformation crises undergone by institutions, such as an independent court modern Western countries in the1970s, system, a civil society, legal and (most importantly) legitimate private property, a ...although the Soviet Union was a coun- free press and many other attributes of try with a medium level of development, contemporary post-industrial society. In it had a number of unresolved problems other words, Russia faced the challenges characteristic of countries with a much of post-industrial society, but was pre- lower level of development. These prob- pared for them in a technological rather lems were most manifest in the status of than an institutional sense. political institutions and people’s welfare. he contemporary post-industrial sys- when they laid the foundations for the Ttem requires not only advanced tech- post-industrial breakthrough, which was nologies and educated personnel, but to come. The Soviet Union could not or also adequate political and social institu- would not start any serious structural tions. As distinct from the industrial sys- reforms, preferring to rely on oil-dollar tem, there are no precedents of a post- abundance. This resulted in collapse of industrial society existing without politi- the entire communist system. Moreover, cal democracy in the full sense (notably, the structural problems are still present, as regards the status of political and judi- and they will dominate discussion, design cial systems). and implementation of economic policies in Russia for at least a decade to come. aving said that, it would be wrong to Hreduce all the problems to either pol- o the structural problems encoun- icy or technology. For example, Russia’s Stered by Russia by the last quarter of spatial diversity is another key aspect: the the 20th century, and which continue to country as a whole has a medium level of play a defining role in Russia, are compa- socio-economic development, but for a rable to problems encountered by the number of its regions those sections of most advanced Western countries in the the Millennium Goals apply, which were recent past. However, there is another developed for poorer countries and aspect which complicates and confuses regions of the world. Combating extreme the situation. And that is that, although poverty, reducing levels of mortality the Soviet Union was a country with a (especially infant mortality), improving medium level of development, it had a access to school education, overcoming number of unresolved problems charac- stagnant social inequality, youth unem- teristic of countries with a much lower ployment, women’s exclusion from eco- level of development. These problems nomic and political life, spread of AIDS, were most manifest in the status of politi- tuberculosis and other diseases – all those cal institutions and people’s welfare. problems are acute not only in “third world” countries but also in some regions n the USSR a fairly advanced industrial of the Russian Federation. There are also Ieconomy was based on an archaic hier- issues of sustainable ecological develop- archy of political and economic institu- ment, and development of telecommuni-

22 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 cations and transport infrastructure. All hand, there is a crisis of the health care these issues are dealt with in the Report, and education systems, which are also and until they are resolved there is no difficult issues in the world’s most devel- point in setting ambitious goals, whether oped countries. for doubling GDP or creating a contemporary post-industrial economy. he importance of modernizing educa- Ttion and health care is generally rec- ussia’s fundamental challenge is Rtherefore a combination of three chal- Another specific aspect in modernization lenges – technical and economical, of Russia’s humanitarian sectors is lack of humanitarian (development of human positive international experience. capital) and political. And the different speed, at which these three challenges ognized, as is the existence of long tradi- are being met, makes their inter-relation tions of development of these systems in highly complex. Technological and eco- Russia. However, it is not always under- nomic tasks, while difficult, can be accom- stood that their crisis is more of a struc- plished comparatively promptly – it is tural than a financial nature. The problem possible to develop and adopt necessary is not that the state fails to invest enough economic legislation, and attract foreign in education or health care (add to that investors to high-technology sectors. But also science and other human-capital- these solutions will, at best, be islands in related spheres). The problem is trans- a sea of social and economic instability. forming the principles of those sectors’ organization to meet the challenges of a t is much harder to resolve humanitari- modern society – a society, which is age- Ian and political problems. Sustainable ing, and is applying ever higher demands business development requires political stability, including strict observance of Individualization also entails the law, guarantees of personal security decentralization. and security of private property, and an efficient and just system of law enforce- on quality of human capital. In such cir- ment (law and order). But these tasks can- cumstances mere financing increases for not be resolved by adopting legislation – the respective sectors will not produce they require gradual accumulation of desired outcomes. There is a need for experience and traditions. And no one can deep institutional restructuring to predict how long it will take to turn a cor- enhance efficiency and create institutions rupt system into a fair and efficient one. adequate to the present phase of development in Russia and the world. he problem of human development is Tequally complex. Strictly speaking, it nother specific aspect in moderniza- consists of two sorts of problems. On the Ation of Russia’s humanitarian sectors one hand, there are problems described is lack of positive international experience. in the MDGs as characteristic of poor Russia’s development problems in the countries, related to spread of contagious social sphere are not unique: they were diseases and regions with stagnant pover- merely highlighted by the systemic crisis ty or low life expectancy. On the other in the Soviet system. Essentially analo-

23 Foreword

gous problems are faced by most devel- The specifics of a post-industrial system oped countries of the world, since the create additional problems for analysis, basic principles of their social sector were mainly related to greater uncertainty con- laid down when their industrial societies cerning all parameters of action in such a were established. Russia seems fated to be society. This is a result of the features, a pioneer in overcoming these difficulties, which radically distinguish a post-indus- and only time will tell how we will cope. trial society from its industrial predecessor. First, technology moves much more quickly, narrowing the time horizons of 3. LONG-TERM STRATEGY economic and technological forecasts. AND POST-INDUSTRIAL CHAL- Second, there is practically unlimited LENGES growth of demand and, consequently, a major expansion of capacities for satisfy- esign of a strategy for sustainable (and, ing this demand (in terms of both Das applied to Russia, also accelerated) resources and technology). This process development in the post-industrial world increases the scale of the economy by needs to take account of some specifics of many times and simultaneously “individ- the post-industrial reference system. ualizes” or “customizes” the economy: both demands and technological solu- iscussions centered on the problems tions become increasingly customized,1 Dof contemporary Russian moderniza- causing a higher level of uncertainty. tion not infrequently propose the model of accelerated industrialization in the his entails a sharp narrowing of time 1930s, where sectoral priorities are identi- Thorizons in responsible forecasting of fied and the efforts of state and society peculiarities and priority technological are mobilized to address the challenge. development trajectories of countries and separate sectors. In the industrial era it As science comes to the fore and offers was possible to set growth priorities 20 or practical applications in economic and 30 years ahead, and by meeting them social life, the potential for economies of automatically enter the group of scale is diminishing, reducing the poten- advanced countries (this was done in the tial for centralization of the creative 19th century by Germany, and later by process. Japan and the Soviet Union). Nowadays there are no such guarantees: a country Such an approach is quite understand- might aim to outdo the whole world by able: it is deeply rooted in Russian eco- production of computers per capita, or nomic and political history. However, any develop programmes for manufacturing attempt to implement it today would be the world’s best aircraft or telephones, fraught with heavy losses and eventually only to find, when it implements these result in defeat. goals, that the world has moved on tech- nologically in a direction, which could not he mechanism of catch-up develop- have been anticipated when the pro- Tment in the post-industrial world is gramme was devised. The new era is not substantially different from the respective dominated by hardware (even high-tech mechanism in the era of industrialization. hardware), but by information flows. In

24 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 such conditions strategic planning at the conditions for economic agents (firms) to state level is “a dangerous arrogance” (as perceive trends in productive forces as Friedrich Hayek put it), which may lead accurately as possible and to react only to preservation of backwardness. accordingly. The adaptability of an eco-

n fact, just as generals always plan the Economic openness is also important as Ibattles of the past war, so are structural an instrument for curbing pressure from forecasts always oriented to past experi- major producers (financial and industrial ence, the experience of those who are groups) to monopolize the country’s eco- believed to be “the frontrunners”. This nomic and political life. Negotiations on approach made some sense in the indus- WTO accession should be aimed specifi- trialization phase, when notions of cally at a post-industrial breakthrough advancement in an economic structure rather than at primitive protection of and of sectoral priorities remained stable “domestic producers”, and discussions for at least several decades. on creation of a common European economic space with the European Union or these reasons, post-industrial suc- should have the same priorities. Fcess is much more dependent on identifying a country’s comparative advan- nomic system is becoming a much more tages. As happened at the early stages of important factor for success than ability to economic growth in the modern world, mobilize huge material and human preconceptions about breakthrough sec- resources, which was a subject of special tors have to be renounced and attention pride in the Soviet Union. has to be focused on the factors most relevant to a particular country in particular daptability of society presupposes circumstances. Acreative potential of all its agents, which is not achievable if their initiatives ndividualization also entails decentral- – both economic and political – are sup- Iization. While industrial society was pri- pressed. Freedom to create, freedom of marily characterized by economies of information flows, and freedom to include scale, their role is constantly diminishing individuals in those flows are crucial pre- in the post-industrial world. Certainly, as requisites for a breakthrough. In other long as there is mass production, words, it is necessary to create political economies of scale remain relevant as and economic conditions that favor intel- does the role of major centralized firms. lectual development. Paraphrasing a well- But as science comes to the fore and known slogan of Soviet times, one might offers practical applications in economic say that freedom is becoming the direct and social life, the potential for productive force of society. economies of scale is diminishing, reducing the potential for centralization of the eculiarities of the post-industrial creative process. Pepoch also explain the flourishing of liberalism, which has been in progress for he most important function of the about a quarter of a century; the flourish- Tstate is no longer concentration of ing which Francis Fukuyama romantically resources on priority tasks, but creation of calls “the end of history”.2 Of course, what

25 Foreword

we are in fact seeing is not the absolute priorities” or “choosing winners”. Even if and final triumph of liberalism, but the it could be successful in contemporary present development level of productive conditions (which it cannot) such policy forces and the corresponding models of would lead to selection as “priority sec- successful modernization rely either on tors” of the sectors, which have maximum mainly liberal economic strategies (as in lobbying strength. It is much more impor- advanced Western countries) or have a tant to enable timely adjustment of the sec- trend towards liberalization (as in the fast- toral structure, and government should developing countries of South-East Asia). focus on protecting national businesses, A similar situation is observed in contem- which achieve global success, by political porary Russia: all slogans and declara- (including, foreign policy) means. tions put forward by the Russian Governments since 1992 have been based econd: ensuring flexibility and adapt- on principles of economic liberalism. This Sability of the economic system, and was particularly obvious in the govern- ability of economic agents to rise prompt- ment of Evgeny Primakov, which, despite ly and adequately to new challenges. a harsh anti-liberal rhetoric, actually Adaptability replaces the concentration of implemented the recommendations of lib- resources as the key reference point for eral economists in its economic policy, state policy. Adaptability is much more and in some cases (e.g. in budget and important than formal indicators of eco- monetary policies) did so even more nomic development, measured as aver- intensively and consistently than the right- age per-capita GDP. wing liberals who had been in power previously. (Similarly, during the triumph of hird: the limited potential of long-term developed industrialism n the first half of Tforecasts and the importance of the 20th century not only the Bolsheviks ensuring maximum adaptability of the but practically all governments of pre-rev- system warrant the hypothesis that a olutionary Russia and also all Western catch-up country in the contemporary governments actively applied ideas of world should have a lower budget burden centralization and dirigism). on the economy than is the case in the most advanced countries. That is a funda- ence, we can isolate the following mental difference between the contempo- Hessential aspects of economic poli- rary world and the industrial epoch, when cies that are suitable for the post-industri- catch-up countries had to concentrate al modernization phase. They have direct much bigger resources in their budgets relevance in contemporary Russia. than those countries, which had already achieved industrialization. irst: renunciation of industrial policies Fin a traditional sense of the word, i.e. of ourth: investments in human capital attempts to define long-term sectoral pri- Fhave paramount importance for both orities and focus government efforts on the state and businessmen. This primarily their achievement. All attempts of this kind concerns such spheres as education and have been a failure to date, since there is health care. The latter, apart from the no objective criterion of sectoral priorities. humanitarian constituent, may have a Policy should not be oriented to “setting considerable multiplicative effect.

26 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Although the example may seem far- which exist today (perhaps, with one fetched, health care may play a similar exception: Witte sees a serious obstacle role in contemporary conditions to the to business development in preservation role played by railway construction in of the pale of settlement (exclusion of 19th century industrialization. Jews from Russia’s chief cities) and suggests its abolition, which later occurred).3 ifth: the state should attach priority Fimportance to enhancing efficiency of eventh: a sufficient level of economic institutions of political democracy and Sopenness. Moreover, foreign econom- law enforcement. Economic policies will ic policies should be oriented to creating produce no result, and even the best eco- and stimulating development of new nomic legislation will remain void in the high-tech sectors and deeper processing absence of strong and respected courts of traditional export products. Economic taking fair decisions, of law-enforcement openness is also important as an instru- bodies that are trusted by society to ment for curbing pressure from major implement laws and court rulings, and of producers (financial and industrial mass media that provide social control groups) to monopolize the country’s eco- over the activities of government. The nomic and political life. Negotiations on state’s economic activities and its partici- WTO accession should be aimed specifi- pation in financing economic projects will cally at a post-industrial breakthrough be an inefficient waste of resources rather than at primitive protection of unless the judicial and law-enforcement “domestic producers”, and discussions systems are at an adequate level. Indeed, on creation of a common European eco- state economic activities are immoral if nomic space with the European Union social sphere sectors are underfinanced. should have the same priorities.

ixth: reduction of administrative barri- hese issues add up to a general framework Sers to business. That is partially cov- Tfor developing successful modernization ered by the previous paragraph (enhanc- policies: they are essential but by no means ing the efficiency of law-enforcement sys- sufficient conditions for a breakthrough. Any tem), but there is also a need for special successful modernization project is unique, deregulatory activities. Barriers to busi- and is founded on ability of political leaders ness are not radically new in Russia. and the intellectual elite to find key solutions in Practically all the problems, which busi- a particular country and at a given time.4 All nesses complain of today (abuse of such measures are hard to theoretically ana- administrative power, corrupt practices, lyze and forecast. That is why the art of eco- problems with setting up a business, etc.) nomic policy has always been the key factor in were widespread in Russia a hundred preparing a breakthrough strategy, whether years ago. It is interesting to peruse a industrial or post-industrial. Why one country’s memo from the Tsarist Finance Minister, modernization project proves successful and Sergei Witte, to Tsar Nicholas II and find another’s a failure is only visible to economic all the same entrance barriers to business, historians of the future.

27 Foreword

Box 2. Targets of goal-oriented planning 3. Ensure high rates of sustainable eco- In spring 2004 the Russian Government nomic growth: started a reform of its budget management 3.1. Develop free and competitive markets system aimed at increasing responsibility of 3.2. Ensure macroeconomic stability budget-beneficiaries and introducing new 3.3. Ensure guarantee of ownership and programme-oriented methods into govern- protection of contracts (observance of ment finance. contractual obligations) The cornerstones of this reform are: 3.4. Establish conditions for dynamic eco- - transition to a sliding three-year budget- nomic growth in regions with back- ing period, and competition between pro- ward or depressed economies grammes within this medium-term period; 3.5. Improve competitiveness of Russian - more freedom for budget-beneficiaries in economy terms of expenditures, but only in exchange 3.6. Improve competitiveness of Russian for their assumption of greater responsibili- businesses ty for fulfilling declared programmes and targets; 4. Establish potential for future develop- - more transparent execution of budget ment: programmes through greater social involve- 4.1. Develop scientific potential ment in proper choice of goals and priori- 4.2. Develop infrastructure potential ties, and growth of financial discipline in the 4.3. Replace and develop work force country. potential Such a system should bind Government 4.4. Develop resource potential goals to goals and targets set by ministries 4.5. Develop public administration poten- and agencies, which will, in turn, be bound tial to budget programmes and the latter, in 4.6. Develop cultural and intellectual turn, to budget resources. However simple potential (as a basis for integrity, sta- such a logic may seem, each of the stages bility, and dynamic development) involves many problems concerning content 4.7. Speed up social and cultural modern- and technical issues: ization (of values, motivation, stereotypes, etc.) 1) Choice of development goals and their 4.8. Build international relations capacity indicators All subjects of budgetary planning (here- Evidently, the main obstacle to achieving inafter - SBPs) will take the system of any goal is financial and resource limita- Government goals as their starting point tions, and this remains a major problem in when setting their own targets. The govern- Russia today. Therefore priorities need to ment system of goals describes ideal long- be identified within the selected system of and medium-term outcomes of the country’s goals. It is important to note that the goals development. This system is constructed as themselves are dependent on one another a multilevel “tree of objectives” (below), and – progress in one sphere can contribute to is a compilation of goals specified in various progress in another or, on the contrary, documents, e.g. Addresses of the President suppress it. For instance, development of and international documents describing agriculture in the less developed areas of Russia’s external obligations linked to its the North Caucasus diminishes the social role in global development. One of the more base for terrorism; similarly, poverty important such international documents is reduction significantly changes motiva- the UN Millennium Development Goals. tions for childbirth. Therefore, goals and targets of SBPs must be bound to the 1. Improve standard and quality of living: identified priorities in order to be success- 1.1. Improve material well-being of the fully achieved. population 1.2. Improve people’s health and safety of 2) Targets of ministries and agencies living conditions The targets set for SBPs should not be gen- 1.3. Improve an3d develop people’s social, eral ones of a “desirable future”, but should intellectual and spiritual needs specify expected results. One of the main 1.4. Ensure efficient employment and problems here is the complex, multifaceted decent working conditions character of most targets, which require plu- 1.5. Improve access to education rality of interacting and overlapping jurisdic- 1.6. Ensure human rights and freedoms tions. Achievement of most targets depends not only and not so much on a particular 2.Increase the level of national security: SBP, but on coordinated efforts between 2.1. Deterrence of military and political- government bodies. An extremely important military threats to Russia’s security task emerges: to redistribute functions and interests among all the concerned agencies and 2.2. Ensure political and economic inter- organize their close cooperation. The ests of Russia in peace-time mechanics of this cooperation remain to be 2.3. Ensure readiness for military action worked out and properly arranged, but it is during peace-time highly important to concert this process with 2.4. Reduce risks and possible damage the administrative reform, which is currently caused by terrorism underway in Russia.

28 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Chapter 1 Alleviation of poverty as a priority for socio-economic development in Russia

1.1. POVERTY IN THE PERSPEC- onitoring, which aims to measure preva- TIVE OF THE MILLENNIUM Mlence of poverty, traditionally seeks DEVELOPMENT GOALS answers to two questions: how many people or households are below the poverty line (the eduction of extreme poverty is defined as share of the poor) and how poor they are (the Rprimary among the development goals resource deficit of the poor, poverty gap). This formulated in the Millennium Declaration. is also the basis for targets to be addressed by states implementing the Millennium t is clear from consideration of the problem in Declaration and for indicators measuring Ian international context that poverty is, by its progress in attainment of MDG Goal 1. very nature, relative. In countries with a lower level of economic development poverty is arget 1. To halve the number of people mainly manifested in such phenomena as Tliving in extreme poverty by 2015. The hunger, lack of potable water, illiteracy, high following indicators are suggested for mortality from elementary diseases (e.g. diar- appraising efforts to achieve that goal: rhea). In developed countries lack of means to – the share of people with current consumption resources below one dollar 1% of the Russian population was in (USD 1) a day1; extreme poverty by the Millennium – poverty gap dynamics based on a poverty Declaration definition (poverty line of line of USD 1 a day; USD 1 per day) in 2003, and 5% were in – the share of consumption by the poorest extreme poverty by the World Bank defi- 20% of people in overall consumption. nition (USD 2.15). arget 2. To halve by 2015 the number of buy a car or secure a mortgage loan may be Tpeople suffering hunger. Achievements defined as poverty, and most emerging markets in meeting this target will be measured by: include a wide range of durable goods in the – prevalence of weight deficiency among minimum consumer basket for poor families. children under 5 years of age; – the share of people with calorie consump- ut, despite significant differences in what tion levels below the minimum. Bis classed as low material welfare standards in countries with different levels of eco- he share of the Russian population in nomic development, final analysis of the notion Textreme poverty is much less than 20%, so of poverty leads to a single set of goods, serv- Target 1 can be viewed as largely achieved. ices and satisfied needs, lack of which is con- Monitoring and indicators relating to the share sidered inadmissible in any country today. of people with income below USD 1 a day (and

30 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 to the respective poverty gap) concern allevition Russia experienced a major redistribu- of extreme poverty. There are no relevant offi- tion of resources in favor of the medium- cial data for Russia, since the Federal State and high-income strata of society as it Statistics Service measures poverty on the basis entered the phase of economic crisis and of the official subsistence minimum, which is market transformation in the early 1990s. much higher than one dollar. The World Bank uses a poverty line equal to USD 2.15 daily of both poverty and inequality: the lower the income to define extremely low living standards resources of the poorest 20%, the higher both in the region which includes Russia, since cold poverty and inequality. Data presented in climates require additional essential spending Figure 1.1 show that Russia experienced a on heating, winter clothing and foodstuffs2. major redistribution of resources in favor of the medium- and high-income strata of socie- he World Bank calculates that 6.1% of the ty as it entered the phase of economic crisis TRussian population were in extreme pov- and market transformation in the early 1990s. erty in 2000, based on a poverty line of USD The indicator varied in a range of 5.8–6.1% 2.15 per day. Data for 2003 available from the from the mid 1990s until 2000, which we take National Survey of Welfare and Participation of as the start point for Russian economic the Population in Social Programs (NOBUS)3 growth, when it settled at a level of 5.6%. That allow us to give more up to date expert esti- shows that the poor have not received priori- mates of extreme poverty in Russia. The results ty access to the fruits of economic growth, suggest that 1% of the Russian population was and suggests potential for poverty reduction. in extreme poverty by the Millennium Declaration definition (poverty line of USD 1 per he criteria of calorific value of food and day) in 2003, and 5% were in extreme poverty Tweight deficiency among infants serve to by the World Bank definition (USD 2.15). identify undernourishment and hunger. Calorie consumption data, unlike data on or countries with a low level of economic daily incomes below USD 1 or USD 2.15, are Fdevelopment the share of the poorest regularly published in Russian official statis- 20% of the population in total consumption is tics. These statistics can be compared with a measure of extreme poverty. But in Russian calorific norms of the official Russian mini- conditions this share approximates to official poverty levels with an overlap to families, Figure 1.1. Share of the poorest 20% of who are not officially classified as poor: in the Russian population in total income, 2004 the Russian official definition of the 1970–2003, % poverty line classified 17.8% of the population as poor. We should note that the official 10.1 10 Russian subsistence minimum (poverty line) 9.5 9.8 is 5–6 times higher in price terms than the 7.8 extreme poverty line of USD 1. In what fol- 6.1 6.1 66 lows we will use the World Bank poverty line 5.8 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.6 of USD 2.15 a day to define extreme poverty (Box 1.1).

t is important to emphasize that resources Iof the poorest 20% of society are a measure 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

31 Chapter 1

mum consumer basket to estimate what pro- insufficient height). Incidence of undernour- portion of the population is undernourished. ishment among Russian children differs little By this standard, nearly 40% of the Russian from its incidence in developed countries, population is undernourished in calorie and the indicator is much better than in devel- terms and 60% of Russians do not eat oping countries7, but the very existence of enough protein. However, the average such an extreme form of poverty is sufficient Russian daily consumption level of 2684 calo- grounds for monitoring it and designing ries means that Russia does not qualify as measures to overcome it. malnourished by international standards4. n conclusion, an overview of official statis- fficial data on calorie consumption do not Itics, results of alternative research, and our Otake account of eating away from home, own calculations indicate that: which adds about 20% to consumption levels. 1. Incidence of extreme poverty in Russia, After this adjustment the percentage of measured by criteria defined in the Millen- Russians, who are undernourished by stan- nium Development Goals, is in a range of 1- dards of the minimum consumer basket, 5% of the population. However, an account of declines to 10-15%. In any case, the calorie con- the marginalized groups would increase the sumption standard implied by Russia’s official overall incidence of extreme poverty. minimum consumer basket is well above the 2. Malnutrition is a relevant aspect of poverty in modern Russia. The current Russian social security system 3. Standards, which are used to measure includes targeted assistance to vulnerable poverty in Russia, do not allow monitoring in groups, but does not treat the poor as a full compliance with the indicators set out in priority group for social programs. the Millennium Development Goals. 4. Tracking of poverty dynamics in compli- required daily calorie intake for normal meta- ance with the Millennium Development bolic functioning (1500 calories)5, which serves Goals would require modernization of the as a calorie criterion for malnutrition. The data entire system of indicators used by Russian available to us suggest that 1-3% of the Russian poverty monitoring. population are affected by this form of extreme 5. The current Russian social security sys- poverty, but we should stress again that official tem includes targeted assistance to vulner- statistics do not keep track of it. able groups, but does not treat the poor as a priority group for social programs. ncidence of weight deficiency among chil- Idren under 5 in Russia is measured by anthropometric research on nutrition. The 1.2. SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF only source of information is research organ- POVERTY IN RUSSIA AND MEA- ized by the Institute of Nutrition6, which has SURES FOR ITS ALLEVIATION found that cases of acute and chronic undernourishment do exist in Russia and are con- overty is a distinctive feature of Russia centrated among families with lowest Ptoday, and has inevitably attracted the incomes. Abnormally low height and weight attention of executive and legislative branch- suggesting chronic nutrition deficiencies are es of power, and of society as a whole. most common among infants (usually low Halving the incidence of poverty is a declared weight) and in the 7-10 age group (usually priority goal of the Medium term Program for

32 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Socio-Economic Development of the Russian Figure 1.2. Household income dynamics, Federation (2005-2008). 1991 =100%

100 review of the problems of poverty in ARussia should start with a brief descrip- 80 tion of general trends in the level and structure of personal incomes. Price liberalization in 60 1992 cut real personal incomes by half, and reduced real wages and pensions by even 40 more. There was a recovery in subsequent years, but the 1998 crisis brought real incomes 20 back to their level in 1992. For the household sector as a whole cumulative changes in per- 0 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 capita income during the reform years have not brought incomes back to their prereform Real cash income (1991=100%) Real wages (1991=100%) level. That is despite a fairly high rate of Real pension (1991=100%) income growth since the crisis of August 1998 (Figure 1.2). It is true both for incomes as a rends in income levels and income whole and for the two main sources of money Tinequality have effectively determined income for households: wages and pensions. trends in the scale and depth of Russian poverty. However, income volumes and hese changes have been accompanied by the principles of income distribution are not Tappearance of new sources of money income the only factors that regulate poverty in Russia: from entrepreneurial activity and from (measured in money terms): the choice of property. The share of these new sources in over- conceptual approaches in defining the all income has been growing, while the share of poverty line and adequacy of income are wages has been steadily declining. just as important.

ata of the Federal State Statistics Service Figure 1.3. Dynamics of income and Dconcerning inequality in distribution of wage differentiation indicators revenues and labor compensation in Russia 70,0 0,508 0,550 show how redistribution of overall cash 0,480 0,483 0,477 0,454 0,447 0,439 0,445 income has taken place (Figure 1.3). Main 0,396 0,399 0,394 0,398 trends in development of the Gini coefficient 0,409 0,400 0,317 0,381 0,375 0,381 have been as follows: 39,6

34,0 32,1 – threefold growth in the initial transition 30,5 26,4 26,4 0,260 25,0 period (from 1992); 23,4 24,0 – decline (due to the 1998 crisis), followed 15,1 14,3 13,5 13,0 13,5 14,0 13,8 14,0 14,0 by new growth; 7,8 – high and steady levels of inequality in 4,5 recent years. 0,0 0,000 1991 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Average income of 10% of people with highest income compared with average income hus, in 1999-2003 nearly a half of total of 10% with lowest, times (left scale) Average wage of 10% of people with highest wage compared with average wage Tmoney incomes was taken by the wealth- of 10% with lowest, times (left scale) Income Gini coefficient (right scale) iest part of the population. Wage Gini coefficient (right scale)

33 Chapter 1

1.2.1. POVERTY LEVEL reduction in numbers of people with incomes AND DEPTH below the subsistence minimum. However, a steady trend towards poverty reduction has fficial Russian statistics on the poverty been clear since 2001, showing positive impact Olevel are based on the index of the num- of economic growth on incomes. ber of the poor, calculated as the share of the population with income below the subsis- an a poverty headcount be treated as a reli- tence minimum. Figure 1.4 shows develop- Cable poverty indicator? In some instances ment of this indicator and reveals significant the answer is yes: it is easy to understand and variation of index values in the years of use in practice, and is a perfectly adequate ana- reform. After a surge at the start of transfor- lytical instrument for appraisal of general mations, poverty indicators then declined progress in poverty reduction. However, a steadily until 1995 with a particularly sharp poverty headcount is inadequate for some pur- decline in 1994. However, this had nothing to poses, including analysis of the impact of some with specifics of socio-economic policies or political measures on poverty. For example, a institutional change. The semblance of radi- poverty relief program may be aimed at the cal poverty reduction at that time was due to very poorest, and may substantially raise their change in the methods used for constructing incomes without taking them out of the poverty the income distribution series. group. In such cases the poverty gap indicator gives the most accurate estimate of trends. This overty increased to some extent in 1995 indicator can be calculated in different ways. Pdue to a domestic banking crisis, after The official Russian statistics calculate it as the which the situation improved up to the crisis of sum of additional income, which those below August 1998. Following a painful aftermath in the poverty line would need in order to reach 1999, there has been a further steady reduction the line, expressed as a percentage of total in poverty. This process started in 2000, but was income. Development of this indicator is pre- not immediately visible: Russia established a sented in Figure 1.4. It shows that in 2003 erad- new higher subsistence minimum in that year, ication of poverty would have required redistri- so growth of real incomes did not produce a bution of 2.6% of total incomes. However, in a situation where incomes of wellpaid social stra- Figure 1.4. Official estimates of the ta are increasing further, the poverty gap may poverty level and poverty gap based on shrink even when poverty is becoming more 8 macroeconomic data acute. If incomes of the poor do not change,

5.9 but general income growth is observed, the 45.0 6.0 5.3 poverty gap expressed as a percentage of total 5.0 40.0 4.8 5.0 4.4 income shrinks. 35.0 3.8 30.0 3.5 3.6 4.0 3.3 3.1 he most informative indicator is the per- 25.0 2.8 2.6 3.0 Tcapita poverty gap, or income deficit. i.e. 20.0 2.1 the difference between average income of 15.0 2.0 those below the subsistence minimum and 10.0 1.0 that minimum itself, expressed as a percent- 5.0 33.5 31.5 22.4 24.7 22.0 20.7 23.3 28.3 29.0 27.3 24.2 20.4 17.8 age of the minimum. Farreaching conclusions 0.0 0.0 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 can be based on the series of distributions for level of poverty, % of the total population this income deficit. The indicator is not pub- deficit of cash income, % of the total volume of cash income

34 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 lished in official statistics, so we have to rely Table 1.1. Poverty level in 2003, % here on the NOBUS data. We find that estimates of poverty incidence based on these data do not tally with official estimates (Table 1.1). The discrepancies are due to use of different data to measure incomes (actual incomes, spending and available resources9), and use of different sources for the data (macroeconomic *Official poverty level estimate statistics or household surveys). NOBUS **HBS – Household Budget Surveys, carried out quarterly by the Federal State Statistics Service shows a higher poverty incidence than official estimates, and methodological inadequacies substantially reduce numbers of the poor at of the official estimates suggest that these dif- minimal cost. Second, about 8% of poor fam- ferences should be taken seriously. Discussion ilies will remain poor even if a considerable of approaches to defining poverty is beyond part of income is redistributed for their bene- the scope of this report, but the NOBUS results fit, so they need special programs targeted at suggest that 26.0% of households, or 33.4% of reducing the depth of poverty. The latter the Russian population, are in poverty. group should be the addressees of measures implemented under the First Development et us consider now the income deficit indi- Goal in the Millennium Declaration, which Lcator, calculated using the NOBUS data, targets eradication of extreme poverty. and measured as a percentage of the subsistence minimum indicating how much should be additionally paid to the poor to raise their 1.2.2. PROFILE AND CAUSES incomes to the subsistence minimum, i.e. to OF RUSSIAN POVERTY bring them out of poverty. The average income deficit of the poor is 28.7%. This justi- he poverty profile in Russia identifies fies the conclusion that poverty in Russia does Tthree household categories: not run too deep. The income deficit in the – Traditionally poor (families with many majority of poor families does not exceed 20% children, families with less than two par- of the subsistence minimum. Only 8.5% of ents, and pensioners living alone), who poor families suffer a deficit in excess of 60%. represent about 30% of total poverty and 35% of the total income deficit. Pensioner he implication is that a large share of poor families in this group are not usually in TRussian households are concentrated near acute poverty, but families with many the poverty line, and only about a tenth of children or less than two parents may be. them are in desperate want (lacking means for – The largest poverty group consists of two- subsistence). The fact that poverty is not deep parent families with 1 or 2 children. They offers some reassurance about developments make up 40% of total poor families and in Russian living standards, and the concentra- account for 35% of total income deficit. tion of households near the poverty line sug- – Childless mixed sex families represent gests a large amount of temporary poverty. 25% of total poverty and account for 18% of income deficit. hat suggests two completely different Tstrategy options. First, programs to sup- his profile shows that children are signifi- port people living near the poverty line could Tcantly affected by poverty in Russia: they

35 Chapter 1

are among traditional risk groups, but can work, is a widespread life style among those also be drawn into poverty when they live in who are in poverty for an extended period. complete families, since parents with two or more children have to spend more. he most at risk among two-parent families Twith 1 or 2 children are young families, he poverty profile also warrants the con- since birth of a child entails a double depend- Tclusion that traditional poverty factors, ency burden: care of the child and maternity related primarily to a dependency burden leave of at least a year and a half for the moth- from people who are incapacitated, are not of er (although maternity leave is officially paid).

Nearly every second poor family amilies with many children, families with includes workers with wages below the Fless than two parents, as well as pensioners subsistence minimum. and the disabled are traditionally vulnerable household groups with higher poverty risks. key importance in contemporary Russia. The Vulnerability here is associated either with lack main factors determining poverty are two- of a provider in the family or a high dependen- fold: wages below the subsistence minimum cy burden, or limitations due to health. and unemployment among ablebodied household members. nalysis of the profile and causes of pover- Aty in Russia is incomplete without consid- ow wages are definitely the main factor: eration of differences arising from geographi- Lnearly every second poor family includes cal location and settlement types. Differences workers with wages below the subsistence between poverty and household income levels minimum. But unemployment is also a signif- due to geography (territorial disproportions in icant factor: every tenth poor family includes economic development) are characteristic of an ablebodied member, who is looking for any country. But such territorial disproportions work. However, it has to be pointed out that are strongest in countries experiencing catch- up growth, including transition economies. The number of poor households with Issues of regional differentiation are reviewed members who are jobless but not seeking in detail in a separate chapter of this Report, work is much higher (30% of all poor but it is important to emphasize here that loca- households). So unemployment among tion and settlement type are major contributors the ablebodied is not only a consequence to income differentiation in Russia. The main of labor market deformations, but is a point is that the share of Russia’s rural popula- part of the economic behavior strategy of tion in total numbers of those in poverty (40%) households. is almost 1.5 times bigger than the share of the number of poor households with mem- rural dwellers in the total population. bers who are jobless but not seeking work is much higher (30% of all poor households). So he analysis so far in this Chapter of the unemployment among the ablebodied is not Tlevel, profile and causes of poverty sug- only a consequence of labor market deforma- gest a few conclusions about policies aiming tions, but is a part of the economic behavior to relieve poverty in Russia: strategy of households. A model of economic 1. The peculiar feature of Russian poverty is behavior, where one parent receives a low that the “working poor” account for more wage and the other is not working or seeking than 50% of poor households, and that the

36 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 level of poverty in such households is usually is even lower than the NOBUS poverty figure not deep. These families are usually poor for all households. Pensioners may subjective- because of low levels of labor remuneration ly position themselves in the poverty group and unemployment of ablebodied members due to problems, which they currently experi- of the household. ence with access to medical services. 2. Traditionally poor categories of the popu- 5. Geographical location is the most impor- lation are not the biggest group among the tant factor determining welfare inequality in poor because of their low representation in Russia today (its significance increased in the the total population. However, they are most period from 1992 to 2001)10. All other things at risk of poverty and suffer the highest being equal, the biggest contribution to gener- income deficit, so they are more likely to be in al and extreme poverty comes from depressed the poorest group. Children stand out among regions and rural areas. The fact that stagnant particularly high risk groups: their chances of poverty is also concentrated in such locations being among the poorest group are very high. emphasizes the limited capacity of overall eco- 3. Russia already has a stagnant poverty nomic growth to overcome extreme forms of group, consisting mainly of those in extreme poverty. Targeted programs are the most effec- poverty and totaling about 5% of the Russian tive way of dealing with such poverty but they population. The stagnant group includes tradi- need to be specially tailored to the scale, forms tional poverty categories, but also contains fam- and causes of poverty in Russia. ilies with inactive ablebodied members who have lost touch with the labor market. Despite current economic growth in Russia, the 1.3. STRATEGIES FOR POVERTY extremely poor will not be able to improve their REDUCTION IN VARIOUS SOCIO- income status due to inadequacy of targeted ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SCE- social programs for the poor in general and lack NARIOS of special programs for the extremely poor. 4. Pensioners are not particularly at risk of hatever a country’s macroeconomic poverty and are unlikely to be in extreme Wconditions, measures for poverty alle- poverty. This result is clearest when we use viation always work in two directions: available resources (monetary and nonmone- – stimulating growth of economic activity tary) as the criterion for level of current welfare. and mobility of the ablebodied population This is largely explained by the fact that pen- to bring their families out of poverty; sioners are principal beneficiaries of benefit – creating an effective system of support programs targeting specific population groups. for socially vulnerable groups (the elder- Households with disabled members are at ly, the disabled, families with a high increased risk of poverty, but the risk varies sig- dependency burden, families in a critical nificantly depending on severity of the disabili- situation – refugees, etc.) and guarantee- ty. The poverty level is highest (56.1%) in cases ing non discriminatory access to free or where the disabled member receives an subsidized social services. allowance as never having worked (i.e. is severely disabled), and is lowest (25.1%) n Russia two key problems need to be solved among families, whose disabled member is a Ibefore ablebodied people can escape from so called Level-3, Group-1 invalid, receiving an poverty by their own efforts: first, the number allowance associated with limited ability to of workers with wages below the subsistence work. It should be noted that the level of 25.1% minimum needs to be reduced and, second,

37 Chapter 1

legitimate employment needs to be expanded. ow the targeting principle is realized Resources for increasing wages of low income Hdepends on the general social policy workers, mainly employed in farming, con- context, but assistance should be based on struction, trade and the public sector, should the following system of social preferences: come from sustainable economic growth and the best option is to be in paid employment; improvement of distributive relationships. if that is impossible, to enroll in employment Most experts, managers and politicians focus programs; if that is impossible (duet to on the need to raise minimum wages to the absence of such programs, poor health, dis- level of the subsistence minimum. There is real abled dependents, etc.), to enroll in a target- opportunity for achieving that in Russia today, ed social aid program. Depending on the rel- since numbers of people employed in the non ative benefits offered by employment, partic- market sector of the economy are declining ipation in public (temporary) works and target and marketbased organization is expanding in social aid programs, barriers should be built traditionally public sectors of the economy. to restrict access to the latter. That can be achieved either by varying the poverty criteri- mprovement of distribution relations is main- on, which decides access to aid programs, or Ily a matter of reducing unofficial “flexible” by prohibiting access to targeted social aid forms of remuneration and reducing wage dif- for certain categories of people and house- ferentiation within and between sectors. holds (e.g. for the ablebodied).

ore targeted social aid and increase of he Medium term Program for Socio- Mallowances and subsidies for the poor TEconomic Development of the Russian can also help socially vulnerable groups to Federation (2005-2008) considers two possi- escape poverty. This part of the general ble scenarios for economic development. The poverty alleviation strategy contributes base scenario reflects current trends in eco- directly to implementation of the Millennium nomic competitiveness and efficiency and Development Goals, but we stress again that does not envisage implementation of any such programs will not have a decisive new large scale national strategies or proj- impact on Russian poverty incidence, and ects. However, it assumes growth of real per- their key objective is to reduce the depth of capita income, wages and pensions. Under poverty and eradicate extreme poverty. this scenario the average wage should reach 320% of the subsistence minimum for the ussia currently operates the following ablebodied population by 2008, compared Rtargeted social programs: with 262% in 2004, while pensions should rise – Housing subsidies for the poor, which to 128% from 108%. benefited 15.2% of all Russian families in 2003 and used 30.7 billion rubles of overnment forecasts do not consider financing. Gprocesses in the labor market and employ- – Monthly children’s allowances for poor ment, or developments of income differentia- families, which were given to 63.9% of total tion. Labor remuneration and employment lev- children in the relevant age group in 2003. els are currently balanced at relatively low lev- – Targeted allowances for the poor, provid- els of remuneration. Any changes in remunera- ed under the Federal Law “On State tion will entail changes in employment levels, Social Assistance” and under various and the balance of losses and gains will not regional legislation. necessarily be to the benefit of the poor.

38 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 he evolutionary nature of changes in eco- and other raw materials. But income forecasts Tnomic institutions makes rapid increase of under this scenario differ little from the base the incomes of poorly paid and needy members scenario: the difference is between 38.4% of society unlikely. It is also a fact that Russia’s increase of real wages from 2004 to 2008 raw materials economy stimulates inequality, under the base scenario and 45% increase so that fairer distribution of income is difficult to under the innovation scenario. Real incomes achieve. An inertial development scenario is would grow by 33.9% or 40.4% respectively. bound to mean increase in the price of housing and utilities, education and healthcare for con- If we refer Russia to the second group of sumers of these goods. The outcome may even countries, with a USD 2.15 poverty line, be an increase in poverty. Persistence of high the poor are those with monthly expen- inequality and poor conditions for creation of ditures below 775 rubles (6-7% of the medium- and highly-paid jobs effectively block population), if Russia is given a poverty development of efficient target programs for line of USD 4.3 the poor are those with those in extreme poverty, since less poor and monthly spending below 1550 rubles (30- better educated strata of society will ensure that 33% of the population). they obtain priority access to social aid. The innovation scenario is supposed to his situation is aggravated by a peculiar reduce poverty to 10.2%. We do not want to Tfeature of the Russian social protection judge the feasibility of implementing the inno- system – an extended social support system vation scenario, but we would say that it for certain categories of the population who makes measures to raise living standards and are not poor. Modernization of the benefit achievement of goals for living standards look system has not increased access of the gen- more realistic: it calls for investment in sec- uinely poor to social support programs. tors, which are decisive for poverty levels, Indeed, this reform has actually widened the countering inequality by encouraging a form gap between the problems of the poor and of economic growth, which stimulates the priorities of social protection. incomes of middle and low income social strata. The innovation scenario also includes he Ministry of Economic Development and measures to reduce interregional differences, TTrade believes that substantial poverty re- which will also reduce inequality. duction (to 12% in 2008) is possible under the base scenario, but such an outcome looks e would stress that the MDG tasks of unlikely in a situation of over-optimistic fore- Wreducing and eradicating extreme casts for the consumer price index (clear in poverty do not figure in Russian statistical 2005) and disregard of income differentiation monitoring, action programs or development trends. Efforts to stimulate the most efficient scenarios. That partly reflects confidence that centers of economic growth are likely to hunger and extremely low living standards increase inequality instead of reducing poverty. are not a problem in Russia.

he Medium range Program also considers he findings, which we have referred to, Tan innovationintensive scenario based on Tdo not fully confirm that and suggest that major structural shifts towards hitech and the problem is not automatically solved by information sectors of the economy with economic growth. But our analysis also sug- reduced dependence on exports of oil & gas gests that Russia will be able to cope with

39 Chapter 1

extreme forms of poverty among nonmargin- ty. The present system of poverty indicators is al groups of the population in the period up to focused on general trends, without linkage to 2015. The key instrument for that purpose current policy measures or assessment of would be a guaranteed minimum income for their efficiency. Adapting poverty monitoring both the employed and those unfit to work. to political tasks requires changes in: Its level would be below the applicable sub- – organization of poverty data sources (most importantly, modernization of the The 2005 reform of benefits in kind household budget survey network and (based on replacement of such benefits creation of procedures for monitoring by cash allowances) shifted the emphasis income at the household level); of social policy further towards nonpoor – methods used to calculate existing indica- groups, since the poor had limited access tors (income deficit, poverty profile, general to such benefits, and high costs of the inequality measurement and construction of reform have left scant resources available the model frequency series by income). for programs targeting the poor. – the system of indicators (analysis of poverty data should start to use the sepa- sistence minimum, but not lower than USD rate components of poverty indices). 2.15 a day, converted into rubles by PPP linked to the consumption structure of the list of proposed indicators and their poorest social strata. Adescriptions are given in Appendix 1.2.

ence, assuming the innovation-intensive Hdevelopment scenario and a guaranteed 1.5. CONCLUSIONS AND minimal income level for the poorest mem- RECOMMENDATIONS bers of society, Russia should be able to achieve the following results by way of pover- iewing Russian poverty dynamics and ty alleviation: Vsocio-economic policy from the perspec- – halving the level and depth of poverty; tive of progress in attainment of the – eradicating extreme forms of poverty. Millennium Development Goals, it is clear that the Russian national poverty concept is he system of indicators describing far removed from the concept of extreme Tprogress in attaining this goal and poverty, whose alleviation the world commu- dynamics of their values up to 2015 are pre- nity is focusing on. The Russian poverty stan- sented in Appendix 1.1. dard is much higher: even the World Bank’s absolute poverty line for developed countries (USD 4.3 dollars a day in terms of PPP) is only 1.4. DEVELOPMENT OF OBJEC- 60% of the Russian official subsistence mini- TIVE INDICATORS FOR POVERTY mum. This result suggests that extreme MONITORING forms of poverty are not a problem for Russia, and Russia may be positioned as an f eradication of extreme poverty and allevi- international donor rather than recipient in Iation of general poverty are to be national efforts to resolve this issue. priorities, the Russian poverty monitoring system needs indicators, which can measure his is supported by the fact that numbers the level, depth, profile and causes of pover- Tof the poor in Russia have been dimin-

40 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ishing since 2000. Growth of real wages and Box 1.1. Poverty measurement in Russia The purpose of poverty measurement is to appraise the efficiency of strate- pensions has lifted people who were previ- gies used to combat it. That depends on methods of calculation, which ensure impartiality and integrity of data sources. ously just below the poverty line out of Distribution of incomes and goods is more unequal in modern Russia than in poverty. Most of these people are families of the USSR, and a poor stratum has developed, which exerts substantial influence on state social programs. Implementation of poverty relief measures is compli- the working poor (the largest group with cated by very uneven distribution of disadvantaged groups across the country incomes below the subsistence minimum in and peculiarities of such groups in certain regions. People whose income is below the value of a basket of goods and services, Russia) and pensioners. Further reduction of calculated on the basis of a minimum national consumption standard, are poverty among workers should enable classed as poor. This approach uses a concept of absolute poverty, by which the poor are those people who cannot secure consumption at a level required to sus- Russia to further reduce the number of peo- tain health and support labor activity. Another type of definition (relative poverty) defines the poor as those who have the lowest incomes in society. ple below the poverty line. Some countries have legislative provisions which decide whether a specific person or household should be categorized as poor. By generalizing data on the number of such people, who receive assistance via state social programs, we xtremely poor groups, who are the focus identify the “visible”, officially registered poor. But design of an overall policy on Eof MDG activities, are in a minority poverty must also take account of people who have been unable to prove their poverty to social security organizations. That requires statistical evaluation of the among Russia’s poor, representing only 3- incidence, level and depth of poverty by processing data collected from house- 5% of the total population living in households in government surveys. Statistics agencies in some countries also use socalled deprivation methodol- holds. However, this level ought to be high ogy, which defines people as poor if they are deprived of wealth items that set enough to provoke government concern. It the consumption standard for that society. Assessments of underconsumption are based on comparison with certain standards, which are relative rather than is particularly important to stress that many absolute, as they depend on temporal, national and territorial features. Such research considers: availability of food and clothing suited to natural and climatic of the Russian families in extreme poverty conditions; healthcare and education; quality of housing; life and property secu- are families with children. Underinvestment rity; employment and labor conditions; communications; etc. People who lack such amenities are defined as poor. Russia is currently carrying out experiments in the younger generation will put barriers to define a poverty index based on specific wants. The index will be used in offi- on the road to successful growth. It is there- cial statistics, taking account of recommendations of international organizations, best foreign experience and Russian conditions. fore essential, first, that extreme poverty The World Bank has split all countries into three groups for purposes of inter- should be made an object of statistical national poverty comparisons. The poverty line for the first group has been set at percapita daily spending of USD 1 by PPP. For the second group the figure is observation in the framework of poverty USD 2.15 and for the third USD 4.3. In Russia people are officially classed as poor if their incomes are below the monitoring and, second, that social policy poverty line, defined as the income necessary to buy a scientifically based minimal measures should be implemented to eradi- set of goods and services for supporting human activity. This allows construction of a poverty line for whole households, based on subsistence minimums of all its cate such extreme forms of poverty. The lim- members (consumer baskets determined by the consumer’s sex and age). ited incidence of extreme poverty suggests In the fourth quarter of 2004 official statistics found 25.5 million people in Russia, or 17.8% of the population, to be poor. Rural areas are most affected by that this social challenge is well within avail- poverty: 60% of all poor people live in the countryside. There is a high percent- able Russian budgetary and economic ca- age of families with children among the poor: more than half of all twoparent families with 1 or 2 children are poor, and three quarters of all twoparent fami- pacities. The key problem is that institutions lies with 3 or more children. The incidence of poverty among families with less responsible for provision of resources to than two parents and with 3 or more children is 85%. Two thirds of all persons temporarily out of work and more than half of those not working due to a dis- extremely poor groups may be unable to ability are members of poor families. However, ablebodied people who work but cannot earn enough to support themselves and their dependents also make up cope with the situation on their own. It is a significant part of Russia’s poor. also important that social support should be The level of poverty in Russia is notably higher than in developed countries and in Central Europe. In Japan the share of people with incomes below the accompanied by measures of social control poverty line is 4%, in Finland 4.9%, in the Netherlands 6.1%, and in Sweden 6.7%. and responsibility on the part of recipients. However, it is surprising to find that only 6% of Chinese are officially poor, while in Germany the figure is 9.1%, in Italy 11.2%, and in USA 13.3%. Clearly official poverty statistics depend directly on the standards, which national legislation part from monetary poverty, Russia has provide for use by national statistics services. That is also demonstrated by comparison between findings using the World Bank poverty criterion of USD 1 per- Aevolved new forms of poverty manifest- capita spending by PPP and national statistics. In most countries (including Russia) national poverty level appraisals are higher than those based on the USD ed in limited access to education, healthcare 1 criterion. In the late 1990s in Chile the share of the poor, based on the official and decent housing. The poverty profile poverty line, was 20.5%, while the share of people with daily expenditures below USD 1 was 15%. The respective figures in Tanzania were 51.1% and 19.9%, in linked to these indicators suggests that pen- Morocco 19% and 1.1%, in Brazil 17.4% and 5.1%, in Bangladesh 35.5% and sioners are among high risk groups. 29.1%, in Indonesia 20.3% and 15.2%, in Kirghizia 54.9% and 18.9%, and in

41 Chapter 1

Pakistan 34% and 31%. However, in India, Nigeria and China poverty levels by able groups out of its socio-economic national measurements is lower than using the World Bank criterion. If we use the poverty line of USD 1 by PPP, then the poor in Russia will be development priorities. Russia has almost people whose daily expenditure in 2004 was about 12 rubles (or 360 rubles a month) when the official average annual exchange rate was 28.8 rubles per no programs addressed exclusively to USD. If we refer Russia to the second group of countries, with a USD 2.15 those in extreme poverty, so the situation poverty line, the poor are those with monthly expenditures below 775 rubles (6-7% of the population), if Russia is given a poverty line of USD 4.3 the poor of the extremely poor is not improving. The are those with monthly spending below 1550 rubles (30-33% of the popula- 2005 reform of benefits in kind (based on tion). For comparison, the official poverty line in the fourth quarter of 2004 approved by a Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. replacement of such benefits by cash 105 of March 2, 2005, was 2451 rubles. allowances) shifted the emphasis of social Obviously, poverty cannot be comprehensively described as a socio-economic phenomenon by a single indicator. A system of indicators is needed, policy further towards nonpoor groups, which should include: since the poor had limited access to such – an absolute approach, whereby the poor are those people and households whose incomes and consumption are below the standard statutory mini- benefits, and high costs of the reform have mum income or the minimum consumption level; – a relative approach, whereby the poor are those people and households left scant resources available for programs whose incomes are below the average for the country; targeting the poor. – a subjective approach, whereby the poor are those who view their own material situation as one of poverty; – a deprivation approach, whereby the poor are those denied access to a he Government’s scenarios for socio-eco- standard socially recognized set of amenities and services; – an international approach, whereby the poor are those who spend no more Tnomic growth, reviewed in this Chapter, than USD 1 (2.15 or 4.3 dollars) per day in PPP terms. are also mostly oriented to improving living A.E. Surinov standards of people on medium incomes and Improved access to decent services and those living near the poverty line. Creation housing will assist poverty reduction. and development of real targeted programs for the extremely poor should be given a eneral economic growth has become place in Russian mid range development pro- Gthe key motor for positive poverty grams and budgeting. Otherwise, headway in dynamics in Russia, and this has encour- general poverty indicators in Russia may be aged the government to leave resource accompanied by a reverse trend in extreme redistribution to extremely poor or vulner- forms of poverty.

1 The dollar is converted into the ruble at the purchase power parity (PPP) exchange rate. In 2000 purchase power parity (ruble/US dollar) was 7.28 rubles per dollar, and in 2002 it was 9.48 rubles per dollar. 2 Turning reforms to the benefit of all and each one: poverty and inequality in Europe and Central Asia. World Bank, Washington 2001, p. 31. 3 In 2003 under the sponsorship of the World Bank the Russian Statistics Agency carried out a “Natsional’noe obsledovaniye blagosostoy- aniya naseleniya i ego uchastiya v sotsialnykh programmakh” (NOBUS in the Russian acronym) of 44,500 respondent households in order to collect information on employment and household incomes and spending. Analysis of these data and review of published official statistics allow detailed analysis of the level, profile, causes and factors of poverty in Russia. 4 FAO uses the calorific values of daily food consumption to divide countries into categories with sufficient or insufficient levels of nourishment – the criterion for undernourishment is daily consumption below 2400 kcal per capita. 5 A. Baturin, M. Lokshin. Issledovaniye komponenta pitaniya pri analize bednosti i obosnovaniye granitsy bednosti. Moscow, 2003, World Bank Report, p. 10. 6 Baturin A.K., Tutelyan V.A., Ovcharova L.N. et al. Pitaniye i zdorov’e v bednykh sem’yakh. Ministry of Labor and Social Development et al. – å.: Prosveshenie, 2002. - 304 p. 7 The World Bank Group. Health, Nutrition & Population. Washington D.C., 1997, 97 p. 8 Sources: 1. Russia in Figures. 2004: Digest of Statistics/ Federal State Statistics Service – å., 2004. – pp. 99-100. 2. Sotsial’noe polozheniye i uroven’ zhizni naseleniya Rossii: Digest of Statistics / Goskomstat of Russia – å., 2001. – p. 24. 3. Sotsial’noe polozheniye i uroven’ zhizni naseleniya Rossii: Digest of Statistics / Goskomstat of Russia – å., 1997. – p. 9. 9 Available resources include all cash proceeds. 10 Vstupleniye Rossii v WTO: Mnimye i realnye sotsial’nye posledstviya. NISP, - å., 2004 , p. 58

42 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 1.1

Table. MDG Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

43 Appendix 1.2

OBJECTIVELY MEASURED INDI- indicators within the system of state CATORS SHOULD INCLUDE: poverty monitoring will require serious changes in the current system of poverty – Cost estimate of minimum consumer data sources. In the first place, a process budget. This is already used in manageri- of income monitoring has to be set up at al and statistical practice and is viewed as the household level, since lack of such a general poverty indicator. Although information prevents us from understand- many experts and politicians argue for the ing what types of income deficiencies play need to revise the methodology of assess- the biggest role in creating poverty ing the subsistence minimum, such revi- groups. At present, this problem is partial- sion does not seem practicable until mini- ly addressed by using data from Russian mum wage and significant social benefits Monitoring of Economy and Health are raised to the indicated level. (RMEH) and NOBUS. However, usefulness Otherwise, economic weapons for fight- of RMEH is limited by its limited sample ing poverty will come into collision with size and NOBUS is a snapshot observa- methodological changes, stimulating tion, whose data will quickly become growth of poverty. obsolete. – Extreme poverty line. This indicator is a – Aggregated total characteristics of income key index measuring progress in attain- differentiation, including decile fund dif- ment of the Millennium Development ferentiation factor (ratio of incomes of Goals, but it is not included in official bottom 10% to incomes of top 10%) and Russian measures of poverty. Regional Gini coefficient. Accuracy of their meas- authorities generally use a surrogate urement could be improved by a set of equal to half of the minimum consumer measures to improve their statistical base, basket for the purposes of targeted social i.e. by modernization of the HBS concept. programs. For Russian conditions we sug- – Indices of statistical and dynamic decom- gest for the minimum extreme poverty cri- position of inequality (Teil indices). This terion should be daily spending of USD inequality decomposition instrument is 2.15 converted to rubles on PPP basis. not yet applied in poverty analysis, – Distribution series by income, expendi- although it would allow identification of ture and available resources. These in- the most significant factors of inequality struments of analysis are already used in and poverty. Use of Teil indices for pover- the present system of statistically ty analysis is currently impossible observed indicators. However, the results because analysts have no access to pri- of simulation on the basis of macroeco- mary data bases, while statistics agencies nomic assessments should be harmo- are not familiar with the methodology. nized with results of the Household – Index of prevalence of general and Budget Survey (HBS), which will require extreme poverty measured as the share adjustment of the distribution series by of population with incomes below the income and a system for collecting and subsistence minimum. The methodology weighting the HBS data. used in its calculation is affected by the – Structural characteristics of incomes and same limitations, which affect measure- expenses in aggregate form and with ment of incomes, spending and available breakdown by decile and socio-demo- resources. graphic groups. Implementation of these – Income deficit (extra income, which the

44 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 poor would need in order to escape pover- – Poverty profile indicators which allow ty) on the macroeconomic and individual appraisal of poverty structure and risks level. In the former case the indicator is cal- of falling below the poverty line for culated as a percentage of total household certain sociodemographic groups. The income, in the latter case as a percentage of breakdown data allow assessment of the percapita subsistence minimum. Deficit poverty profiles for regions, settlement of individual income is not yet a part of offi- types, gender and demographic fac- cial statistical poverty monitoring. Our tors. Poverty profile analysis helps to analysis suggests that there are no serious identify vulnerable groups and key technical obstacles to its realization. causes of poverty.

45 Chapter 2 Russian education in the context of the UN MDGs: current situation, problems, and perspectives

2.1. RUSSIAN EDUCATION AND tant to analyze the Russian system of educa- THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOP- tion in terms of the Goals proclaimed in the MENT GOALS UN Millennium Declaration (Resolution adopted at the 55th UN Assembly on 18 September, ducation is a key resource for develop- 2000) and try to answer several questions, Ement and improvement of the well-being namely: how relevant are the Millennium of people, society and the country. It is natural, Goals for Russia, to what extent have they therefore, that matters of education (MDG already been achieved, and what priority tar- Goal 2, Achieve universal primary education) gets should be set for Russian education in the are second only to halving extreme poverty spirit of the Millennium Goals? and hunger in the Millennium Development agenda, and are also included in other Goals, such as MDG Goal 3, Promote gender equality 2.1.1. RELEVANCE OF THE MDGs and empower women, which aims to ensure TO EDUCATION FOR RUSSIA that all boys and girls can complete a full course of primary and secondary education ormal analysis of the level of achievement and to promote gender equality in literacy. Fof the Millennium Goals for education in Russia gives a reassuring picture, both in ussia recognizes quality of education and terms of participation in education and gen- Rits adequacy for modern needs as priori- der equality at all levels of education. ties for improving competitiveness of the economy and people’s well-being and quality fter a decline in the first half of the 1990s of life. The first of the priority targets in the Aenrolment of children of the appropriate country’s Medium-term Program for Socio- age in primary education has grown steadily economic Development states: “It is important to reach 95% in 2004. The difference between that efforts to create a favorable environment primary education enrollment ratios for boys for competitiveness should concentrate on and girls is less than 1% and within the range reform of education. Russia should maintain a of statistical error. higher level of education compared to that typical in countries with comparable levels of ender equity in access to secondary educa- social and economic development. The whole Gtion, referred to in Goal 3, has also been system of education, from pre-school to high- achieved: there is actually no difference in edu- er professional level, must be reformed by cation enrolment levels for boys and girls at this improving educational programs and stan- level. Moreover, general educational indicators dards and adapting them better to labor mar- are at a high level. Russia is one of best educated ket needs.”1 In this connection, it seems impor- nations in the world: there are only two or three

46 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 countries with lower shares of people aged 25- However, there are factors and tendencies, 64, who have received only primary education, which prevent us concluding that Russia and the share of people in Russia with tertiary has fully achieved the Millennium Goals education is the highest in the world, the differ- for education in spirit rather than in form. ence being even greater for women. grounds. Although the pre-school education he share of young people in the relevant enrolment rate in Russia is comparable with that Tage group who completed a full course of in developed countries in absolute terms, there secondary education in 2002 was not only are some unsatisfactory aspects. In particular: higher that the world average but also superi- a. In an environment of ever increasing or to levels in most developed countries. social differentiation in Russia and in view of Again, girls are in advance of boys. the important role of education for social mobility, it is very important that starting oes this entail that Russia has no prob- conditions for all children should be equal to Dlems with achievement of the the greatest possible extent, regardless of Millennium Goals? An answer to that ques- the level of well-being of their families. Pre- tion requires analysis of the situation with Box 2.1. Problems of educational exclusion of some groups of children categories of children, who are not enrolled in Access to education for children with disabilities and special health needs is an absolute indicator of the economic and moral state of a society. education. There are two groups of causes Available data for Russia do not allow reliable calculations because, although that underlie such exclusion (Box 2.1): education statistics give data on numbers of children with special needs enrolled in education, there are no data on the overall number of such chil- – Health dren in the country. Health statistics provide data on the total number of – Social factors handicapped children but cannot answer the question of how many of them need special teaching programs or special educational institutions and how many of them area capable of integration in the education system2. Furthermore, statistical data for education and health are aggregated by different age groups, making the task of their analysis quite a challenge. Rough 2.1.2. DISPARITY IN ACCESS TO estimates based of comparative analysis of the data provided by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education suggest that about 50% of handi- EDUCATION capped children aged 7-15 are not enrolled in education, including those who cannot be taught. The only available data on isolation of children with special needs enrolled s stated above, less than one in 20 chil- in education concerns the proportion of handicapped children who attend dren in Russia are excluded from pri- special classes within ordinary schools. In 2000-2002, this proportion A increased from 43% to 45% of the total number of children with special needs mary education, and general indicators sug- having access to education. This is, undoubtedly, an encouraging tendency, gest that Russia is very successful in achiev- although this figure is much lower than in developed countries. However, there are no data on how many children with special needs are taught ing basic educational goals. Universal pri- together with healthy children. Official statistics on children who are excluded from education due to mary education and elimination of disparity social factors (homeless children, children from disadvantaged families, at all levels of education are at comparable orphans and children left without care) are even less reliable. Figures provided by different studies vary in a wide range from several tens of thou- levels in Russia and in developed countries, sands to several millions. According to a reasonably accurate estimate based and trends are positive. on data of the last population census and age-specific coverage by all kinds of education, 709,000 children aged 7-15, or 4% of this population group, were excluded from education in 2003. In any case, the problem does exist. owever, there are factors and tendencies, Apparently, the proportion of children excluded from education is declining very slowly, if at all. Hwhich prevent us concluding that Russia The data of a one-off study by the Ministry of Education and the Federal State Statistics Service in 2002 offer a more favorable picture. But even these has fully achieved the Millennium Goals for lower estimates3 emphasized a serious aspect of the problem, which is education in spirit rather than in form. regional differentiation in numbers of children without access to education. The proportion of such children varies between regions from less than one per thousand to nearly one per hundred. There is quite a close correlation irst, there are issues concerning participa- between this indicator and the level of social and economic development in a region and, what is even more important, the level of personal incomes in Ftion in pre-school education and inequity of a region. The latter suggests that exclusion from education is mainly due to access to this level of education on various social factors.

47 Chapter 2

Figure 2.1. Pre-school enrolment of chil- starting age is higher than in developed coun- dren aged 3-6 vs. social and economic tries. Therefore, pre-school education should development of regions be regarded as an important factor in promoting a higher overall level of education. 0,90

0,80 nalysis by subjects (administrative 0,70 Aregions) of the Russian Federation reveals 0,60 considerable differences in participation in pre-

0,50 school education resulting from inequalities in

0,40 social and economic development of different regions (Figure 2.1). Pre-school education 0,30 enrolment rates for children aged 3-6 vary from 0,20 21% (Dagestan) to 85% (Vologda region). The 0,10 regional differences are even greater if only Pre-school education enrolment rate 0,00 rural areas are taken into account. 10000 30000 50000 70000 90000 110000 GRP per capita ailure to ensure equal pre-school education Fopportunities will further exacerbate school education is of decisive importance in inequality of starting conditions for children in this. Therefore, increased opportunities for economically backward regions, rural areas and pre-school education is a key tool in address- disadvantaged children. It will tend to leave chil- ing the problem of social mobility and reduc- dren inadequately prepared for school, unable ing the threat of social tension in society. to digest the school program and therefore b. In Russia, only primary and lower-sec- unable to obtain a good education. (Box 2.2). ondary education programs are compulsory, and their duration is shorter and the typical he second factor, which suggests incom- Tplete Russian compliance with the Figure 2.2. Participation in upper second- Millennium Goals for education, is regional ary education in regions of the Russian differences in availability of good-quality sec- Federation vs. social and economic devel- ondary education. As in the pre-school case, opment in the regions there are considerable differences between

110,0 regions as to participation in secondary education and resources allocated to it, the latter fac- 100,0 tor being decisive for the quality of education. 90,0

80,0 egional differences in enrolment rates 70,0 Rare observed at compulsory education levels (primary and lower secondary), and 60,0 are even more apparent in upper secondary 50,0 education (Figure 2.2). 40,0

Upper secondary enrolment rate 30,0 nter-regional differences in participation rates are aggravated by differences in 20,0 I 0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 resource allocation, leading to uneven quality GRP per capita of education. Comparative analysis of adjust-

48 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ed public expenditures on education in differ- high priority give to education by the ent regions, excluding Moscow, in 2003 Millennium Development Goals is not only a showed differences of nearly 3 times – from tribute to its intrinsic value. Education is the 3800 rubles per student in the Magadan most important factor enabling young people region to 10,400 rubles in the Tyumen region. to adapt to the modern world, the basis for career success and the precondition for a n the absence of a national testing system, healthy lifestyle, social mobility and over- Ithe only data allowing assessment of coming poverty. It is therefore important to regional differentiation in education quality ascertain whether the content of Russian edu- are results of the Uniform State Examination cation meets the requirements of modern life. (USE). It should be pointed out that the USE Many countries, including developed coun- system is still under trial. This tools and pro- tries, are asking themselves the same ques- cedure of the USE have not yet matured, and tion. A recent adult literacy survey in Canada a number of problems are still unresolved, so has revealed that a significant proportion of USE results can in no way be regarded as a adults classed as formally literate in the sense full measure of education quality, particular- of knowing letters and being capable of put- ly as applied to specific educational establishments. Nevertheless, the Uniform State Box 2.2. Monitoring data obtained during an experiment on improvement of structure and curricula of general secondary education, October, 2001 Examination is a mass, independent and uni- Monitoring that covered 30,000 children in 61 of 89 Russian administrative regions showed that in general Russian children are prepared for form knowledge assessment tool for all kinds school. On average, the share of unprepared and inadequately prepared of students, and is reliable enough to reveal children were 2% and 7% respectively (varying from 0 to 30% depending on the region). About 60% of children were rated as adequately prepared. general tendencies and features. The share of excellently prepared children was 35% (from 11 to 60% depending on the region). Children were offered a number of tasks to test their ability for future nalysis of USE results show that quality of acquisition of literacy and mathematics. These tasks were different from educational services is closely related to the those used to check whether a child can read, write and count, i.e. whether A he/she has knowledge and skills normally tested at school admittance, and level of economic development and public expen- which should be acquired during the first school year. ditures on secondary education in a given region.4 The diagnostic tests revealed the following: 1. Girls are ahead of boys in terms of preparedness for school. This dif- A comparative analysis by Federal Districts (FD) ference is not large but is, unfortunately, significant (about 40% of girls and only 32% of boys were rated as excellently prepared for school). finds considerable differences in quality of educa- 2. The age of admittance to school (6, 7 or 8) is not a decisive factor for tional services (Table 2.1 and Figure 2.3). the level of preparedness. 3. Effectiveness of children’s preparation for school is nearly equal regardless of where it is carried out – in a day-care center, family, school t is important to note that public spending or “other place”. No significant advantage of any mode of preparation over any other was found in the course of monitoring. Ion education, which, as we have seen, is a 4. What skills first-grade children have. At school admittance, the over- significant factor for education quality, does whelming majority of children know most of the letters and the digits from 1 to 9 (5% fail these tests) and can count from 1 to 10 and down (5% cannot depend on the level of economic devel- not). Over two thirds can write letters, read words, and perform arithmetic operations with the numbers 1-10. More than half of children can read opment of a region. Levels of regional spend- sentences and write words. ing on education clearly depend on policy pri- About 87% of children can communicate easily both with teachers and other children. A little more than 10% of first-grade children have signifi- orities of regional governments. cant communication difficulties. Results of tests of the same children performed after two years of school were consistent with results of the pre-school preparedness tests, both in 2.1.3. THE CONTENT OF EDUCA- Moscow and Russia in general. The group of children who were poorly TION, MODERN LIFE SKILLS AND prepared for school failed to catch up with their better prepared peers in the two first school years. The number of children showing bad results in THE LABOR MARKET mathematical tests remained unchanged compared with the pre-school tests, and numbers who performed badly in Russian language and reading texts increased by 1.5 and 3 times, respectively. t is certainly true that education has intrin- O.B. Loginova Isic value. But it is equally certain that the

49 Chapter 2

Table 2.1. USE mean scores by federal articipation of Russia in PISA and TIMS5 districts Pinternational surveys has offered insight as to the quality of Russian education compared with that in other countries. Even allowing for possible misinterpreta- tion of results due to relativity of rating assessments and difficulties in making a comparison between countries with different social and cultural traditions, and different models and standards of education, results of recent studies6 provoked concern ting them together as words, cannot grasp among experts and education authorities. In what is written. When presented with stan- particular, testing of 15-year old school- dard two-paragraph instructions for use of children in 40 countries in 2003 placed aspirin, printed on an aspirin bottle, they Russian students 29th to 31st in were unable to answer the simple questions: Mathematics (vs. 21st to 25th out of 32 how many pills can be taken daily, and who, countries in 2000), 20th to 30th in Natural and in what cases, should not take the pills. Sciences (vs. 26th to 29th) and 25th to 30th in a skill called “Competency in Problem UNESCO Definition: “Literacy is the ability to Solving”. Performance of 23% of Russian read and write, with understanding, a short sim- students in the latter skill was rated as ple sentence about one’s daily life” unsatisfactory for their age, versus 5-10% in leading countries.

uch an instance emphasizes the importance n 2003, Russian schoolchildren were placed Sof the content of education and the adequa- I32nd to 34th out of 40 countries in literate cy of education, even universal education, for reading (vs. 27th to 29th out of 32 countries in making young people ready for life in a modern 2000). These results cause great concern, firstly society, and providing a sound basis for success because of their low absolute values and, sec- and well-being of both individuals and countries ondly, because of gradual year-to-year decline. in the spirit of the Millennium Goals. According to PISA-2003 testing results, only 36% of Russian students aged 15 appeared to Figure 2.3. Education quality vs. public have literate reading skills adequate for suc- expenditures on education in RF regions cessful social adaptation, and most of them 65,0 (about a quarter of Russian schoolchildren) 60,0 could only perform tasks with a medium level of complexity. Only 2% of the Russian students 55,0 had high-level literate reading skills, i.e. showed 50,0 ability to understand intricate texts, make a crit- 45,0 ical review of the information provided, formulate hypotheses, reach conclusions, etc.

USE mean score 40,0

35,0 enth-grade schoolchildren attending com- 30,0 prehensive schools showed better results 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00 7,00 8,00 T Public expenditures on education per student (thou. rubles) in all testing categories than their counterparts

50 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 attending rural country or primary vocational Figure 2.4. Figure 2.4. Testing results of schools. Place of residence was also a factor Russian schoolchildren by place of resi- influencing the test results (Figure 2.4). dence

540 he results here show that no concept has 520 Tbeen developed and implemented to date, which could install new priorities in educa- 500 Village tional programs to match the needs of a post- 480 Settlement industrial, information-based society while Town 460 preserving the traditions and strengths of the City Megacity Russian educational system. Russian school 440 education is good at providing children with International scale scores 420 extensive knowledge (as confirmed by vari- 400 ous research), but does not give them the nec- Reading atics Mathem Natural Science Competence to essary skills to perform tasks away from the Solve Problems classroom. Russian school-leavers are much Box 2.3. Higher education and the labor market worse prepared to live in the real world than There has been a major boom in higher education in Russia since the mid-1990s. The number of graduates increased from 401,600 in 1995 to 972,700 in 2003. In their counterparts in developed countries. other words, the number of bachelors, specialists and masters graduating annually increased 2.4-fold over an 8-year period. The quick growth has roused concerns among education authorities and experts, which can be formulated as follows. dequacy of vocational education for the 1) Relative excess of people with higher education needs of modern society is a central theme According to results of the recent population census, the proportion of people A with higher and postgraduate education in the total population aged 25 to 64 in the Education Development Strategy of the (this age range is traditionally used in international comparative studies) is 20.6%. A similar picture is observed in a number of developed countries such as Russian Federation up to 2010. The problem, Australia (20.0%), Japan (20.1%), Canada (21.0%), and the Netherlands (21.9%). which is addressed, is that a considerable pro- However, there are at least three countries with a higher proportion of people, who have completed higher and postgraduate education. These are Israel portion of graduates do not work in the profes- (25.9%), Norway (28.4%) and the USA (29.0%).6 So it would be unreasonable to sion, for which they were trained, and/or do claim that Russia is producing too many people with higher education. 2) Quality of higher education jobs for which they are over-qualified (at least, In recent years, the quality of Russian higher education has been of paramount 7 by formal measures). The issue of quality of concern to both educational authorities and experts. However, quality control in higher education by the Federal Service for Education and Science Surveillance higher education is described below (Box 2.3). (Rosobrnadzor) and the Federal Education Agency (Rosobrazovanie) is mostly limited to reviewing the content of curricula, results of state exams and assessing material and technical resources of higher education establishments, i.e. checking compliance with license requirements.8 In-house control by higher education institutions is quite common, but is limited to checking compliance 2.2. ASSESSMENT OF THE OUT- with formal criteria of Rosobrazovanie and carrying out surveys of educators and LOOK students in a given establishment. Finally, questioning of employers has been applied recently as a method for assessing higher education quality. But only selected establishments at regional and municipal levels have been subject to 9 wo possible scenarios seem relevant for this type of assessment. In general, Russia currently lacks a reliable system for assessing the quality of Tassessment of the near-term outlook for higher education. This is partly due to a shortage of members of the professional Russian education through the prism of the MDGs: community who can be assigned to assessment work, and partly to lack of a system of indicators for international comparison (unlike quality of Russian school edu- – a pessimistic scenario, with cosmetic cation, which has been assessed over several years as part of the European PISA project). Only a few indirect indicators can be applied at the aggregated level. measures (half-measures) instead of real One applicable indicator is the proportion of part-time students (signed up to reform, allowing official declarations that evening courses, distance and non-residency studies departments) in the total number of graduates. This proportion has been steadily rising, from 34.7% in reform has been implemented without 1993 to 50.1% in 2003. Another indirect indicator of higher education quality is risking conflict with the conservative part the number of foreign students from outside the CIS. This indicator has been in steady decline, from 34,100 in 1993 to 17,300 in 2004. These figures are presum- of the professional community or social ably indicative of a deterioration of Russian education quality (although reduc- protest; and tion in the number of foreign students may be partly explained by apparent growth of xenophobia, racism and chauvinism in Russian society). – an optimistic scenario, that is implementa-

51 Chapter 2

3) Professional structure of education he problem of financial support for devel- Another subject of debate is the professional structure of higher education and, in particular, rapid increase in the proportion of Russian graduates with diplomas Topment of education deserves special in social and humanitarian sciences.10 In 2002, this proportion was 63.9%. But this is still comparable or even lower than figures for a number of developed coun- attention. Changes in education financing due tries such as France (71.8%), Israel (66.7%), the USA (65.2%), the UK (63.9%), to enactment of the law on assignment of Ireland (63.7%), Australia (62.8%), New Zealand (62.3%), Iceland (61.7%) and Belgium (60.8%).11 authorities between different levels of govern- The proportion of graduates with diplomas in social and humanitarian sci- ment12 are of great importance. Responsibility ences grew further in 2003 to 66.4%. The figure does not yet seem excessive, particularly in view of “underproduction” of specialists in social and humanitar- for financing primary and secondary vocational ian sciences over many years (the proportion of such graduates in 1993 was just education has been transferred to regional and 36.8%). Nevertheless, there are real problems and imbalance in graduate profiles, as reflected in industry distribution of graduates. municipal governments in addition to their 4) Structure of employment of graduates responsibilities for financing pre-school and In total, 4,804,000 people graduated from Russian higher educational establishments from 1999 to 2004. In this 5-year period, the total number of graduates secondary education. If additional fiscal sources in the population group aged 15-72 increased by 4,255,000 (from 16,282,000 in October 1998, to 20,537,000 in November 2004) while the number of employed are not provided for regional and local budgets, graduates increased by 4,631,000. Most of this increment entered trade, public and if the scope and mechanism of financial catering, logistics and procurement (17.1%), education (15.4%), industrial production (14.2%), public administration (11.7%), public health, social welfare, support to depressive regions is not reviewed, physical education and sport, and recreation and tourism (9.2%). These indus- Russia will risk widening gaps between regions tries took up 67.5% of the increment. The proportion of graduates in the employed population group aged 15-72 in terms of both economic development and increased by 4.6 percentage points (p.p.) (from 20.4 to 24.9%) over the 5-year peri- people’s well-being. Regions, whose budgets od. The growth was more pronounced in such sectors as finance, credit, insurance and social protection (17.4 p.p of the increment), culture and art (7.4 p.p), public depend on subsidies organized at the federal administration (6.5 p.p.), and education (6.4 p.p.). In late-1998, science and related branches were the only sectors of the economy where more than 50% of employ- level (such regions are in the majority), will ees had higher education diplomas. In late-2004, however, this level was passed in spend resources earmarked for education on three sectors: science and related branches (63.9%), finance, credit, insurance and pension coverage (58.3%), and education (50.1%). As before, the proportions of current expenses (maintenance of buildings graduates are lowest among those employed in agriculture and forestry (6.9%), and wage payment) and will concentrate their housing and communal services and non-producing consumer services (12.1%). Prof. A.V. Poletaev financial resources on compulsory education, i.e. primary and lower secondary education. tion of a real educational reform as envisaged in the Medium-term Strategy of t looks certain that implementation of the Socio-economic Development and the Iresource provision standards set out in the Education Development Strategy of the Education Development Strategy will lead to Russian Federation up to 2010. reduction of regional budget allocations for pre-school, primary and secondary vocational he pessimistic scenario seems quite prob- education (non-compulsory programs). Table, due not so much to lack of funding as Funding of education development will also be to the opposition of the professional commu- cut. Modernizing the content of education also nity (from school teachers and administrators requires major spending, and although devel- to heads of higher institutions supported by a opment of new standards and their method- certain part of the State Duma). Some meas- ological support will be financed by the feder- ures would be rejected and others would be al budget, funding of teacher retraining, implemented in truncated form, the point of replacement of textbooks, acquisition of edu- the exercise being to justify official reports that cational equipment and materials, etc., will reform has been completed without actually remain the responsibility of regional authori- changing anything. This scenario could have ties. Such a burden will be unbearable for critical consequences for renewal of the con- regional budgets, let alone local budgets, with- tent of education, both general and profes- out significant federal support. In these condi- sional, and, to a lesser extent, for greater par- tions, it is natural to expect reduction of allo- ticipation in education by vulnerable groups. cations for vocational education (primary and

52 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 secondary) and of wages in the general educa- Major differences between regions in tion sector. This, in turn, will inevitably result in quality and scope of educational opportu- worsening of teacher staff quality and, conse- nities are therefore probable. This will quently, deterioration in the quality of educa- lead to further reduction of human tion. Many young people will be unable to resources in depressive regions, a decline obtain vocational education close to home and in the investment attractiveness of these will have to leave for other, wealthier regions. regions, further polarization of Russian The answer to the question whether the latter regions in terms of social and economic regions will agree to fund the education of development. people from elsewhere, or whether the new- comers will have to pay for their own educa- this scenario is sure to cause protests in the tion, seems quite clear, particularly in view of most conservative part of the professional com- the situation with medical insurance, which de munity, especially those who benefit from the facto guarantees free medical care only in the current situation and, probably, will displease a region of a person’s origin. part of the general public. Some public opposition is likely because education is a particularly ajor differences between regions in sensitive issue in Russia, and mistakes commit- Mquality and scope of educational oppor- ted in implementation of previous reforms tunities are therefore probable. This will lead (intentionally exaggerated by their opponents to further reduction of human resources in through mass media) have nurtured a deep-set depressive regions, a decline in the investment opposition in many people to any sort of attractiveness of these regions, further polar- reform. Any innovations reduce efficiency of a ization of Russian regions in terms of social system when they are first launched: introduc- and economic development, outflow of young tion of new technologies initially upsets cost- people wishing (and able) to move to other effectiveness of manufacturing, and quality of regions for vocational education, further social education is bound to be temporarily upset by differentiation of the population and marginal- renewal of its content. This will be used as ization of those young people who remain in another ground for criticizing reforms. depressive regions, criminalization of young people due to unemployment and inadequate t is also important to acknowledge that education levels, and increased social tension. Ieven the optimistic scenario is unlikely to cause a major reduction of the gap between he optimistic scenario envisages reform of regions in scope, resource support and qual- Tthe Russian educational system along the ity of education at all levels. lines now being followed by developed countries. This means, first of all, significant financ- 2.3. GOALS AND TARGETS FOR ing to update the content of education (devel- DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN opment of new standards and a quality assess- EDUCATION IN THE SPIRIT OF ment system, retraining of teachers and signifi- THE MDGS cant wage increases to attract people capable of implementing the updated system, renewal of he above analysis enables us to formulate educational and methodical support, etc.). This Tthe problems and tasks, which face scenario will require a review of the education Russian education, in the light of the MDGs. funding system, including, possibly, amend- The problems are as follows: ments to the Budget Code. Implementation of – inadequate involvement in education of

53 Chapter 2

socially vulnerable groups (disabled, orphans, argets and proposed indicators for moni- children from socially disadvantaged families) Ttoring achievement of these targets are and their socialization via and within the given in the table in Appendix 2.1. framework of the educational system; – inequality of starting conditions for children from different social strata and dif- 2.4. GOVERNMENT EDUCATION ferent regions, leading to further inequali- POLICY AND THE MILLENNIUM ty in society; DEVELOPMENT GOALS – regional differences in the scope, resource support and quality of education, causing s stated above, the Russian polarization of regions by levels of social AGovernment views education as a high- and economic development with all the priority issue for the country’s social and ensuing consequences; economic development. This is evident from – a widening gap between the contents of official documents and statements by political leaders, but it is also evident from rapid The Russian Government views educa- growth in resource provision for the sector. tion as a high-priority issue for the coun- Growth in education funding has outpaced try’s social and economic development. economic growth in recent years, and public expenditure on education rose from 2.8% of secondary education and the require- GDP in 2000 to 3.5% in 2003. However, pub- ments of modern life, dominance of an lic expenditure on education in Russia is still academic approach instead of teaching lower, both as a share of GDP and in skills for full participation in public, social absolute terms, than in OECD countries and and economic life; and countries with comparable levels of eco- – unsatisfactory linkage between the struc- nomic development. ture and content of vocational education and labor market requirements. onsideration of the Education CDevelopment Strategy of the Russian he tasks for development of Russian edu- Federation up to 2010, adopted by the Tcation in the spirit of the MDGs are: Government in December 2004, shows the – to involve vulnerable groups in education extent, to which the Government’s action and socialization; plan can solve the problems of education, – to ensure participation in pre-school edu- which this Report has revealed in the context cation for children from low-income fami- of the MDGs. lies and families in rural areas; – to reduce the gap in funding and access to he Strategy describes the problems of general secondary and primary vocational Tinvolvement in education of socially vul- education between and within regions; nerable groups (disabled, orphans, and chil- – to update the content of general secondary dren from socially disadvantaged families) education towards development of practi- and their socialization within the framework of cal and knowledge application skills; and the educational system. However, the – to improve the compliance of primary Strategy offers no real measures to solve vocational and tertiary education with the these problems or even to develop a system, modern economic environment and labor which could keep count of children who are market requirements. excluded from education.

54 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 roper attention is given in the Strategy regions. However, effectiveness of this meas- Pto inequality of starting conditions for ure will depend on the level of these stan- children from different social backgrounds dards, how well they are complied with, and and children in different regions. It is sug- availability of targeted financial assistance. gested that the problem should be solved by introducing pre-school education for he Strategy discusses the widening gap children aged from 5 to 6. This, however, Tbetween the content of secondary educa- involves considerable spending on develop- tion and the needs of modern life and domi- ment of appropriate curricula, teacher train- nance of an academic approach instead of ing, and development and publication of teaching necessary skills for full participation methodical and educational materials. If in public, social and economic life. The pro- regions are expected to pay for this them- posed solution is to develop and introduce a selves, there is a serious risk of further dif- new generation of standards for general sec- ferentiation in educational levels across ondary education. The Strategy gives consid- Russia because economically backward erable attention to the content of vocational regions with a high proportion of rural pop- education, proving that the Government is ulation (the regions most in need of such aware of the problem of lack of match pre-school programs) will not be able to between structure and content of vocational ensure introduction of pre-school education education and the labor market. curricula to a satisfactory standard.

ittle attention is given in the Strategy to 2.5. CONCLUSIONS AND Lregional differentiation in the scope, RECOMMENDATIONS resources and quality of education, and there is reason to believe that transfer of chievement of the MDGs in Russia seems responsibilities for funding primary and sec- Ato be at quite a high level. Analysis of indi- ondary vocational education, as proposed in cators, measuring achievement of the Goals, the Strategy, will only aggravate the situa- offers a favorable picture of education cover- tion. Analysis of performance by primary age and gender equality in access to education. vocational establishments13 showed that only a few indicators improved as a result of owever, closer examination reveals a num- transfer of funding responsibilities to the Hber of problems and tendencies, which regional level in some subjects of the prevent us from concluding that Russia has Russian Federation. In most cases, the fully achieved the Millennium Goals in educa- change in funding source, responsibility and tion. These problems and tendencies include: powers had no effect on resource sufficiency – increasing regional differentiation in level and other aspects of the primary vocational and quality of education, including com- education system compared with average pulsory education; values for Russia, and led to changes for the – increasing gap between the content and worse in many cases. quality of education at all levels and the requirements of modern life and the eco- he Strategy stipulates introduction of nomic environment; and Tresource sufficiency standards. This would – exclusion from education of some, albeit certainly promote improvement of education small, groups of children due to special funding in the most economically backward needs and social reasons.

55 Chapter 2

he Government is fully aware that educa- fessional community to any type of social Ttion, its quality and adequacy for modern reform creates a risk that reforms will be called requirements, are priority issues for improving off or implemented in a truncated form. This competitiveness of Russia’s economy and could mean that the priorities stated in the well-being and quality of life of its people. The documents will not in fact be achieved. second and third of the problems and tendencies, which we just mentioned, are given prop- ocuments expounding Government edu- er consideration in the Education Dcation policy need some amendments, Development Strategy of the Russian and the documents need to be explained and discussed with representatives of the profes- The MDGs, modified for Russian condi- sional community and consumers of educa- tions, could be used as a start point for tional services. The MDGs, modified for consensus in order to achieve deeper Russian conditions, could be used as a start public dialogue point for consensus in order to achieve deeper public dialogue. Specific measures should Federation up to 2010. However, little attention be designed for achieving the adapted MDGs is given to the problem of widening regional in Russia and these measures should be differences in provision and quality of educa- included in federal education programs, par- tion. Furthermore, negative public attitude and ticularly the Education Development and opposition of a considerable part of the pro- Children of Russia programs.

1 Draft medium-term program for socio-economic development of the Russian Federation (2005-2008). 2 According to estimates of the RF Ministry of Education, “as many as 1.6 million children (or 4.5% of the total number of children) currently need special (adap- tive) education, but only 45% of them have been integrated in the educational environment”. Source: web-site of the RF Ministry of Education and Science. 3 In this case, the understated estimate is not a result of malicious intent. It is explained by difficulties (common to all countries) of keeping a record of children not attending school. This is due to many reasons. For example, the fact that a child is excluded from education can only emerge if he/she is registered by agencies responsible for education, internal affairs, or social welfare. 4 A direct comparison of public expenditures per student does not offer a true picture, because required funding depends to a large extent on where an educational establishment is located. To illustrate, educational costs per student in rural areas are on the average 3-4 times higher than in urban areas. For this reason, initial public expenditures data were adjusted using the “index of appreciation of budgetary service standard unit cost” (this index takes into account climate, population settlement pattern, transport network and other factors influencing social expenditure needs in different regions; it is calculated annually by the RF Ministry of Finance for purposes of allocating financial support to regions). Similarly, Gross Regional Product (GRP) per capita, which is the indicator of economic development of a region, was adjusted based on the consumer goods basket. 5 PISA = Program of International Scholar Assessment, TIMS = Trends in International Mathematics and Science. 6 Agranovich, M.L., Poletaev, A.V., and Fateeva, A.V. Rossiyskoye obrazovanie v kontekste mezhdunarodnykh pokazateley, 2004. Sravnitelnyi analiz, Moscow, Aspekt Press, 2005, Table 2. 7 See, for example, Livni, E. and Polishchuk, L. Problema kachestvennogo obrazovaniya: rol’ gosudarstva, konjurentsii i rynka truda, http://www.eerc.ru/details/download.aspx?file_id=3900. 8 See the list of data collected by Rosobrazovanie to perform a rating assessment of higher educational establishments and chairs, http://www.edu.ru/db-mo/mo/Data/d_05/prl1-5.doc 9 See, for example, studies that were undertaken in Krasnoyarsk (Markova, O.Yu., Petrushina, I.S., and Krasnikova, E.A. Marketingovye issledovaniya rynka obrazovatel’nykh uslug; http://www.marketing.spb.ru/conf/2002-01-edu/sbornik-4.htm) and in the Primorski Krai (Popova G.G., and Gembatskaya, G.V., Analiz rezultatov sotsiologicheskogo issledovaniya mneniy rabotodateley ob otsenke kachestva podgotovki spetsialistov vuzami Primor’ia; and Dotsenko, V.A., Otsenka kachestva vypusknikov VGUES po itogam anketirovaniya rabotodateley, in Perspektivnye tekhnologii otsenki i monitoringa kachestva obrazovaniya [Perspective technologies of education quality assessment and monitoring], Collection of papers, Vladivostok, Dalnevost. Un-t, 2003). 10 This group includes three aggregated branches of knowledge according to the International Standard Classification of Education of 1997: (1) Education, (2) Art and Human Sciences, and (3) Social Sciences, Business, and Law. These ISCED-97 domains correspond, in turn, to five aggregated groups of specialties and training types as defined in the All-Russia Classifier of Educational Specialties: (50) Education and Pedagogy, (70) Culture and Art, (30) Human Sciences, (40) Social Sciences, and (80) Economics and Management. 11 Agranovich, M.L., Poletaev, A.V., and Fateeva, A.V., Rossiyskoe obrazovaniye v kontekste mezhdunarodnykh pokazateley, 2004. Comparative presen- tation, Moscow, Aspekt Press, 2005, Table 15. Data for Russia have been rectified. 12 Federal Law No.122-F3 of Aug. 22, 2004. 13 Problemy i tendentsii razvitiya obrazovaniya v Rossiyskoy Federatsii: regional’nyi aspect. Statisticheskiy informatsionnyi sbornik, Moscow, 2004.

56 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 2.1

Table. Goal 2. Ensuring accessibility to education

57 Chapter 3 Promote gender equality and empower women

he international community has decided aspects of public life. Women in our country Tthat the key task for implementation of generally have a higher level of education than the gender MDG is “to eliminate gender dis- men and represent more than half of the total parity in primary and secondary education number of people in paid employment. preferably by 2005, and at all levels no later Nevertheless, the social status of women in than by 2015”. The chosen indicators for Russia is less than adequate. assessing progress in attainment of the education target, and thus of the MDG, are: the herefore the target of ensuring gender Tequality in access to education needs to Sustainable human and economic devel- be supplemented in Russia by other targets, opment of any country, including Russia, which can guarantee equal rights and oppor- presupposes broader development tunities for men and women in all spheres. opportunities for both sexes, since women are not isolated from men in this t is also important to remember that sus- world. So problems of gender develop- Itainable human and economic development are relevant for Russian men as ment of any country, including Russia, pre- well as Russian women. supposes broader development opportunities for both sexes, since women are not isolated ratio of girls to boys in primary, incomplete from men in this world. So problems of gen- secondary and complete secondary educa- der development are relevant for Russian tion; the ratio of literate girls to literate boys men as well as Russian women. in the 15-24 age group; female share in non- agricultural wage employment; and the pro- nclusion of these issues in MDG targets for portion of women in parliament. IRussia will enable design of a plan for overcoming gender asymmetry in Russian society t is assumed that achieving gender equality and make it possible to monitor removal of Iin access to all levels of education will eradi- key obstacles to constitutional equality cate inequality of access to wage employment, between the sexes. level out the gender structure of employment access, and reduce gender asymmetry in political participation. No doubt, implementation of 3.1. GENDER ANALYSIS this strategy will be productive in many coun- OF LEGISLATION tries. However, the experience of Russia suggests that gender equality in the education n Russia the principle of equal rights and lib- system is an essential but not necessarily suf- Ierties, and equal opportunity for men and ficient condition for gender equality in other women in their realization, is set out in a

58 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 number of legal and regulatory documents, Box 3.1. Legal environment for implementation of the gender equality principle The principle of equal rights and liberties, and equal opportunities for men and laws and regulations in this sphere are and women in their exercise, is set out in the 1993 RF Constitution (Article 19, para.3). Russia has also ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of being continuously improved (Box 3.1). All Forms of Discrimination against Women, UN Declaration on the However, the current legal framework only Elimination of Violence against Women, ILO Conventions and recommendations, and UNESCO Conventions on abolishing discrimination in the provides equal rights and opportunities for sphere of education. The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation has men and women, and prevention of discrimi- ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and Supplementary Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in nation, in theory. National legislation lacks Persons, Especially Women and Children. The State Duma is currently mechanisms for their actual realization, and reviewing the Supplementary Protocol to the UN Convention on Liquidation of Any Forms of Discrimination Towards Women. The constitutional princi- there is no precedent for legal action to count- ple of equal rights and opportunities for men and women is reflected in a number of legal documents, adopted at the federal level. er violations of the principle of equal rights Further improvements are being made to the legal framework for equal and opportunities for men and women, and to rights and opportunities of the sexes. In recent years the State Duma has ratified ILO Convention No. 156 On Equal Treatment and Equal counter widespread gender discrimination. Opportunities for Working Men and Women: Working People with Family Responsibilities, adopted a Concept of Legislative Activity to Ensure Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, and is presently reviewing a bill On State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Liberties and 3.2. NATIONAL MACHINERY FOR Equal Opportunities for Men and Women. The Russian Federation signed the Declaration and the Platform of Action IMPROVING THE STATUS OF of the Fourth World UN Conference on Women (Beijing, September 4-15, WOMEN IN THE RUSSIAN 1995), thereby assuming the commitment to create an independent compe- tent authority at the highest level with responsibility for improving the sta- FEDERATION tus of women. This authority is supposed to have direct influence on Government policy in women’s issues, to participate in the legislative process and to have its own budget. espite some obvious progress, Russian leg- Dislation still makes no provisions for specialized structures, which would be responsible 3.3. GENDER PROBLEMS IN for achieving gender equality. However, there is RUSSIAN STATE POLICY now some national machinery for improving the status of women. It includes the Government uring the years of socio-economic Commission for the Status of Women; Family, Dreforms in Russia, state policy goals Women and Children Department of the relating to women have evolved from “creat- Ministry of Labor and Social Development; ing more favorable conditions for women to Duma Committee for Women, Family and combine their professional, maternal and Youth; and Commission for Women’s Affairs of household tasks” to creation of a society the Chairman of the Federation Council. based on gender equality. However, these structures were created by order of various state bodies and tend to lack stability. here have been two distinct phases of pol- For example, the Commission for the Status of Ticy formulation and implementation. The Women ceased to exist as a result of adminis- first stage, in the 1990s, gave an appearance trative reform of the executive branch of power of activity, but tended to be limited to words. in 2004. Further administrative reform in sub- It sets targets for female participation in state jects (regions) of the Russian Federation could bodies, for ending of the long-established lead to liquidation of regional commissions for wage gap between men and women in parts the status of women. of the public sector, where most employees are women, etc. A National plan of Actions to he current national mechanism for gender Improve the Status of Women and Their Role Tequality lacks power and financial in Society (2001-2005) was drafted, but it has resources, so that its functions are essentially remained little more than a declaration due to reduced to consulting and coordinating. lack of budget financing.

59 Chapter 3

n the second phase, dating from the turn of the 3.4. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF IMillennium, the state has given up both decla- THE CURRENT SITUATION rations and actions. Gender issues have effectively dropped out of the Government’s socio- he past 15 years of socio-economic economic priorities and are only considered in Treforms have shown that developments in the context of child and family issues. The our society have different and sometimes con- Russian Government has not set itself a single tradictory effects on men and women, creat- task in the sphere of gender equality. Gender ing different zones of male and female gender issues are ignored in the Medium-term Program problems, and creating obstacles to practical of Socio-economic Development of the Russian attainment of gender equality. Federation (2005-2008), and no gender-sensitive indicators are included in the Consolidated Report on Outcomes and Key Tasks of RF 3.4.1. LOW (AND FALLING) MALE Government Activities. Even such obvious gen- LIFE EXPECTANCY, ESPECIALLY IN der-asymmetric issues as low life expectancy at THE ABLE-BODIED AGE GROUP birth and inadequate labor remuneration are discussed in this document with no regard to ow life expectancy of Russian men is the differences between men and women. Lkey problem on the male side of Russian gender issues. This is a long-term trend in he Gender Strategy of the Russian the modern Russian demographic situation. TFederation, prepared in 2002-2003 by the Russia’s lag compared with developed coun- Ministry of Labor and Social Development, tries, measured by this indicator, first could provide a political and legal basis for appeared in the early 1960s, but remained state policy on women’s issues, enhancement moderate through the 1970s and 1980s. of women’s status, overcoming gender dis- There was a short period of growth in male crimination, and achieving gender equality in life expectancy at birth in the second half of all spheres of life. The document sets out con- the 1980s (reaching a maximum of 63.8 years temporary goals and targets for state gender in 1990), but it was soon replaced by a policy, including human development, devel- reverse tendency. An absolute minimum of 57.6 years was registered in 1994, followed Low life expectancy of Russian men is by a gradual rise to 61.3 years in 1998, fol- the key problem on the male side of lowed by a new period of decline (in 2003 the Russian gender issues. indicator stood at 58.8 years).

opment of democracy, and promoting sus- he indicator of female life expectancy at tainable economic growth. But the Strategy Tbirth has shown a parallel trend, but has not yet been approved. absolute values of the indicator for women have consistently exceeded those for men by eglect of gender equality issues is deep at least 10 years. The minimum life expectan- Nrooted in Russia’s cultural and socio-eco- cy gap between the sexes was registered in nomic background. Society’s attitude towards 1998, when it was 11.6 years, while the gender problems cannot be changed without a biggest gaps were in 1994 (13.59 years) and review of ideology and increased awareness 2002 (13.57 years). The gender life expectan- among the general public and the authorities of cy gap has grown by more than 5 years over real gender problems in contemporary Russia. the last 45 years (since the early 1960s), and

60 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Russia set a world record when the gap went Figure 3.1. Gender life expectancy gap at above 13 years for the first time in 1964. The birth in urban versus rural areas, 1959- current gap in Russia is 13.2 years, but in 2003 some regions it is as high as 15-17 years. 15

14 here has also been a considerable differ- Tence in the gender life expectancy gap 13 between rural and urban areas since the 1960s. 12 The maximum differences were registered in

1975-76 when the gap between men and 11 women was 13.5 years for rural populations 10 and 9.8 for urban populations. Later the indicators for urban and rural areas began to 9 close, mainly due to increase of the gender life Urban population expectancy gap in urban areas. Finally, in 2003 8 Rural population the difference between rural and urban popu- 7 3 7 1 3 lations, measured by this indicator, was 59 66 76 86 1991 199 1995 199 1999 200 200 1958-19 1965-191975-191985-19 insignificant: women in urban areas were ahead of men in life expectancy by 13.08 men per 100,000 able-bodied men in urban years, and by 13.44 years in the country areas, while the corresponding indicator for (Figure 3.1). women was 10.1 (Table 3.1). In rural areas suicide mortality indicators were even higher, at ow Russian male life expectancy is main- 128.3 for males and 16.7 for females. Lly due to abnormally high mortality rates in the able-bodied age group: mortality Table 3.1. Mortality rates of able-bodied among males in this age group is 3.8 times population by main causes of death higher than the respective female indicators (males 16-59 years, females 16-54 years) (Table 3.1).

he main contribution to low life expectan- Tcy of Russian males is from socio-economic and behavioral factors closely connected with gender stereotypes. Male gender roles in the new socio-economic conditions create higher stress, and the correlation between stress and mortality is much more marked among men than among women. Male behavioral stereotypes in Russia include alcohol abuse, drug abuse, smoking as means of overcoming stress and various masculine displays. Growth of suicide mortality represents an extreme form of reaction to socio- economic pressure and incapacity to perform the traditional gender role of breadwinner. In 2001 suicide was the cause of death for 74.9

61 Chapter 3

ortality rates of males and females from ly increases: among the 50-59 age group the Mall types of transport accidents and share of married men exceeds that of married homicide differ almost four-fold (both in women by 1.4 times, in the 60-64 age group urban and rural areas), also largely due to by 1.6 times, in the 65-69 age group by 1.8 gender behavioral stereotypes. times, and by more than 3 times over 70 years of age. High male mortality, a high he dynamics of mortality rates from sui- divorce rate, growing share of widows Tcide, homicide and alcohol abuse show a among women, declining rate of new mar- clear dependence on the socio-economic sit- riages among women – all these factors uation in the country. From 1995 to 1998 together raise the share of broken families (single households). The sphere of employment is generally a sphere of female gender problems, primarily the relatively low wages earned 3.4.3. EMPLOYMENT AND by women. UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG MEN AND WOMEN mortality from these causes was in decline among both men and women, in both urban he sphere of employment is generally a and rural areas. That trend has been reversed Tsphere of female gender problems, primari- since 1999: economic growth in Russia has ly the relatively low wages earned by women. been accompanied by marked growth of However, there are some unresolved male mortality due to suicide, homicide and alco- employment issues too, particularly a high level hol. (Connections between mortality and of employment in unfavorable labor conditions. Russian health care and way of life are additionally reviewed in the respective Chapter of tarting from the second half of the 1960s this Report). SRussia achieved an exceptionally high level of female wage employment, and women have retained their strong presence in the labor 3.4.2. DEFORMATION market to this day: women now account for OF MATRIMONIAL PROFILE 49% of wage employment and men for 51%. OF POPULATION The 1990s saw a decline in absolute employment figures, which affected both men and igh indicators of male mortality women. However, economic growth after 1999 Hinevitably lead to deformation of the had a vigorous positive effect on female matrimonial profile in Russia. The share of employment. In 2000-2003 alone the number of employed women grew by 1,382,000 and the The experience of Russian economic female employment rate from 53.6% to 56.0%, reforms shows that as soon as a sector while the number of employed men increased or a profession starts to yield high by only 649,000 and their employment rate income it attracts a rush of male labor, grew from 63.7% to 65.1%. and conversely. omen have consistently dominated the widows considerably exceeds the respective Wregistered unemployed in recent years, share of widowers after 30 years of age. After with their share varying from 60% in 1996 to 50 years of age the gender asymmetry great- 70% in 1999, and 68% in 2003. Real unemploy-

62 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ment registered in accordance with ILO method- he impact of sectoral segregation in ology is consistently male-dominated. The share Temployment on the wage gap is well illus- of women varied between 44.8% in 1996 to trated by the following data. In 2003 wage lev- 47.3% in 1992, and stood at 46.4% in 2003. els in seven out of fourteen sectors of the economy were below the average for the 3.4.4. SUBSTANTIAL economy as a whole (RUR 5499.), while they (AND GROWING) GENDER were higher in the other seven. The former DIFFERENCES IN LABOR group of sectors employed 62.4% of all REMUNERATION employed women and just 33.9% of men. In the group of high-wage sectors the situation espite higher levels of education among was inverse: they employed 63.1% of men and Dwomen, their wage levels considerably just 35.6% of all women. It should be noted lag those of men. In the Soviet period female that the size of the gender wage gap has no wages did not exceed 70% of male wages, clear dependence on the degree of “feminiza- and the gap has tended to widen in recent tion” in a particular sector. For example, in years. In 1998 female employees at large- education, where the share of women is 80%, and medium-size enterprises were paid 70% the average wage of women is 23% lower of the wages of men, in 2001 just 63%, and than that of men, while in construction (where 64% in 2003. The differences in labor remu- women make are only 20%), the wage gap neration are especially large in the 20-40 age between men and women is 18%. group, i.e. when women have to shoulder the main burden of child care and domestic he effect of professional segregation is responsibilities. Tmanifested by the fact that women earn less than men in equal positions. The maxi- he main reason for the wage gap between mum gender gap is found in labor remunera- Tmen and women in Russia is a high level tions at a medium level of qualification. Here of gender segregation in the work place. This female wages are only 63.6% of wages segregation has various aspects: received by men. Notably, the gender wage – sector-related (sectors where the share of gap exists even in professions and positions women is higher have a lower wage level); viewed by employers as “typically female”. – occupational (“female” professions are Thus, the wage gap between men and women among the least prestigious and least paid); was above average even among employees – vertical (women are concentrated at lower engaged in preparing information, drawing levels of the personnel hierarchy within up documents, accounting and services. the same profession, which is reflected in their earnings). ertical segregation is observed in all Vsectors and occupations, including ccording to various estimates the sec- those where women are in an absolute Atoral segregation level in Russia is cur- majority. Even in such a highly feminized rently 30-33%, comparable with the situation sphere as education the share of women in developed western countries in the sec- decreases further up the hierarchy. For ond half of the 1980s. Professional segrega- example, the overwhelming majority of tion indicators are currently estimated at those employed in secondary education are 45%, also considerably exceeding levels in women, but only 65% of secondary school developed countries. head teachers are women. Vertical segrega-

63 Chapter 3

tion is even more conspicuous in higher 3.4.5. HIGH EMPLOYMENT IN education, where 68% of teaching staff of HARMFUL LABOR CONDITIONS universities are women, but only 7% of prin- cipals, and 31% of deans. ork conditions as a cause of injury and Will-health (particularly lethal trauma- he experience of Russian economic tism) are a predominantly male problem in Treforms shows that as soon as a sector or contemporary Russia. a profession starts to yield high income it attracts a rush of male labor, and conversely he modern labor protection system in (this scenario has been particularly obvious in TRussia retains some traditions inherited the finance, credit and insurance sector). from Soviet times and is primarily aimed at maternity protection: there are restrictions on ertical segregation and replacement of employment of women in 600 professions Vwomen by men due to higher wage lev- and jobs. There are also certain gender differences as regards labor discipline and work Work conditions as a cause of injury safety regulations. and ill-health (particularly lethal trauma- tism) are a predominantly male problem ecause of this, employment levels of in contemporary Russia. Bwomen and men in conditions, which fail to meet sanitary and hygiene standards, differ els are in spite of higher professional educa- almost twice, the number of women and men tion levels among women compared with who receive severe workplace injuries differ men. At present every fourth working three-fold, and there is a difference of 16 times Russian woman has a university diploma, between the sexes in numbers of lethal indus- compared with every fifth man. Women are trial accidents. also in the majority among all employees with secondary special and higher education. owever, a growing share of workers of both Conversely, many more of those who have Hsexes are employed in harmful labor condi- only primary professional education or sections. The share of men employed in industry in ondary general education are men. So, for conditions, which did not comply with sanitary women, education in modern Russia fails to and hygiene standards, rose from 26.4% in 1999 perform one of its crucial functions – that of to 28.6% in 2003. Among women the share has vertical social mobility. grown from 14.9% to 16.3%. The growth is probably caused by recommissioning of obsolete Table 3.2. Share of men and women in and previously mothballed equipment or contin- education (in %) ued operation of worn equipment.

lthough the number of people who suffer Ainjuries in workplace accidents is decreasing, the number of lethal accidents is on the increase, giving cause for concern. The situation in construction is particularly serious: the share of male construction workers in lethal accidents (0.424%) was twice the average for all employments in 2003. * 1995 data

64 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 high level of employment in harmful Low economic efficiency of Alabor conditions is one factor explaining female education the extremely high mortality among males. here is a gender difference in the effi- T ciency of investment in education, which became particularly obvious when 3.4.6. EDUCATION paid education services began to appear in Russia. Ratio of boys to girls at all levels of general and professional edu- enerally, woman need higher education cation Gin order secure a significant increment he shares of boys and girls in Russia’s in their earnings, whereas men obtain suffi- Tgeneral school system are practically cient economic gains from their education equal. There is no gender distinction in the even in blue-collar jobs, which require only structure of pupils at the compulsory level secondary special education. It is also true of education (grades 1-4 and 5-9). that higher levels of education are still insuf- However, girls are a majority at the third, ficient to bridge the gap between women’s non-compulsory level (grades 10-11). In labor remuneration and that of men with a the 2001-2002 school year girls were 56.1% comparable level of education. The latent dis- of all grade 10 pupils, and 56.9% of grade crimination mechanisms in the labor market 11 pupils. The main reason for this gender devalues the high level of female education. asymmetry in senior grades is that more In effect, the high level of female education boys than girls graduate from grade 9 to renders itself redundant. the system of primary professional education (evidenced by a higher share of boys nother negative aspect of gender dispro- among students at such institutions) and Aportions in education, strange though it to paid employment (males in this age may seem, is growth of conservative atti- group show a higher level of employment tudes towards the role of women in the fami- than girls). ly and society. Young male blue-collar workers who lack higher education tend to have he main gender problems in education more conservative views on the distribution Tare inferior levels of education among men, and relatively low economic efficiency of Despite the high level of female educa- female education. tion and employment, the distribution of gender roles in Russia remains tradi- Inferior levels of education tional: domestic work is predominantly among men left to the woman, who therefore does omen in modern Russia are better edu- a double day of work. Wcated than men, and this gap will only increase in years to come (Table 3.2). There of gender roles in the family and to support a are significant differences between the sexes patriarchal family model.1 The conflict of gen- in professional education strategies (young der role concepts may be further aggravated women are increasingly interested in a high or if the wife has higher education. So gender a very high level of professional education, differences in the levels of education may while young men increasingly often make do indirectly hinder political strategies aimed at with lower levels). achieving gender equality.

65 Chapter 3

3.4.7. SPREAD OF TRADITIONAL exceeds the respective indicators among GENDER ROLES AND women. In 2002 there were 680,248 men con- STEREOTYPES fined in Russian penitentiary institutions, compared with only 40,808 women (respec- espite the high level of female education tively, 94.3 and 5.7% of all adult prisoners).5 Dand employment, the distribution of gen- Male crime peaked in 1999-2000, but indica- der roles in Russia remains traditional: domes- tors for female crime have been stable. tic work is predominantly left to the woman, However, the share of female crime grew from who therefore does a double day of work. On 14.9 to 17.8% in the period from 1995 to 2002.6 average women spend 30.3 hours per week on domestic work, compared with just 14.0 for he structure of female crime is dominated men.2 Women’s total average number of work- Tby consumer fraud, while the structure of male crime is much more versatile with a For rural women and women from low- higher share of theft (Figure 3.2). It is disturb- income households, the additional burden ing to note that crime is becoming more bru- of part-time farming has actually extend- tal in younger age groups compared with ed the working day by three times. older age groups, and that is true of young women as well as young men. However, there ing hours (at workplace and at home) is 25% is no doubt that crime is predominantly a higher than men’s, while women of working male problem. age spend twice as long working than their male peers.3 Assessing the gender distribution of time resources in the family both men and 3.4.9. GENDER ASPECTS women admit that men are much more able to OF VIOLENCE IN RUSSIA devote as much time and effort to work as they wish, and to spend their time away from work ussian violent mortality indicators are 3 as they wish.4 It should also be noted that, in the Rtimes higher than the world average. reform period, “do-it-(grow-it)-yourself” has Analysis of the problem is handicapped by become an important adjustment strategy for the fact that Russia does not maintain regu- households, which has led to a further increase lar crime victim monitoring of registered of women’s domestic and general workload. offenses. According to the International For rural women and women from low-income Crime Victim Survey (ICVS),8 carried out by households, the additional burden of part-time the UN International Crime Research farming has actually extended the working day Institute (UNICRI), personal crimes are more by three times. Non-recognition of the social often committed against men. A survey in importance of female household work results in Russia in 1996 suggested that 7.6% of men marginalization of female employment and loss and 4.2% of women had been victims of of pension insurance for women. assault or threat of violence during the year. However, taking account of sexual incidents, in which the victims are generally women 3.4.8. CRIME (2.1% of surveyed women were victims of such crimes during the year), the picture is he structure and dynamics of crime in balanced. Other statistical data suggest that TRussia differ substantially by gender. The in 2000 men were victims of violent crime level of crime among men considerably twice more often than women.9

66 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ape or attempted rape is one of the most Figure 3.2. Ratio of convicted women to Rwidespread types of violence against convicted men by type of crime (court sen- 7 women. Trends show a slight decline in rape tences enforced in 2003) and attempted rape, but results of a survey suggest that 15% of reported rapes are con- consumer fraud cealed by law-enforcement authorities.10 illegal activities Hence, the decline in statistical indicators of with official documents registered rape or attempted rape (Table 3.3) may in fact imply higher latency of this type embezzlement of crime. fraud

here is also a fairly high incidence of sex- acquisition and sale Tual harassment and coercion to sexual of stolen property contacts at work. More than half of men and crimes related to drugs an absolute majority of women believe that a woman who rejects such harassment is in torture serious danger of losing her job, which may

11 lead to loss of career opportunities or salary. grievous bodily harm

lthough most victims of violence are evasion of alimony Amen, domestic violence is overwhelmingly a female problem (93% of victims are homicide women).12 According to the 1996 survey, 25% of married women were subjected to physi- theft cal violence and up to 30% of divorced women had experienced violence in previ- rowdiness ous marriages. Incidence of family violence is much higher in rural areas.13 According to Women robbery 2000-2002 research conducted in 7 regions Men of Russia, 41% of women had been hit by violent robbery their husband at least once, while 3% were beaten by their husbands once a month or rape more.14 87% of men and 93% of women believe that there is a problem of domestic violence against women in Russia, and 15- 20% acknowledge violence in their own fam- 3.4.10. PARTICIPATION ilies.15 The problem of domestic violence is OF WOMEN AND MEN only just emerging as a serious subject for IN DECISION-MAKING social dialogue in Russia. Almost half of survey respondents believed that if a husband here are no restrictions in current Russian has beaten his wife, that remains their pri- Tlaw on participation by women in political vate affair, and external interference is unde- activity or electoral campaigns, and laws gov- sirable (Table 3.4). Domestic violence and erning participation in public service are for- sexual harassment at work remain beyond mally gender-neutral. However, women in the sphere of state policy at present. Russia are insufficiently involved in the deci-

67 Chapter 3

Table 3.3. Dynamics of rape and omen’s representation in the State attempted rape WDuma (the lower chamber of Parliament) is somewhat higher. Women are 9.8% of all deputies in the current Duma (2003-2007). According to the Inter- Parliamentary Union, that makes Russia 84th sion-making process. This is true of all branch- out of 125 countries by the number of women es of power (legislative, executive and judicial). in its national parliament in 2005.

n general, women represent the majority of nder-representation of women among Ipublic servants in the executive and legisla- Udecision-makers contradicts fundamen- tive branches and women were 69.3% of all tal democratic principles and international federal public servants in 2003. However, they obligations adopted by Russia in the sphere of were primarily concentrated in lower- and gender equality. middle-rank positions and almost absent at the decision-making level (Figure 3.3). 3.5. PROSPECTS FOR ACHIEVING here are currently no women in the Russian THE MDG GOAL TO “PROMOTE TGovernment or among heads of the GENDER EQUALITY AND Government Administration, the six Federal EMPOWER WOMEN”: DEVELOP- Agencies, and eleven Federal Services. There is MENT SCENARIOS only one female head of the three State Funds (the head of the Social Insurance Fund). he Russian Government intends to T undertake large-scale reforms in the s of March 2005 there were only 5.6% of social sphere in coming years. However, Awomen among senators of the lack of Government interest in implement- Federation Council (the upper chamber of the ing its Gender Strategy means that gender Russian Parliament). The Federation Council equality goals remain a formal declara- is chaired by a man, his four deputies are tion. Past experience suggests that the three men and one woman. There is only one proposed social changes may have a gen- head of the 22 committees and commissions der-asymmetrical effect, holding back the of the Federation Council (she heads the human development potential of women Social Policy Committee). and men in Russia. Omission of a gender aspect in the social reform programs is largely due to lack of expert assessment Table 3.4. Whom should a woman appeal from a gender viewpoint and lack of stud- to in case of physical violence in the family, ies of likely gender-related consequences 16 (several response options are possible, %) of the reforms.

n what follows we review the gender Ieffects of certain socio-economic reform directions, which are still treated in official documents as irrelevant to gender issues (Russia’s WTO membership, pension reform, education credits).

68 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 3.6. MDG PERFORMANCE MONI- Figure 3.3. Gender composition of public TORING AND PROPOSED INDICA- service by category and groups of posts, TORS and by branches of power

Federal legislative authorities onitoring of the gender situation in MRussia can only be partially based on Ä the indicators suggested by the MDG, since B only a quarter of the Goal 3 indicators are rel- C- top Men evant to Russia. Women C – chief Positions he targets formulated under Goal 3 C- leading Tshould therefore be complemented by the C-senior following: C-junior – ensure equalization of opportunities for women and men to access political institu- Federal executive authorities tions; Ä – eliminate discriminatory practices in labor B and employment; C- top Men – create a system of real mechanisms for Women C – chief preventing violence against women; and Positions – reduce impact of unfavorable socio-eco- C- leading

nomic factors on health and life expectan- C-senior cy, especially for men. C-junior

he following indicators could be used for Tassessing performance in attainment of Box 3. 2. Russia’s accession to the WTO: assessment of gender impact the above targets: Analysts have pointed out that Russia’s WTO accession will inevitably divide 1. The share of seats occupied by women in: society into winners and losers, but they neglect the question of how social and economic costs will be shared by men and women. However, the gender impact – the National Parliament (State Duma), may be among the most significant, as we will now attempt to show. – Russian Federal Government, (1) According to research data and projections, WTO membership should not cause mass redundancies or a surge of unemployment. However, the list of sec- – Constitution and Supreme Courts. tors where shrinkage of production and employment is expected to be greatest 2. Gender wage differences. looks gender-asymmetric. These sectors include agroindustry, food processing, textile, footwear, furniture industries, mechanical engineering as a whole and, 3. Gender differences in business, meas- particularly, production of domestic items and electric appliances. The majority of these sectors employ mainly women, threatening gender-asymmetric redun- ured by the degree of involvement in business dancy. and business size. (2) Social risks related to opening of the Russian economy and trade liberalization are likely to vary substantially between regions. The risks will be particu- 4.Number of cases of violence against larly high for regions with import-substituting industries (in particular, mechani- women registered by social care institutions cal engineering), high employment levels in textile and food processing industries, significant agriculture, and a high concentration of urban settlements cen- and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Police). tered on a single industry. Many regions and towns do not have a gender-bal- 5. Life expectancy at birth of: anced labor force structure or a developed small-business sector, which could cushion social problems due to employment shifts. WTO accession is likely to – Women, bring serious social gender consequences (male or female, depending on the – Men. profile of key employers) in addition to economic problems in such regions. Regions most exposed to gender effects are those which combine the highest 6. Gender life expectancy difference. share of single-industry urban settlements with specialization in “risk group” sectors. These are, for example, the Ivanovo Region (textile industry), Sverdlovsk 7. Reduction of harmful employment and and Nizhny Novgorod Regions (mechanical engineering). gender employment differences in harmful (3) It has been forecast that liberalization of foreign trade and successful integration into the global economy could accelerate economic growth and employment.

69 Chapter 3

reduce poverty in Russia. Some experts estimate that 5% reduction of import 3.7. CONCLUSIONS AND tariffs for non-food items in eight commodity groups will give the Russian consumer a per-capita gain of 540 rubles a year, and an average family of RECOMMENDATIONS three will gain 1600 rubles a year. In terms of gender analysis the crucial issue is how this gain will be allocated among different gender and age groups. There is no guarantee that this consumer advantage will be available to y analyzing the gender situation in Russia women (and men) who are poor and to people of pension age, who have a lower share of nonfood items in their expenditure structure. In view of the Bfrom the viewpoint of MDG achievement feminization of poverty, now occurring in Russia, and the higher share of we can identify the most pressing problems of women pensioners, there is a threat that the consumption due to the WTO will not have a significant impact on well-being of these groups. gender equality in Russia and define priority tasks, whose implementation will expand 8. Level and gender differences in rates of human development potential for men and mortality from accidents, traumas, homicide, women in the MDG context. The implementa- suicide, and alcohol abuse (number of tion of a balanced state gender policy is still in deceased per 100,000 people of respective the future. But we can already identify prom- genders). ising approaches to gender equality and, thus, to attainment of MDG 3. The most significant he content of other MDGs and all the tar- of these approaches are the following: Tgets formulated under these goals imply – create an efficient national mechanism for their examination in the context of gender promoting gender equality; analysis. This entails a need for rapid devel- – perform a mandatory gender review of opment of a set of gender-sensitive indicators existing national legislation, of laws and to measure progress in attainment of each regulations, which are currently in prepa- MDG and each target. ration, and of programs for socio-economic development of the Russian Federation; Box 3.3. Gender aspects of pension reform Gender inequality in current Russian pension provision is due to national pen- – overcome the traditional stereotypes of sion legislation, which sets different norms for men and women, and does not rigid gender roles and promote notions of take account of differences in life expectancy and of the spheres where women tend to be employed due to specific features of legislation, cultural traditions and social justice in allocation of power and gender roles accepted in our society. responsibility among women and men at The principal gender inequality authorized by Russian pension legislation is related to different retirement ages for men and women (respectively, 60 and 55 the family level and throughout society; years). The formula for calculation of the insurance pension amount is uniform for men and women with no account for the difference of their pension ages and – Apply the concept of “the priority of the life expectancy, effectively infringing male pension rights. interest of the catch-up gender” in formu- Current gender inequality in employment is related to labor legislation (e.g. restriction of female employment in harmful jobs), and various discriminatory lating state gender policy in specific practices and stereotypes. The stereotypes mean that a woman’s career is more spheres, including access to resources and likely to be interrupted by unpaid/uninsured periods (nursing leave, personal leave, etc.). It is also important to note that gender differences in labor remuner- property, and in the spheres of decision- ation mean that women make considerably smaller contributions to the Pension making, demographic policy, health, etc; Fund than men, so the amount of their pension accruals is smaller when they reach pension age. – improve gender statistics monitoring Hence, Russia has all the prerequisites for significant gender inequality in pension insurance. However, due to historical features of the development of Russia’s the status of men and women in all national pension system, the average ratio of men’s to women’s pensions17 has spheres, make international compar- remained close to one up until now. This is because most current pensioners receive pensions earned under the old system, when there was virtually no link- isons, ensure information control and age between pension level and earnings and labor record. performance analysis of government The new pension system will be more sensitive to inequality in employment and legislation, since pension amounts will be more strongly tied to earnings decisions concerning equal rights and throughout a person’s work life. The more time passes from the first year of pen- equal opportunities; sion reform, the greater will be the impact of those factors. Calculations18 assuming that new pension legislation is kept as it is, and that labor market and life – increase female participation in legislative and expectancy trends continue as they are (base scenario), suggests that the female- executive branches at federal and local levels; to-male pension ratio in 2015 will be 87%, and will fall to 50% by 2050. Realization of Russia’s commitments within the MDG (higher male life – eliminate direct and indirect forms of dis- expectancy and closing of the gender gap in labor remuneration) should reduce gender inequality in pension provision. The extent of possible reduction can be crimination against both women and men, measured by a model that assumes gradual equalization of life expectancy develop gender-specific measures to ensure

70 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 genuine equal opportunities, eradicate dis- (Scenario 1) and of labor remuneration (Scenario 2) for men and women, all other things being equal. The dynamics of these scenario parameters by future years criminatory labor and employment practices; are given in the table, and projections for the male-to-female pension ratio are given in the figure. – create effective mechanisms to prevent Scenario parameters of pension system model violence against women in the form of a broad network of crisis centers, refuges and hotlines (also for men); develop methods of working with men who are inclined to domestic violence; – reduce the effect of unfavorable socio-economic conditions on health and life expectancy, especially male; – in the sphere of education, take measures to reduce gender segregation of students by speciality, in order to reduce labor segregation and close the gender gap in labor remuneration; Projections of average women-to-men pension ratio – coordinate the main constituents of state 100

gender policy with sectoral and regional 90 socio-economic development programs, and with state budget policy at federal and 80

regional levels; 70 – implement state gender equality policy at 60 the federal and regional levels: allocate

required budget resources for fulfillment 50 Base scenario Scenario 1 of the National Action Plan (at the federal Scenario 2 Scenario 3 40 level), and for realizing gender priorities in 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 line with regional specifics (at the level of subjects of the Russian Federation). According to the calculations, even realization of optimistic MDG plans for alignment of life expectancy and wages of men and women cannot resolve the problem of gender inequality in pension insurance by 2015, since such a period is not long enough to change the inertial pension system. However, positive results are possible in a longer term: reducing gender differences in life expectancy could increase the men-to-women pension ratio by 6% in 2050, and aligning wages could increase it by 13%. Gender differences in pension levels are also a function of the difference in retirement age between men and women, since the latter difference means that men pay contributions for longer than women. A higher pension age for women in the future could increase their pension levels. Calculations suggest, for example, that raising the retirement age for women to 60 years by 2015 (together with the other two scenario parameters) could reduce the gender difference in pension amounts by 30% (Figure, Scenario 3). In that case female pension levels could be 80% of male pension levels by 2050. Further reduction of gender differences in pension levels could be obtained by state reimbursement of lost pension contributions due to periods of socially-useful but unpaid/uninsured activity, as well as by attainment of equality in gender division of labor in the public and private sectors. Prof. V.N. Baskakov

71 Chapter 3

Box 3.4. The official view of gender issues in the However, much remains to be done. The Gender Russian Federation Strategy should be adopted as an official document Awareness of gender problems has increased over promoting gender equality. That will enable introduc- the last five years, both in state bodies and in society as tion of the concepts of “gender” and “gender a whole. Gender aspects are now taken into account, to approaches” to official Russian political language, and a greater or lesser extent, in state programs for employ- pave the way for specific gender development pro- ment, healthcare, youth and family policy. grams in subjects of the Russian Federation. Problems of gender equality have become the subject Development of civil society, with the women’s move- of broader discussions at various levels of governance, ment as its important constituent, is among state policy facilitating attention to the needs of men and women in priorities and is given all possible support by the state. conduct of socio-economic policy. In recent years women’s organizations have accumulat- The last five years have seen growth of gender edu- ed experience in gender analysis of legislation and cation, including education of public servants, contin- financial and economic policies, proposed measures to ued development and implementation of gender statis- prevent violence against women and trafficking in tics, more active research in the gender field, an increas- pesons, and organized numerous conferences, working number of gender experts in practically all humani- shops, courses, schools, and educational programs on tarian fields, and a general growth of awareness. the issue of gender equality. Many women’s organiza- This new level of understanding of gender equal- tions have become reliable partners of local executive ity in Russia is expressed in the Government’s authorities in the implementation of regional action Gender Strategy, which reflects issues of the sta- plans to improve the status of women. This major acti- tus of both women and men, where state interven- vation of the women’s movement in recent years is tion is needed, and proposes measures to improve proof of its growing political and social potential. the situation. The Gender Strategy is the first such Work is now underway to work out a National Gender document ever prepared in the Russian Equality Mechanism, which can meet current needs. Federation19, it creates a conceptual basis for The first step towards its institution was the Order of the implementation of specific measures to attain gen- Ministry of Health and Social Development No. 399 of der equality in each subject of the federation and May 16, 2005 to set up the Coordination Council for facilitates a uniform state gender policy. Gender Issues, which includes representatives of The process of Strategy drafting has increased cover- women’s organizations and leading departments of the age of women’s problems in mass media, particularly Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia. as regards social and labor issues, prevention of vio- An Inter-departmental Commission for Gender Equality lence against women and trafficking in perons. The in the Russian Federation is in the process of formation. activities of federal executive bodies and RF subjects Ministry of Health and Social Development have become more gender-integrated. of the Russian Federation

1 Tikhonova N.E. Fenomen gorodskoy bednosti v sovremennoy Rossii.. M: Letniy Sad, 2003, p. 198. 2 Mezentseva E.B. Muzhchiny i zhenschiny v sfere domashnego truda: logika ekonomicheskoy ratsional’nosti protiv logiki gendernoy identichnos- ti? // Gendernoy ravenstvo: poiski resheniya starykh problem. ILO, å.: 2003. 3 Mezentseva E.B. Muzhchiny i zhenschiny v sfere domashnego truda: logika ekonomicheskoy ratsional’nosti protiv logiki gendernoy identichnos- ti? // Gendernoy ravenstvo: poiski resheniya starykh problem. // Gendernoy ravenstvo: poiski resheniya starykh problem. ILO, å.: 2003. , p. 57-58. 4 Gorshkova I.D., Shurygina I.I. Nasiliye nad zhenami v sovremennykh rossiyskikh sem’yakh. å.: MAKS Press, 2003, p. 112. 5 Prestupnost’ i pravoporyadok v Rossii. Statisticheskiy aspekt. 2003. p. 55. 6 Prestupnost’ i pravoporyadok v Rossii. Statisticheskiy aspekt. 2003. p. 24. 7 Zhenschiny i muzhchiny v Rossii. 2004. p. 11. 8 International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS). Russia took part in the survey in 1992, 1996, 2000, but only the data of 1992 and 1996 are available for analysis, www.unicri.it 9 Veltishev D.Yu. Nasiliye i zdorov’ye naseleniya Rossii. The Moscow Psychiatry Research Institute, the RF Ministry of Health, WHO, 2003 10 Women in Transitional Period. Regional Monitoring Report No. 6, UNICEF, 1999 11 Russia: Nasiliye v sem’ye – nasiliye v obschestve. UNIFEM, UNFPA, M.: 2002, p. 44. 12 Veltishev D.Yu. Nasiliye i zdorov’ye naseleniya Rossii. The Moscow Psychiatry Research Institute, the RF Ministry of Health, WHO, 2003 13 Rimashevskaya N., Vannoy D., Malysheva M. et al. Okno v russkuyu chastnuyu zhizn’. Supruzheskiye pary v 1996. M., 1999 14 Gorshkova I.D., Shurygina I.I. Nasiliye nad zhenami v sovremennykh rossiyskikh sem’yakh. å.: MAKS Press, 2003. 15 Russia: Nasiliye v sem’ye – nasiliye v obschestve. UNIFEM, UNFPA, M.: 2002 16 Gorshkova I.D., Shurygina I.I. Nasiliye nad zhenami v sovremennykh rossiyskikh sem’yakh. å.: MAKS Press, 2003, p. 82. 17 It should be noted that the men-to-women average old-age pension ratio is just one of the possible criteria for assessing gender equality in pension insurance. An alternative could be the amount of “pension transfer” from men to women, comparison of the extent to which they replace wages, etc. 18 These and further calculations were based on the Russian pension system analytical model developed by the Independent actuarial information and analytical center. 19 Prava zhenschin v Rossii. Zakonodatel’stvo i praktika. No. 1 (16) – å., 2004, p. 3-18.

72 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 3.1 MDG Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women Table.

73 Chapter 4 Reducing child and maternal mortality. MDG+ for health

4.1. INTRODUCTION: DEMO- Chapter we will try to highlight some important GRAPHIC SITUATION IN THE health indicators and consider them in the con- RUSSIAN FEDERATION text of the MDGs, taking account of the current unfavorable health situation in Russia. eproductive health in Russia has attracted Rmuch interest, particularly regarding ussian and international experts have declining birth rates, which have implications Rdevoted much argument and research to for the labor market and social security provi- decline of the birth rate and fluctuation of the sion, and for depopulation of strategic areas.1 mortality rate since the 1980s (Figure 4.1). Maternal and child health figures are often This combination of demographic factors has seen by the government not so much as an produced negative population growth in indicator of overall poor health, but as key to Russia, and in the second half of the 1990s solving a demographic crisis. However, despite this trend ceased to be compensated by reg- importance of the reproductive and child istered immigration. Potential consequences health, potential, demographic effect from of current demographic trends for politics, improvement of their indicators will be mini- economics and security have roused con- mal compared with even slight improvement cerns of various political groups and sections of Russia’s catastrophic indicators for prema- of Russian society. ture death among adults of working age. In this here is no consensus about causes of the Figure 4.1. Birth and crude mortality rates Ttwo mortality rises in 1994 and after 1998. per 1000 persons, and population in tens The majority of experts blame a combination of millions, Russia, 1980-2003. of factors, including social2 and economic fac-

18 tors3 and behavioral changes, particularly

4 17 increase in alcohol consumption. What is more important for purposes of setting 16 Mortality appropriate health targets is that mortality 15 rates in Russia, even when declining, are 14 Population much higher than in developed western 13 countries and countries with the same level of 12 average income per capita, and in many 11 cases are higher than in the former republics

10 of the Soviet Union. Since birth rates are rel- Birth rates 9 atively similar to those in western countries,

8 but mortality is atypically high, it is the latter that calls for urgent measures. 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

74 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 irth rates are often mentioned in debates igration is the third process determining Babout depopulation. However, the tech- Mthe demographic situation and some- nologies for increasing birthrates of native what offsetting population decline in Russia. populations are far from clear, with high cost Uncontrolled or inappropriately controlled of stimulating measures, e.g. social benefits immigration might aggravate the social situa- for mothers, and low effect of regulative tion, affect human rights and would definitely measures. Even in the most totalitarian years lead to health problems. Reliable statistics on of the USSR, the 1930s, restriction of abortion illegal and temporary immigrants are not avail- led to no more than 8% increase in birth rates, able, but it can be assumed that they are and more recent attempts have failed com- among the most vulnerable groups in Russia. pletely.5 The latest decline in birth rates in Russia started in 1987, marking the beginning of what is called the second demographic 4.2. MDG 4, TARGET 5. REDUCE transition, characterized by complete decou- BY TWO THIRDS, BETWEEN 1990 pling of reproductive behavior, sex and family. AND 2015, THE UNDER-FIVE However, the birth rate has shown a rising MORTALITY RATE trend since 2000. These fluctuations of the birth rate have probably been influenced by 4.2.1. INTRODUCTION: TARGET change of Russia’s social foundations at the UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY LEVEL end of the 1980s and the beginning of the FOR RUSSIA IN 2015 1990s, and the somewhat lower numbers of potential parents born in the late 1960s. he Millennium Development Goals Before the collapse of the Soviet Union there Tadopted by the international community was a significant contribution to population in 2000 include a target to reduce under-five reproduction from people marrying at the age mortality rates by two thirds in 2015 com- of 20. This was related to marriages at a rela- Box 4.1. Defining and measuring under-five mortality tively early age, immediately after military Under-five mortality is defined as the probability of dying between birth and service. Significant social benefits, such as the exactly five years of age, expressed per 1000 live births. It largely consists of infant mortality, i.e. deaths in the first year of life, as risk of death declines after the first opportunity to obtain separate apartments or weeks of life. However, even such a broadly used term as infant mortality is quite social welfare, were substantial incentives for ambiguous. Although the definition of death itself is relatively straightforward, the concept of live birth varies radically in Russia and some other parts of the for- early procreation. The new economic reality mer Soviet Union compared with most other countries. has forced people to postpone procreation The WHO definition of live birth, adopted in 1992, is until a later age, when the parents can afford "The complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of concep- separate accommodation, complete their edu- tion, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, which, after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsa- cation and carve out their career, or until the tion of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached." “now or never” stage. In addition the cohort of women in some age groups important for The Soviet definition of life birth, which still predominates in most of the former Soviet states, excludes cases when infants are born at less than 28 weeks, weigh- reproduction has been somewhat smaller ing less than 1,000 grams, or less than 35 centimeters in length if they die within throughout the 1990s. Hence a couple of fac- seven days. It should be noted that gestation age quite hard to determine precise- ly, allowing obstetricians to tailor it as needed. In addition breathing was the only tors can help explain the birth rate upturn in criterion of life in Soviet times, and this still obstructs introduction of the WHO def- the last few years: many couples who had pre- inition. These differences mean that many infant deaths in Russia and some of the former Soviet republics are not recorded. The situation is further complicated by viously postponed child-bearing reached the use of various formulas in certain countries to account for the fact that some infants born this year die next year. Cases of modifying definitions and even manipulating age of 30 in 2002-2003 and simultaneously a statistics to meet propaganda needs are instructive in themselves. Monitoring large cohort born around the mid-1980s start- achievement of any targets in Russia is complicated, as in the case of infant mortality, and might lead to manipulation of data rather than to improvement. ed to attain early reproductive age.

75 Chapter 4

pared with 1990. In Russia, where the level of tality it is important to keep in mind that we child mortality was 21.5 per 1000 in 1990, this only see the tip of the iceberg in terms of bur- would mean a reduction to 7 per 1000 a quar- den, as only a small percentage of cases ter of a century later. This level was registered causing disease or even disability lead to well in 2000 in Israel and in 2002 in Estonia, and is recorded outcomes, such as death. Many somewhat higher than the European Union conditions leading to important outcomes, average (5.6 in 2000-2002). e.g. blindness, mental or locomotive disability, are not systematically recorded in a way enabling in-depth exploration. 4.2.2. UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY: COMPARING ACROSS COUN- he level of under-five mortality is declin- TRIES AND TIME Ting in Russia largely as a result of falling infant mortality. The problem of under-five isk of death under five in Russia was 16.5 mortality is most severe in the very poor Rper 1000 live births in 2002 compared to countries of sub-Saharan Africa, due to high less than 6 in the European Union (Figure infant mortality rates and to malaria and 4.2). The fall in under-five mortality in Russia other gastrointestinal and respiratory infec- is, however, quite remarkable as the indicator tions. For instance, in one study, diarrhea, stood at almost 28 per 1000 in 1980. The indi- acute respiratory infections and fever from cator is somewhat higher if WHO’s corrected unknown origin accounted for up to 50% of estimate is used: 17 per 1000 and 18.6 per the under-five deaths in an African country.7 1000 for boys alone. It is also noteworthy that Malnutrition and vaccine preventable dis- a number of studies report that the same eases, largely measles, account for a large causes which lead to child mortality cause part of child mortality. The problem also significant but poorly reported disability in exists in some parts of the former Soviet childhood.6 When looking at the issue of mor- Union, e.g. in Turkmenistan, where under-five mortality is 98 per 1000 live births8. Figure 4.2. Under-five mortality rates in Russia, European Union and 5 former isk of infant mortality is strongly associ- Central Asian Soviet republics, 1980-2002. Rated with low birth weight. Birth weight has been shown to be an important determi- 80 nant of foetal outcome, with both neonatal 70 mortality (deaths within the first 28 days of life) and postneonatal mortality (deaths 60 between 29 days and 1 year) climbing steeply 50 as birth weight falls below 3000 g.9 The regis- 5 NIS - Central Asia tered cause of nearly 50% of infant deaths in 40 Russia is “complications in the perinatal peri-

30 od” and another quarter of infant mortality is Russia associated with congenital abnormalities. 20 According to official statistics, another 10% of infant deaths are put down to respiratory dis- 10 European Union eases, and injuries and gastrointestinal condi- 0 tions each account for 6%.10 However, it must 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 be noted that these causes are poorly Source: WHO HFA, 2005. www.who.dk

76 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 defined, particularly the biggest group of Box 4.2. Issues of terminology and data Although under-five mortality is monitored by WHO, it is not a valid Medical “perinatal complications and conditions”, Subject Headings (MeSH term) used in biomedical publications search engines such as MEDLINE.11 Instead two MeSH terms overlapping with under-five mortal- and require systematic epidemiological ity are recognized: “Child Mortality” defined as deaths of children between one investigation. year and 12 years of age and “Infant Mortality”, which encompasses all deaths that occur within the first year of life and excludes foetal death (miscarriages and abortions). Infant mortality again overlaps with perinatal mortality, representing deaths occurring from the 28th week of gestation to the 7th day after birth, neonatal mortality, representing deaths from birth to 27 days after birth, and post- 4.2.3. EXPLORING UNDER-FIVE neonatal deaths, occurring between 28 days and 365 days after birth. MORTALITY IN RUSSIA There is no single paper cited in MEDLINE published in scientific biomedical journals on the issue of under-five or even child mortality (from 1 to 12 years of age) in Russia! Even studies of infant mortality in Russia are relatively scarce with only 80 MEDLINE citations in the period 1990-2005, and most of the publi- esearch has shown that under-five mortal- cations in Russian are limited to comparing trends and aggregate statistics Rity consists mainly of infant mortality, but across regions. information on child mortality in Russia is far from exhaustive and study of mortality in the tion and the military. The obstetric service one to five age group is insufficient. (Box 4.2) reacted by increasing duration and rates of hospitalization during and following preg- wo well-known and highly important nancy, over-diagnosing threat of miscarriage Tfacts concerning infant mortality in and over-medicalizing the reproductive Russia are that rates are declining and that process, with some regions reallocating a rates cannot be directly compared with half of maternal beds for pregnancy compli- western countries, because they are under- cations.16 The pediatric service has reacted in stated12,13 by about one third mainly by similar fashion: the age of those under sur- recording of very low birth-weight deaths as veillance was increased to 18 years, alleged stillbirths and miscarriages.14 This is impor- quasi-universal poor health among children tant since around 80% of under-five deaths was used as an excuse for placing more chil- are infant mortality (in the first year of life), dren under observation, and necessity of so levels of under-five mortality in Russia dispancerisation (screening for any diseases will tend to be underestimated as well. in general populations via checkups carried Causes of infant mortality are routinely out by groups of narrow specialists) was recorded, but there is little data on the other argued, over diagnosing of often non-exist- 20% of deaths between ages of one and five. ing diseases became common, government Some limited evidence suggests that a sig- and society are threatened with myopia and nificant contribution to the later child deaths scoliosis epidemics. in Russia is made by injuries, with biggest gap in mortality as compared to the Western iscussions of MDG 4 may be used by Europe accounted for by drawings15. Dadvocates of separate pediatric services to raise their agenda. Pediatric service, despite importance of controlling vaccine preventable 4.2.4. RANGE OF STRATEGIES TO diseases, probably has zero to minimal poten- REDUCE UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY tial influence on under-five mortality in Russia because perinatal deaths (in the first 7 days of s birthrates have declined since 1987 in life), which account for nearly two thirds of all ARussia, sectors threatened to have the under-five deaths in Russia, usually happen in funding reduced due to smaller workloads obstetric units. The major arguments for have adopted defensive strategies. These downsizing pediatric services and introducing sectors include obstetrics, pediatrics, educa- a system centered on GPs are control of com-

77 Chapter 4

Box 4.3. “Yes” to reform of primary medical care, “No” to exclusion of pediatri- irth weight is a largely socially-associat- cians from the primary level Will medical provision for children benefit from the reform, by which primary Bed variable considered to be single most health care for children will be provided by a general practitioner and not a specially qualified pediatrician? important determinant not only of poor peri- It is important to remember that the character and specifics of the child health natal outcomes but also of health in later life. care system in Russia are a legacy of the country’s social, economic and cultural development. This relates particularly to the social nature of Russian medicine In an earlier study carried out in the Tula and the concept of community self-government seen most clearly in rural health Region we have attempted to explore care. The Russian rural health system, including easy access to unpaid care, a prophylactic approach and use of district doctors, was the basis of the Soviet state whether socio-economic factors leading to system of child health care (the first such state system in the world). The system low birth weight are mitigated by effective was notable for the fact that, for the first time in the world, primary health care to children was provided by experts specially trained for that task in medical school. perinatal care. To illustrate this we have com- We believe that transfer of primary pediatric care to general practitioners would pared outcomes according to birth weight in be premature in Russia at the present time. The reasons for this are as follows: 1. We are not convinced by reasoning based on the fact that the general prac- Tula with data from Sweden, the country titioner system exists in all countries except Russia (notably in other European countries), since there is no convincing evidence of superiority of European stan- with the lowest perinatal mortality in Europe, dard primary health care. Better indicators of population health and quality of for 1998, the most recent year for which we medical care in western countries are conditioned by living standards in those countries, more generous financing of health care, and organization of the physi- had access to the relevant data (Sveriges cian’s job, which ensures that he has an interest in doing that job well. Officiella Statistik 1998) (Box 4.4). 2. Many people abroad consider the general practitioner system to be far from optimal. 3. In an increasing number of European countries, and with increasing fre- ur findings essentially demonstrate that quency, primary health care for children is being provided by pediatricians, i.e. there is a tendency towards primary child health care on the Russian model. Oimprovement of obstetric and perinatal 4. Russia currently lacks infrastructure for implementing family medical care and financing for transition to a general practitioner system has not been put in technologies can have a major effect on all place. The main financing problem is where to find money for increasing salaries under-five mortality. Obstetricians and peri- to general practitioners, retraining district doctors and pediatricians, and equip- ping general practice offices. natologists have a key role in Russia. There is 5. The skill level of a general practitioner in matters of pediatry will be always a clear need to improve pregnancy, delivery lower that that of a pediatrician. In the USA most diagnostic and tactical mistakes in medical care of children are made by family doctors. and postnatal care, including promotion of 6. The social component of the reform cannot be overlooked. It will cause pedi- evidence-based methods and procurement atricians to become narrow specialists, creating a risk of commercialization and drop in availability of pediatric care. of effective pharmaceuticals and equipment. However, some restructuring of Russian primary health care to children is undoubtedly needed, since a critical mass of problems have accumulated in the sector. Our proposals, in the context of the problem being discussed in this mprovement of care provision to children Chapter, are as follows: 1. To create a general practitioner service for (a) the adult population, and for Iafter discharge from maternity units will (b) remote and sparsely populated regions, where such a practitioner would probably have little effect on under-five serve both adults and children. 2. To use, as an alternative, the group (team) method, by which primary med- deaths, since a significant part of child mor- ical care is provided by a group of medical specialists – general doctor, pediatri- tality (around 40% in 1995) seems to be from cian, obstretician-gynaecologist. 3. To give the profession of “district pediatrician” (initial-contact pediatrician, external causes,17 such as injuries, poison- general-practice pediatrician) legal status as an independent profession. ings, drowning and suffocations, which are 4. To train pediatricians for work in primary medicine at specialized departments of medical training institutions (social and polyclinic pediatry, ambulatory prevented by safer environment, with out- pediatry, family pediatry). Prof. A.A. Baranov comes little influenced by treatment. By comparison, respiratory infections cause less plex chronic diseases, many of which are than 30% of under-five deaths, infectious dis- rooted in childhood, and changing the incen- eases less than 10% and cancer around 5%, tives system to stimulate efficiency and orien- and is not clear whether better medical care tation towards health rather than supplier- or social conditions would significantly induced demand, e.g. administering the great- improve the situation. Vaccine preventable est possible amount of lucrative but often diseases are a major public health issue, but ineffective treatments. However, these argu- such diseases currently seem to be under ments relate to the MDG+, which will be pre- control in Russia, although efforts are need- sented at the end of this Chapter. ed to ensure updating of vaccination

78 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 schemes and keeping coverage high. These 4.2.6. FEASIBILITY OF points suggest that Russia has an extensive, ACHIEVING MDG 4 fairly up-to-date health service, so that sim- plified approaches such as the ICDS he overall trend of under-five mortality in (Integrated Child Development Service), pro- Tthe last 20 years of the 20th century posed by the international community, have would not allow Russia to reach the Target 5 limited application except to help improve level of 7 per 1000 as defined in the economic efficiency, reduce ineffective inter- Millennium Development Goals. However, ventions and promote simple but important the trend in the first years of the 21st century measures which tend to be overlooked pre- looks more encouraging (Figure 4.3). The cisely because of their simplicity, e.g. oral white line on the graph below shows the rehydration. most optimistic scenario (starting from the elevated level of 1999), but it is reasonable to believe that further economic growth and 4.2.5. POTENTIAL EFFECT OF further improvement of antenatal and perina- ACHIEVING MDG 4 tal services could enable the target level to be approached, if not reached, in Russia by study examining appropriateness of the 2015. On the other hand, if economic growth Ahealth MDGs for Russia, looking at stagnates, some elevation of under-five mor- effects of their achievement on life expectan- tality can be expected, as seen after the col- cy at birth, found that the effects would in lapse of the Soviet Union and the economic fact be relatively small.18 It was calculated crisis of 1998. It is noteworthy that some of that achieving reduction of infant mortality the Eastern European countries, e.g. Czech and mortality in one-to-four year olds by two thirds, as per MDG Target 5, would add 0.76 Box 4.4. Distribution of birth weight in Tula Region (2000) and Sweden (1998) years and 0.17 years to life expectancy 45 40 respectively. However, such a reduction is 35 not easy to achieve. It is worth noting that 30 Tula even if all Russian regions succeeded in 25 Sveden achieving levels of infant and one-to-four 20 year mortality equal to current levels in the 15 % of all births best regions of the country, the increase in 10 5 national life expectancy would be less than 0 one month. By comparison, a 20% reduction 999 1500-1999 2500-2999 3500-3999 4500-4499 of largely avoidable adult mortality would birth weight (g) cause increase of life expectancy by two The distribution of birth weight in Tula is shifted to the left compared with that years.19 In order to emphasize the point: there in Sweden. This is clearly a result of smoking and alcohol consumption (also lead- are about 17-18,000 under-five deaths in ing to foetal alcohol syndrome) during pregnancy, as well as poor nutrition and other socio-economic and behavioural factors (it should be noted in passing that Russia annually, of which 15,000 are infant major gradient in risk of child death in Russia depending on variations of income, education, marital status of parents and regional differences emphasize inequali- deaths, but there are 1,200,000 deaths due to ty in Russia and the importance of social factors). The question is whether the circulatory problems in the population as a adverse birth weight distribution in Tula compared with Sweden explains higher perinatal mortality in Tula. This question was addressed by applying the birth- whole and 270,000 deaths due to external weight specific perinatal mortality rates in Tula to the distribution of birth-weight causes, and many of the fatalities, which in Sweden. Doing so yields a birth weight-adjusted figure of 14.4/1000 births, which is almost three times as high as the Swedish figure of 5.4/1000. The con- make up these two last statistics, are prema- clusion is that, notwithstanding the need to improve the birth weight distribution, ture and avoidable. the main mortality factor is the rate of survival of babies once born.

79 Chapter 4

Figure 4.3. Under-five mortality per 1000 regarding trends on a monthly and, in most in Russia in 1980-2002, the trend in 1980- cases, even on an annual basis. Regional 2000 (straight line) and in 1999-2002 health officials are often unfamiliar with (twisting line) and the target value in 2015 probability theory, and may draw far-reach- (diamond). ing conclusions from chance fluctuation of small quantities: most obstetric services deal 30 with less than 1000 births per year, suggesting about 15 infant deaths on average, and 25 any “trends” may well be chance variations

20 with no statistical significance. Monitoring of birth weight trends and birth weight adjusted 15 outcomes can allow better evaluation of performance of medical and social systems, but, 10 again, large enough samples are needed. < 5 mortality per 1000

5 iven relatively low probability of infant Gdeath, it is important to carry out inde- 0 pendent investigation of reasons and causes, but this is complicated by corporatism of the 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2010 2012 2014 Years medical profession, the system of medical records, and lack of access for relatives to Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and maternity units. Improved access for rela- Estonia are already at levels similar to what tives and friends to labor and delivery rooms Russia should aim to achieve in 2015. is not only a medically evidenced beneficial practice,20 but can help to improve the service ussian under-five and infant mortality through better lay-person control. A cheap Rrates have been improving since the and effective way to monitor performance of mid-1990s and are much lower than in devel- maternity services is a “near-miss” oping countries. Drastic change as suggested approach,21 which explores significant and in MDG 4 is impossible in developed coun- potentially life-threatening complications, tries, which have already carried out most of which did not in fact lead to death. However, the achievable reduction, and two-thirds this methodology is new, not fully developed reduction will also be complex and costly for and requires additional studies. Achievement Russia. Even 50% reduction seems rather of MDG 4 in Russia requires improvement of ambitious for transition countries. obstetric and perinatal technologies, and monitoring of processes and methods in 4.2.7. SUGGESTIONS FOR INDI- maternity units in addition to outcome-based CATORS evaluation.

nfant, perinatal, and neonatal mortality are irth-weight specific perinatal death rates Iimportant indicators. There is a need to Bdeserve to be proposed as the main indi- change the way they are evaluated in cators for under-five mortality. Such an indi- Russian regions: infant mortality is a relative- cator helps to separate effects of complex ly rare event in most localities, making it hard social influences and smoking during preg- to draw statistically significant inferences nancy from medical care per se. In addition,

80 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 comparison of death rates at lower birth- sized there will be an even greater risk of fig- weight levels can be helpful in identifying ures being manipulated. under-reporting of perinatal mortality overall. (Appendix 4.1. Table). 4.3. MDG 5, TARGET 6. REDUCE BY THREE QUARTERS, BETWEEN 4.2.8. CONCLUSIONS ON MDG 4 1990 AND 2015, THE MATERNAL MORTALITY RATIO erinatal deaths constitute the bulk of Punder-five mortality; hence, addressing 4.3.1. INTRODUCTION: TARGET this indicator offers greatest potential for MATERNAL MORTALITY LEVEL achieving MDG 4. There is a clear need in FOR RUSSIA IN 2015 Russia to improve survival of newborns through developing modern standards of aternal mortality in Russia in 1990 was obstetric care (antenatal and perinatal) and M47.4 per 100,000 recorded live births, to provide better support to women to slightly lower than in the preceding and sub- ensure proper levels of nutrition and healthy sequent seven years (apparently due to behavior from the pre-conception stage (mainly in relation to smoking, alcohol and Perinatal deaths constitute the bulk of safer sex) in order to lower perinatal death under-five mortality; hence, addressing this rates. It is also necessary to ensure imple- indicator offers greatest potential for achiev- mentation of the WHO definition promoted ing MDG 4. There is a clear need in Russia by the Ministry of Health and Goskomstat to improve survival of newborns through joint decree 380/190 from April 4, 1992, developing modern standards of obstetric which is still not adhered to. Other causes of care (antenatal and perinatal) and to provide child mortality, at ages above infancy, better support to women to ensure proper require careful and detailed epidemiological levels of nutrition and healthy behavior investigation. from the pre-conception stage (mainly in relation to smoking, alcohol and safer sex) t is important not to “let the tail wag the in order to lower perinatal death rates. Idog”, since infant and under-five mortality rates are, first and foremost, indicators of chance fluctuation). In order to reach the goal functioning of healthcare and other govern- of 75% reduction the level in 2015 would mental welfare institutions. However, it have to be no higher than 11.8 per 100,000 would be a mistake to overemphasize the live births, which is still above the level of importance of lowering infant or under-five Hungary (8.3) and Estonia (7.7) in 2002. mortality, because its achievement will not lead to drastic improvement in population health in transition countries and might dis- 4.3.2. DEFINING AND MEASU- tract society and the Government from other RING MATERNAL MORTALITY more important tasks, including reduction of adult mortality. We should also bear in mind aternal mortality ratio is “the number that manipulation of infant mortality data has Mof women who die as a result of child- occurred frequently in Russia in the past, and bearing, during the pregnancy or within 42 if significance of this indicator is overempha- days of delivery or termination of pregnancy,

81 Chapter 4

irrespective of the duration and the site of the tality from non-abortion related causes down pregnancy, from any cause related to or to 25 per 100,000 life births. If, however, we aggravated by the pregnancy or its manage- take the ratio of maternal deaths per 100,000 ment, but not from accidental or incidental pregnancies rather than live births, the value causes,” and it is usually estimated per would be even lower at 14.6. The usefulness 100,000 live births during that year. However, of such indicators in Russia can be argued as it is often difficult to establish a link between no other country in Europe, and probably in pregnancy and death, as death during preg- the world, has such a high ratio of abortions nancy may be due to aggravation of pre-exist- to births. For comparison, there are a little ing conditions or other risk factors. Use of dif- more than 2 abortions per 10 births in the ferent formulas and chance variation in small European Union. absolute numbers of deaths in developed and transitional countries makes maternal mortality rates hard to compare across years and 4.3.3. MATERNAL MORTALITY: countries. Issues of under-reporting are com- COMPARING ACROSS COUN- mon even in places with established and well- TRIES AND TIME functioning surveillance systems.22 ven though abortions in Russia are a safer aternal mortality has a somewhat dif- Eoutcome of pregnancy than birth in terms Mferent meaning in Russia than in other of maternal mortality, the large number of countries. Throughout the 1990s there were abortions significantly obscures cross-country about two abortions per birth or at least 2 comparison of maternal mortality indicators. million abortions annually, and despite rapid The maternal mortality ratio in the European decline in abortion numbers still over half of Union is around 5 per 100,000, which is six pregnancies are still terminated. Around a times lower than in Russia. Correction for quarter of maternal deaths are abortion-relat- abortions still leaves the EU result three to five ed. As only about one in three pregnancies times higher than for Russia. leads to birth, this significantly diminishes the denominator of the equation, i.e. the aternal mortality in developing coun- number of women in the risk group. Even Mtries is usually estimated indirectly, though abortions involve four times less risk using various complex epidemiological of maternal mortality than birth, their sheer methods, due to lack of vital statistics. WHO numbers distort the statistical comparison. data indicates that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest maternal mortality rates world- verall, maternal mortality in Russia is a wide, ranging from 500 to 700 per 100,000 Orare event prone to chance variation. births as compared to 55-650 in Asia and 110- Assuming a level of 8.77 live births per 1000 210 in Latin America. But the data for sub- population (as in 2000) and maternal mortal- Saharan Africa may not tell the whole story, ity rates between 40 and 60, there would be since maternal death rates as high as 1000 about 520-780 maternity-related deaths per per 100,000 births have been recorded in year in Russia. In 2002 there were 470 mater- some rural areas.23 Family planning has the nity-related deaths, representing maternal greatest potential to reduce maternal mortal- mortality of 33.6 per 100,000. However, if we ity in Africa by preventing unwanted preg- exclude abortion-related deaths, the number nancies and illegal abortions and increasing will be only 350. This brings maternal mor- earnings of families by reducing the number

82 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 of pregnant women. Skilled attendance at Figure 4.4. Causes of maternal deaths delivery (essential obstetric services, includ- worldwide ing toxoid immunization, Caesarian sections 20% and other life saving interventions in emer- 25% gency cases) as well as antenatal care24 and Severe bleeding 25 HIV prevention and treatment would be of Infection crucial importance in reducing maternal mor- Unsafe abortion Eclampsia tality in developing countries (Figure 4.4). Obstructed labour 8% Other direct causes espite the difficulties in assessment, Indirect causes Dmaternal mortality rates still appear to be considerably higher in Russia than in the 8% 15% West. Abortion-related mortality represents about a quarter of deaths, and some estimates suggest that up to two thirds of abor- 12% 13% tion-related deaths are due to the abortions Source: "Coverage of Maternal Care: A Listing of Available Information, Fourth Edition". World Health Organization, Geneva, 1997 being carried out away from facilities.26 This raises a number of questions about access to abortion and other services, such as why depth investigation is virtually impossible women would undertake such high-risk inter- due to corporative protectionism of the med- ventions when the procedure is legal and ical profession. widely available. However, beyond the issue of abortion, the remaining 75% of maternal death is due to non-abortion related factors 4.3.4. EXPLORING MATERNAL and needs detailed investigation. The official MORTALITY IN RUSSIA statistics suggests that about 15% of maternal deaths in Russia are due to haemorrhage he maternal mortality rate in Russia and 10% due to toxaemia (eclampsia). Tdeclined by about a quarter in the 1990s, However, a quick review carried out by the and the absolute number of maternal deaths author (unpublished) of all 14 maternal had dropped from 950 to 470 by 2002. Decline deaths recorded in the last five years in one in absolute numbers is partially due to decline of the European Russian regions found that of pregnancy rates, but the improving rates of the cause of death in half of the cases, at maternal mortality have been attributed to least according to investigation results, was two processes: about 65% is due to improving anaesthesiological malpractice, while two pregnancy and birth safety and another 35% is deaths were due to late admission of women due to decline in abortion rates. Risk of mater- with relatively manageable conditions due to nal deaths associated with birth had geographical remoteness and lack of means decreased by nearly a quarter in 2002-2003 of communication and transportation. compared with 1990. This positive dynamic, Further exploration of causes of maternal paralleled by recent decline in infant mortality, deaths is difficult, since aggregate, routinely suggests a real trend, which can be associated collected statistics are often “cleaned” to with improvements in obstetric care. Box 4.5 avoid penalties. The data do not offer a suffi- offers a time-line of actions by Federal cient level of detail to shed light on the Government agencies in prevention of mater- issues, which need to be addressed. Any in- nal, infant and child mortality.

83 Chapter 4

Box 4.5. The official view on maternal and infant mortality issues 55% fall in absolute numbers of abor- Levels of maternal, infant and under-five mortality correlate with quality, scope and availability of medical care to women and children. Conversely, efficiency of Ations since 1990 is due to better knowl- public health bodies and establishments can be assessed by indicators and dynamics of infant mortality. edge and access to modern contraceptive From 1990 to the present the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the methods (Figure 4.5). However, abortions in Russian Federation has been carrying out work on further development and improvement of medical care to women, including pregnant women and children. Russia have not become a safer procedure In 1992 the Ministry of Health and Goskomstat of Russia issued the order “On judging by WHO data45, at least not before Transition to Criteria of Live Birth and Dead Birth as Recommended by the World Health Organization”. The transition was to take place as of January 1, 1993. 2003. Rates of 6-7 deaths per 100,000 abor- In 1998 the Ministry of Health of Russia designed and sent to subjects (admin- tions are surprisingly stable with minor fluc- istrative regions) of the Russian Federation a program of action for improving the preventive, diagnostic and treatment system with the aim of reducing infant tuations since 1990, and make Russian abor- mortality. Subjects of the federation were required to prepare relevant docu- tions 10 times more risky than in the USA, ments with regional scope for realization of the respective strategy. On August 7, 1998, the Ministry of Health of Russia issued the order “On where mortality is 0.7 per 100,000.27 The Improvement of Medical Documentation Certifying Cases of Birth and Death in Connection with Transition to International Classification of Diseases”. Russian rate is largely, but not exclusively, In November 2000 the Government approved an Action Plan for reduction of due to illegal abortions. Figures from the maternal and infant mortality in the Russian Federation in 2001-2003. On December 28, 2000, the Ministry of Health of Russia issued order No. 457 Federal State Statistics Service are 20% “On Improvement of Prenatal Diagnostics in Prevention of Hereditary and lower for abortion related deaths in 2000- Congenital Diseases Among Children”. The Russian Federal Government decree No. 1270-p of September 27, 2001, 2004 than the WHO data, however official approved the “Concept of Demographic Development of the Russian Federation Russian statistics has a vaguely classified Until 2015”. The Coordination Board of the Russian Ministry of Health responsible for improvement of efficiency in rendering medical care to mothers and group of deaths “due to other causes” repre- infants has been in operation from 2000 until the present time. Its targets are: development of strategic action in provision, and improvement of efficiency and senting over a quarter of all maternal deaths quality, of medical care and social assistance to pregnant women, obstetric part of which is likely associated with abor- patients, parents and infants; development of proposals on improvement of normative and legal control in this field; providing hands-on assistance to Russian tions. Even after exclusion of deaths due to regions; etc. From 2000 to June 2005 the Board held 33 sessions and reports abortions away from medical facilities, the from 67 subjects of the Russian Federation were heard. Experts of medical research institutions, specialized in obstetrics, gynaecology risk of death from abortion in Russia is still and pediatry, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Health and the Russian over 3 times higher than in the USA. Academy of Medical Sciences and the corresponding special departments in higher educational medical establishments supervise regions of the Russian Federation in organization and improvement of work to provide and raise efficien- t is generally assumed that there are no cy and quality of medical care to pregnant women, obstetric patients, parents and infants (order No. 201/51 of the Russian Ministry of Public Health, June 4, 2001). Iproblems with access to maternity care in Relevant orders issued by the Russian Ministry of Health are No. 50 of February 10, 2003 “On Perfection of Obstetric and Gynecological Treatment in Outpatient Russia. Aggregate statistics show that a large and Polyclinic Establishments” and No. 329 of August 5, 2003 “On Improvement majority of women give birth in health care of Medical Care of Newborns in Obstetric and Inpatient Clinics”. The Russian Federal Government decree No. 690 of November 26, 2004, facilities and make numerous antenatal care approved the state guarantee program assuring free medical care to citizens of visits. However, evidence suggests that there the Russian Federation in 2005. Medical care is provided, from budget funds of all levels, to women in pregnancy, child-birth, and the postnatal period, as well are clearly small groups who do not access as prophylactic observation of pregnant women and healthy children. formal care, e.g. those who partake in illegal On December 9, 2004, the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development issued order No. 308 “On Organization of Perinatal Centers”. abortions or do not register for consultations To date the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development has: - designed and submitted for approval by the Russian Federal Government a before giving birth, and that a large number concept of health protection for children in the Russian Federation and an action of women are victims of over-medicalization plan for its implementation in the period up to 2010; - set up a working group (order No. 288 from 21 April, 2005, by the Russian of the reproductive process, receiving, for Ministry of Health and Social Development) on introduction in the Russian example numerous useless injections and Federation of criteria, recommended by WHO, of live and dead birth, including changes in the time when the perinatal period begins, etc.; unnecessary hospitalisations. There is little - prepared a draft action plan on reduction of maternal, infant and child mor- research on access to care for various tality in the Russian Federation up to 2010. The Ministry of Health and Social Development together with relevant federal minorities and marginalized groups, and it is executive bodies has begun work on amended drafts of a concept of demo- not quite clear who gets access to what serv- graphic development of the Russian Federation up to 2015 and an action plan for its implementation up to 2008, taking account of migratory tendencies in the ices in Russia.28 Research in other countries Russian Federation. Ministry of Health and Social Development of the former Soviet Union has identified of the Russian Federation many women who are forced to deliver at

84 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 home because they cannot afford the Figure 4.5. Maternal mortality per 100,000 expense of birth in a medical facility29 As sug- live birth, birthrates per 1000 in Russia, and gested by recent experience from Eastern absolute numbers of abortions in hundreds European counties, formal and informal pay- of thousands, 1980-2002. ments to health care providers are likely to 70 be high, as pregnancy is a planned event usually with a positive outcome. 60 Maternal mortality Reproductive health research in Russia found 50 that more than half of deliveries involve at least some payment.30 Repeated abortions 40 indicate a major system failure caused by 30 lack of sufficient post-abortion counselling, Number of abortions and this could be because abortions are a 20 lucrative service. Birth rates 10

tudies31 indicate that out of a little less 0 Sthan one third of 14-20-year olds reporting sexual activity, 42.6% did not use a con- 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 dom during their last sexual intercourse. mix. Many practices were associated with size Over 16% of married people report out of and type of the facility, with maternity homes marriage sexual contacts, 83.5% not using having much higher numbers of procedures condoms. Despite a wealth of research on than maternity departments of general hospi- reproductive health, it is unclear exactly why tals: rates of caesarean section were 18% and women do not use modern family planning episiotomies were 37% in the former, com- methods, and what measures could promote pared with 11% and 24% in the latter. Other responsible behaviour (adequate knowledge, large scale studies have shown routine use of convenience, availability, choice, quality). ineffective and harmful practices (e.g. routine There is little information on whether cost shaving, enema, injections) and insufficient and availability are barriers to uptake of use of cheap and effective interventions (e.g. effective contraception. rooming in or access for relatives to the delivery room).34 here is evidence that maternity care does Tnot always reflect the current state of here are questions about inefficiencies in international medical knowledge. Introduction Tthe system given the large number of of evidence-based clinical protocols and cost- facilities, the low occupancy rate and excess effective technologies in reproductive and staff, who are under-paid and poorly motivat- perinatal care are seen as essential to improved. For instance, there has been very little ing maternal care in Russia.32,33 For instance, change in maternity bed numbers despite sig- our findings from a study carried out in the nificant decline in birth rates since 1987. Tula region in 2000 indicate wide variation Instead of closing facilities, which were exces- between clinical practice across facilities. sive by any criteria even before the birth-rate Caesarean section rates varied from 3.3% to decline, postnatal beds, which could not be 37% of births and episiotomies from 9% to filled, were turned into beds for management 80% (p for both differences < 0.001), and the of pregnancy complications (Figure 4.6). variation persisted after controlling for case Conversion of ward and department special-

85 Chapter 4

izations has pushed up hospitalization rates Interventions must therefore be focused on for “pregnancies disorders” and increased the improving quality of care and education, overall length of stay, wasting resources and which should reflect international evidence creating potential health hazards. to a greater extent. Efforts are also needed to improve overall functioning of health systems and structural efficiency, and to help 4.3.5. STRATEGIES NEEDED TO those small groups, which do not have ACHIEVE MDG 5 access to services.

ecommendations on how to improve here should be further investigation into Rmaternal mortality in Russia can only be Texisting variations in practices and institu- offered in very general terms, as input indi- tional factors shaping practices or hindering cators are nearly perfect on the surface, but change. Medical education needs to shift its do not match the outcomes. Standard paradigm towards primary and multi-discipli- process indicators used in safe motherhood nary health care, which would give more programmes,35 such as the percentage of responsibility to nurses and midwives where women delivering with trained attendants, appropriate. It is important to promote evi- family planning use, and antenatal care dence-based medical training of obstetric staff measures tend to be of little value in Russia. and other medics. A vast majority of women do deliver with attendants, there is a low overall fertility rate, ork needs to continue on reducing and antenatal care is widely used, if not over- Wabortion numbers and improving safe- used. Abortion services are also legal and ty of the procedure. Although declining abor- widely available, although lately there were tion rates might suggest improved use of some attempts to limit their accessibility. appropriate family planning methods, further efforts by the government, NGOs and busi- Figure 4.6. Birth rates per 100,000, total ness to promote informed choice, safer sexu- number of maternity beds (excluding al practices and access to contraceptives are gynaecological), beds for postnatal (post- needed. Abortions are 10 times riskier than in partum) and pregnancy complictaions, the USA and do not seem to become safer Tula region, 1985-2003. since the 1990s, which is quite worrying.

1600 n incentive structure needs to be devel- 1400 oped, which would discourage over-med- Maternal beds A icalization of the reproductive process and 1200 maintenance of excess facilities. Slow decline 1000 Postpartum beds in maternity bed numbers despite rapid fall of 800 birth rates since 1987 suggests a need to

600 Birthrates review financing mechanisms, e.g. moving away from the current system of payment on 400 the basis of budget items or per quantity of 200 Pathological pregnancy beds services provided. Surplus facilities are having

0 an influence on current practices, including excessive length of hospital stays by pregnant

1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 women and excess bed-days after delivery. Source: estimates based on official data collected by Tula region statistics department

86 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 4.3.6. POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF Figure 4.7. Maternal mortality per 100,000 ACHIEVING MDG 5 live births in Russia in 1980-2002, the trend in the 1980-2000 (straight line) and in 1997-2002 he effects of achieving MDG 5 on the over- (twisting line) and the target value in 2015 Tall health, demographic and economic sit- (diamond). uation in Russia will be almost negligible. A 80 75% reduction in maternal mortality in Russia 70 would mean averting around 250-400 deaths out of about 2 million occurring annually. For 60 comparison, just by bringing the stroke (cere- 50 brovascular) mortality rates to the level of the 40 Baltic states, which is probably also a more realistic target, Russia would prevent over 30

200,000 deaths or 500-1000 times more than Maternal mortality per 100,000 20 by achieving MDG 5. The effect on life 10 expectancy at birth of achieving MDG 5 would only be felt by women, whose life expectancy 0 2 4 6 2 4 6 2 4 6 2 4 1980 198 198 198 1988 1990 199 199 199 1998 2000 200 200 200 2008 2010 201 201 is already 13 years greater, and would be very Years small:36 reduction of maternity deaths by three quarters, as suggested in Target 6, would add huge territory and low population density, the half a week to female life expectancy, and diversity of its population, which includes could prove relatively complicated and costly. national minorities, migrants and other vulner- On the other hand, most measures to reduce able and hard-to-reach groups, might make maternal mortality have potential to improve achievement of the task very difficult. In the other reproductive health indicators, which are unlikely event of pro-life movements succeed- very unfavorable in Russia. ing in enacting further abortion restrictions, maternal mortality may even rise above current levels due to increase of illegal abortions 4.3.7. FEASIBILITY Since maternal mortality is already relatively OF ACHIEVING MDG 5 low in Russia, further improvement could be hard to obtain in any case. Developed coun- aternal mortality in Russia showed tries are not able to reduce maternal mortality Mslight fluctuations in 1983-1995 without much further already, so a reduction of 50% any stable tendency to decline. But there has would be a remarkable achievement for a tran- been significant reduction since 1997, at least sition country. in the recorded figures (Figure 4.7). Since maternal mortality is quite a rare event in both developed and transitional countries, it is very 4.3.8. SUGGESTED INDICATORS hard to separate chance variations from ten- FOR MONITORING MDG 5 dencies caused by social and medical factors. As early as 2001-2002 a number of former aternal mortality is an important Soviet Union republics had already reached Mindictor for international comparison the level, which Russia should reach in 2015 if but its use for detailed health planning or it is to have the 75% reduction. So the Goal is monitoring in Russian conditions is limited. at least feasible for Russia. However, Russia’s The maternal mortality rate is unsuited for

87 Chapter 4

regional comparisons because such deaths ratio of abortions to the total number of are rare, not usually exceeding 20 per women of child-bearing age in order to avoid region per year. Ascertaining real reasons being misled by fluctuating birth rates as can for the deaths is difficult due to their rarity happen with the traditional indicator of abor- and geographical dispersion, and identify- tions per 1000 live births. Birthweight can ing statistically significant determinants at provide useful insight into smoking, alcohol any given location would be very difficult if consumption and social status of mothers not impossible. However, qualitative during pregnancy. The two maternal mortali- research may prove useful in investigating ty indicators, which can be of use on the factors that are likely to contribute to these national level in evaluating performance of deaths, e.g. geographical inaccessibility of obstetric services, are abortion-related obstetric facilities in extremely remote deaths per 100,000 abortions and non-abor- regions, poor quality care in some facilities, tion related maternal deaths per 100,000 or undersupply of basic pharmaceuticals births. (Appendix 4.1. Table). and equipment. But these again would be complicated by medical corporatism and lack of mechanisms to carry out independ- 4.3.9. CONCLUSIONS ON MDG 5 ent evaluation. Additionally, there may be scope for investigation of factors leading to aternal mortality reduction by 75% will maternal morbidities or ‘near-miss’ compli- Mhave negligible effect on population cations (life-threatening complications that health in Russia. However, maternal mortali- did not lead to death), which might be more ty is an indicator of healthcare performance and health more generally. In order to further The two maternal mortality indicators, improve maternal mortality, and maternal which can be of use on the national level health in general, it is important to make in evaluating performance of obstetric pregnancy, births and abortions safer, to services, are abortion-related deaths per reduce the number of abortions, and to elim- 100,000 abortions and non-abortion inate illegal pregnancy termination away related maternal deaths per 100,000. from medical facilities. Pregnancy, birth and abortion methods need to reflect current common and similarly reflect on key international evidence better than it is the aspects of the health system. Clinical audit case now. Improvement of practice is com- and case discussions are carried out in plicated by lack of access to international lit- many facilities, but have poor potential to erature and by a perverse incentive system. achieve quality improvement as there are There is additional potential for improve- no standard tools and mechanisms. ment through working with marginal groups. Abortion rates can be lowered through use of onitoring of the maternal health situa- appropriate family planning methods, which Mtion in Russia could be carried out in a is achieved by improvement of knowledge less direct but more useful way by measur- and access. More in-depth and qualitative ing the number of abortions, rates of some research is needed to improve understand- sexually transmitted infections (although ing of reproductive health issues in Russia, under-recording is a problem), and birth especially among adolescents, and to weight. In particular, there is a need to moni- improve the design of interventions that aim tor the absolute number of abortions or the to address maternal health.

88 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 4.4. WHAT GOALS FOR HEALTH he mortality rate from external causes is DOES RUSSIA NEED AND HOW Tsix times higher in Russia than in the CAN AVOIDABLE ADULT MOR- European Union. At the present time TALITY FROM NON-COMMUNICA- injuries kill more people in Russia than can- BLE DISEASES BE PREVENTED? cers. Mortality from major groups of external deaths: suicides, homicides and road nder-five and maternal mortality are vehicle accidents in Russia are around 3.5, Uimportant indicator, but it only accounts for an insignificant share of the Life expectancy of Russian men at the age disease burden in Russia. Reaching or of 30 showed no change throughout the approaching the target levels for these indi- 20th century, remaining at about 33-34 cators by 2015 in a country with a transition years, despite the celebrated achieve- economy is an important indicator of eco- ments of modern medicine. nomic, social and healthcare development rather than a goal in itself. Other, much 30 and 2 times higher than in the European more important, Russian health problems Union. But preventable cancer deaths need to be addressed alongside reduction should not be disregarded, particularly lung of under-five and maternal mortality. and cervical cancer. Nearly all cases of lung Moreover, under-five and maternal mortali- cancer are caused by smoking and could be ty is already relatively low in Russia com- prevented through anti-tobacco interven- pared with developing countries, so the tions, which would also have major impact level of change called for in the targets on the burden of many other cancers and might be over-ambitious for Russia. most importantly diseases of the circulatory system. Cervical cancer death rates are ife expectancy, especially of males, is very nearly 3 times higher than in the European Llow in Russia and offers a comprehensive Union and could be very effectively health indicator, particularly since research addressed via a screening system and early shows that the non-fatal health burden among treatment of pre-cancers. males is relatively low at the moment.36 The well-known calculation by World Bank experts Figure 4.8. Change in life expectancy of showed that child mortality among boys in Russian men and women at birth and at India is compensated by high adult mortality 30 years of age in 1900–2000. 80 rates in Russia leading to very similar male life 70 expectancy of about 59 years in both countries. High mortality among Russian men of 60 working-age from non-communicable dis- 50 eases, mainly cardiovascular disorders and 40 external causes, is particularly worrying. Life 30 expectancy of Russian men at the age of 30

Life expectancy 20 showed no change throughout the 20th centu- 10 ry, remaining at about 33-34 years, despite the 0 celebrated achievements of modern medicine 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Years (Figure 4.8). Cardiovascular disease is still the At birth, men At 30 years, men At birth, women At 30 years, women main killer, despite existing preventive tech- Source: Centre of Human Demography and Environment, Institute of National Economy nologies. Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences

89 Chapter 4

The limited number of deaths that could sense is somewhat limited. If efficiency of be averted by achieving MDG 4 and 5, Russian health-care outcomes was raised to its related to under-five and maternal mortali- level in the UK, life expectancy for men would ty, suggests that the focus in Russia’s case only improve by about 1.7 years and for should instead be on preventing prema- women by about 1.5 years.40 By comparison, ture adult mortality. tobacco smoking alone causes about 10 years reduction of life among smokers41 and, accord- s they are forced out of western markets, ing to rough estimates, current rates of smok- Atobacco companies are aggressively ing42,43 cause over 6 years decline in life attacking less developed countries with nega- expectancy among males and 3 years in tive impact on life expectancy and the burden women. The role of other desirable and achiev- of major diseases. Reduction of mortality rates able behavioral factors, such as physical activi- from lung cancer due to low smoking rates in ty, moderation of alcohol consumption, safer the cohort of people who grew up after World sex, safer driving and better nutrition can hard- War II is distracting Russian Government ly be overemphasized, but their effects are attention from this problem.37 The mortality harder to quantify accurately within the scope rate from breast cancer is quite favorable com- of this chapter. It is important that such behav- pared with Western Europe, but it is likely to ioral factors can be modified relatively easily by deteriorate in coming years due to the trend such measures as raising alcohol and cigarette towards postponement of first child-bearing, taxes to increase prices for these life-threaten- which is a risk factor for breast cancer. ing products, tightening and better enforce- Economic efficiency of screening is limited. ment of anti-tobacco legislation and of limita- Overall, this issue needs more detailed exami- tions on sale and consumption of alcohol, as nation and design of definite guidelines. well as traffic and work-related safety regulations. But all these highly effective interven- mprovement in overall health in Russia can tions require political decisions, which might Ibe best achieved through public health be unpopular and provoke opposition in some interventions. The heath service as such can sectors of society. Greater efforts of all stake- also have an input to life expectancy improve- holders are needed to help healthy lifestyles ment, but to a lesser extent.38 For instance, become a priority. Introduction of general prac- treatment of strokes is problematic, whereas titioners and restructuring of the healthcare prevention is relatively simple and effective.39 system are also important components in deal- Strokes kill 20% of Russians and mortality due ing with chronic concomitant conditions and to strokes is 4-6 times higher than the average promoting healthier life styles, but the most European level, which is convincing evidence important measure, which is needed to of the failure of hypertension control pro- improve healthcare, is a change in the incentive grams and failure to promote healthy life structure of the system to ensure that it priori- style. Deaths due to external causes can also tizes people’s health. (Appendix 4.1. Table). be largely prevented, particularly deaths from motor vehicle accidents, which are already twice higher than in the European Union, 4.5. CONCLUSIONS AND despite lower rates of cars to population. RECOMMENDATIONS

he scope for improvement of life expectan- he limited number of deaths that could be Tcy through medical care in the narrow Taverted by achieving MDG 4 and 5, relat-

90 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ed to under-five and maternal mortality, sug- appropriate measures of progress in improv- gests that the focus in Russia’s case should ing health. In addition measures of health- instead be on preventing premature adult related behavior, particularly alcohol abuse mortality. There is room for improvement in and smoking, are crucial. the health status of women and children in Russia, but maternal and child mortality are resident Vladimir Putin said in his already relatively low, and solving the prob- Paddress to Russia’s Parliament:44 “..As lem of adult mortality would have much more regards modernization of healthcare. We impact on life expectancy at birth in Russia have been talking about this for several and in other transition countries: the average years, but changes have been slow and gain for all transition countries would be 7.75 haven’t led to any significant outcomes yet. years, and it would be 10.09 years in the Russia is now lagging behind many coun- Russian Federation. By contrast, achievement tries in terms of the most important health of the MDG targets for under-five and mater- indicators. For instance, life expectancy is nal mortality would give average gains of less 12 years lower than in the USA, 8 years than one year for both genders and only half lower than in Poland, and 5 years lower a week for females. Reducing under-five and than in China. The primary reason for that is maternal mortality to UK levels would result high mortality among the population of in a gain of about one year, while reaching the working age. Child mortality, although best Russian regional values for these indica- declining, is still one and a half or two times tors across the whole country would offer an higher than in developed countries.” average gain of about five months.36 here is understanding in the Russian lead- he MDGs are important because they Tership of the importance of health issues Tdrive the choice of policies supported by and the urgency of taking measures. Some of the international community. However, it is these measures are bound to be unpopular important to place greater emphasis on adult and their efficient implementation will depend mortality in Russia. The choice of goals at a on the resources, which are made available, global level is largely determined by what as well as on obtaining a social consensus. data are available. The absence, in many Society and all levels of Government in Russia developing countries, of data on adult mor- will need to make a major effort on many tality thus precludes the use of life expectan- fronts to ensure that healthy lifestyles become cy at birth as a global measure. In Russia and a priority, and that efficient and high-quality other transitional countries where more data healthcare is mobilized to overcome the prob- exist, specific measures of adult mortality lems of avoidable mortality, which is posing a such as deaths from cardiovascular disease, serious threat to development and preserva- stroke and external causes are the most tion of human capital in Russia.

91 Chapter 4

1 Government of the Russian Federation, Kontseptsia demographicheskogo razvitia na period do 2015 goda. 24.09.2001 2 Plavinski SL, Plavinskaya SI, Klimov AN. Social factors and increase in mortality in Russia in the 1990s: prospective cohort study. BMJ. 2003 Jun 7;326(7401):1240-2. 3 Notzon FC, Komarov YM, Ermakov SP, Sempos CT, Marks JS, Sempos EV. Causes of declining life expectancy in Russia. JAMA. 1998 Mar 11;279(10):793-800. 4 Shkolnikov V, McKee M, Leon DA. Changes in life expectancy in Russia in the mid-1990s. Lancet. 2001 Mar 24;357(9260):917-21. 5 Zakharov S.V., Reproduktsia v Rossii. Pervyi i vtoroy demographicheskiy perekhod. http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/knigi/konfer/kon- fer_08.html 6 Kemp A, Sibert J. Childhood accidents: epidemiology, trends, and prevention. J Accid Emerg Med. 1997 Sep;14(5):316-20. 7 Etard JF et al. Childhood mortality and probable causes of death using verbal autopsy in Niakhar, Senegal, 1989-2000. Int J Epidemiol. 2004 Dec;33(6):1286-92. 8 Globalis indicators - 2002. http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator.cfm?IndicatorID=26&country=RU#rowRU 9 Shapiro S, et al. Relevance of correlates of infant deaths for significant morbidity at 1 year of age. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1980; 136: 363-73. 10 Goskomstat, “Zdravookhranenie Rossii”. Moscow, 2001. 11 National Library of Medicine premier bibliographic database covering more than 4,800 biomedical journals published in the United States and 70 other countries in most biomedical fields, contains over 12 million citations dating back to the mid-1960s 12 Andreev EM, Kvasha EA. Kharakteristika pokazatelya mladencheskoj smertnosti v Rossii // Problemy sotsial’noy gigieny i istorii meditsyny. 2002 (4). pp. 15-20. 13 Wuhib T. et al. Underestimation of infant mortality rates in one republic of the former Soviet Union. Pediatrics. 2003 May;111:596-600. 14 Danishevski K, Balabanova D, McKee M, Nolte E, Schwalbe N, Vasilieva N. Inequalities in birth outcomes in Russia: evidence from Tula oblast. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2005 Sep;19(5):352-9. 15 McKee M, Oreskovic S. Childhood injury: call for action. Croat Med J. 2002 Aug;43(4):375-8 16 Departament zdravookhraneniya Tuly. Statisticheskiy ezhegodnik. 2003. 17 European observatory on health societies in transition. Child health during the transition. Report. 1999. 18 Rechel B, Shapo L and McKee M. Appropriate health-related Millennium Development Goals for the Europe and Central Asia Region: Potential Impacts and Policy Implications 19 Lock K, Andreev EM, Shkolnikov VM, McKee M. What targets for international development policies are appropriate for improving health in Russia? Health Policy Plan. 2002 Sep;17(3):257-63. 20 Enkin M, Keirse M, Renfrew M, Neilson J. 2000. A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy & Childbirth, third edition. UK. Oxford University Press.2000 21 Filippi V, Brugha R, Browne E, Gohou V, Bacci A, De Brouwere V, Sahel A, Goufodji S, Alihonou E, Ronsmans C. Obstetric audit in resource- poor settings: lessons from a multi-country project auditing 'near miss' obstetrical emergencies. Health Policy Plan. 2004 Jan;19(1):57-66. 22 Turner LA et al. Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Study Group of the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System. Under-reporting of maternal mortality in Canada: a question of definition. Chronic Dis Can. 2002;23(1):22-30. 23 Sanogo D. Maternal mortality: the demographic aspects. Vie Sante. 1989 Oct;(1):7-8. 24 Buor D, Bream K. An analysis of the determinants of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2004 Oct;13(8):926-38 25 Kruger AM, Bhagwanjee S. HIV/AIDS: impact on maternal mortality at the Johannesburg Hospital, South Africa, 1995-2001. Int J Obstet Anesth. 2003 Jul;12(3):164-8. 26 Zhirova IA, Frolova OG, Astakhova TM, Ketting E. Abortion-related maternal mortality in the Russian Federation. Stud Fam Plann. 2004 Sep;35(3):178-88 27 Bartlett LA, Berg CJ, Shulman HB, Zane SB, Green CA, Whitehead S, Atrash HK. Risk factors for legal induced abortion-related mortality in the United States. Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Apr;103(4):729-37. 28 Rivkin-Fish M. "Change yourself and the whole world will become kinder": Russian activists for reproductive health and the limits of claims making for women. Med Anthropol Q. 2004 Sep;18(3):281-304. 29 Oxfam. Access to health care in the Caucasus. Situation analysis. Unpublished field material. 2001 30 David PH, Bodrova V, Avdeev A, Troitskaia I, Boulay M. Women and Infant Health Project Household Survey 2000. Report of Main Findings – WIN project. USAID/Russia and John Snow Inc. (JSI), December 2000. 31 Vannappagari, V. "Monitoring Sexual Behavior in the Russian Federation: The Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey 2001-2003." Report submitted to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. April 2004. 32 McIlwaine J. Identification, review and synthesis of literature on maternal health in Russia and the former socialist republics. Final report, DFID/JSI project, June 2001 33 David PH. Women and Infant Health Project Facility Survey 2000. Report of Main Findings – WIN project. USAID/Russia and John Snow Inc. (JSI), January 2001. 34 Bodrova V, Shakarishvilli A, Goldberg H, Storey D. 1996 Russian women’s reproductive health survey: a study of three sites. Final Report. All-Russian Centre for Public Opinion and Market Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USAID, Moscow: 1998 35 http://www.safemotherhood.org 36 Andreev EM, McKee M, Shkolnikov VM. Health expectancy in the Russian Federation: a new perspective on the health divide in Europe. Bull World Health Organ. 2003;81(11):778-87. Epub 2004 Jan 20. 37 Shkolnikov V, McKee M, Leon D, Chenet L. Why is the death rate from lung cancer falling in the Russian Federation? Eur J Epidemiol. 1999 Mar;15(3):203-6. 38 CDC. Ten Great Public Health Achievements - United States, MMWR. 1900-1999. 1999;48(12);241- 243 39 Cushman WC. The burden of uncontrolled hypertension: morbidity and mortality associated with disease progression. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2003 May-Jun;5(3 Suppl 2):14-22. 40 Andreev EM, Nolte E, Shkolnikov VM, Varavikova E, McKee M. The evolving pattern of avoidable mortality in Russia. Int J Epidemiol. 2003 Jun;32(3):437-46. 41 Doll R, Peto R, Boreham J, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors. BMJ. 2004 Jun 26;328(7455):1519. 42 McKee M, Bobak M, Rose R, Shkolnikov V, Chenet L, Leon D. Patterns of smoking in Russia. Tob Control. 1998 Spring;7(1):22-6. 43 Gilmore A, Pomerleau J, McKee M, Rose R, Haerpfer CW, Rotman D, Tumanov S. Prevalence of smoking in 8 countries of the former Soviet Union: results from living conditions, lifestyles and health study. Am J Public Health. 2004 Dec;94(12):2177-87. 44 President Vladimir Putin’s address to the Upper House of the Parliament of the Russian Federation, May 24, 2004, Moscow, Kremlin 45 http://www.who.dk/hfadb

92 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 4.1 MDG+ for health and MDG 4 and 5. Reduce and under-five maternal Indicators mortality. recom- Table. Table. mended for Russia

93 Chapter 5 Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

DG 6 is aimed at reducing the burden plete registration of HIV-infection),3 while oth- Mof such communicable diseases as ers claim that the Russian HIV/AIDS epidemic HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, which has stabilized and is developing in accordance cause the biggest demographic losses with an optimistic scenario.4,5 In the opinion of worldwide and exert an extremely negative some specialists,6 the reduction in numbers of effect on human capital and the economy in new registered cases is only temporary and many countries. should be attributed mainly to the fact that the HIV/AIDS epidemics is moving to its second nnually, about 2 million of people in the phase, characterized by transmission of HIV Aworld die of tuberculosis. Every year 300 from isolated social groups to the general million people develop attacks of malaria and population. This opinion is indirectly support- approximately 1 million die of it, mainly chil- ed by the fact that the absolute number of new dren. Although just 25 years have passed since HIV cases recorded in 2004 almost reached the first diagnosis of HIV-infection, more than the level of the previous year. 20 million people have died of the infection to date and about 40 million are HIV-infected.1 y May 2005, the total number of officially Bregistered cases of HIV/AIDS in Russia exceeded 313,000 people,7 but the actual num- 5.1. ANALYSIS OF THE ber of infections seems to be much higher. SITUATION IN RUSSIA According to UNAIDS data, about 860,000 people are currently living with HIV/AIDS in 5.1.1. HIV/AIDS Russia, and the range of experts’ assessments is between 420,000 and 1,400,000 people1. he first case of HIV-infection was diag- Tnosed in Russia as long ago as 1985, but IV/AIDS has been recorded in all admin- the epidemiologic situation deteriorated sig- Histrative regions (so-called subjects of nificantly in 1996, when a number of Russian the Russian Federation). However, there is a regions reported serious HIV outbreaks big difference in prevalence of the infection among injection drug addicts (Figure 5.1). between Russia’s territories. It is particularly worrying that about 70% of all cases are con- umbers of registered new HIV cases centrated in ten highly developed regions, Ngrew rapidly up to 2001, but the rate of and the majority of the HIV-infected are growth slowed down in the subsequent three young people of working age (Table 5.1). years. Interpretation of these trends varies significantly. Some specialists simply reject the ver the last 10 years HIV in Russia has apparent decline of incidence (alleging incom- Ospread mainly among IDUs (injection

94 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 drug users). Infection has also been particu- Figure 5.1. Officially recorded cases of 2 larly prevalent among sex workers, prison- HIV-infection in Russia ers, and men having sex with men. There is 350000 no clear indication as yet of large-scale 300000 spread of HIV/AIDS among the general popu- 250000 lation. However, HIV-infection is starting to 200000 spread more intensively heterosexually, 150000 especially via the so-called bridge population New cases 100000 groups. These can include sexual partners of All cases 50000 drug users, females having sex with bisexual 0 males, and clients of sex workers.8 If in 2000 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 only 3% of new registered HIV cases via 1987-1993 established paths of infection were due to lence is more than 5% in at least one popula- heterosexual transmission, in 2004 the het- tion group (IDUs in the Russian case), but is erosexual share of such cases increased to still less than 1% among urban pregnant 25%. Sexual HIV transmission resulted in women. However, different territories are in change of gender proportions among different phases of the epidemic: in some Russian PLWHA (people living with regions the epidemic is in the nascent stage, HIV/AIDS): in 2001 only 20% of HIV-cases in most regions it is concentrated, and in were recorded among women, in 2004 this some areas the HIV epidemic is approaching figure reached 38% and in some areas the generalized stage. exceeded 50%.7 High potential for further spread of the epidemic is confirmed by n the absence of adequate treatment, HIV- numerous sociological studies which show Iinfection progresses and passes into its insufficient public awareness of the HIV/AIDS final stage, AIDS, with a lethal outcome on issue and reveal that risky behaviour is wide- average 12 years after the onset of infection. spread both among the general popula- Current therapy with antiretroviral (ARV) tion9,10,11 and vulnerable groups.12,13 The trend drugs, though not capable of curing the infec- towards spread of the epidemic to the wider tion, prevents development of its major man- population is confirmed by a growing num- ifestations, so that people living with ber of HIV-infected pregnant women. HIV HIV/AIDS can work and lead an almost nor- prevalence among pregnant women in Russia by the end of 2004 reached 0.3% on Table. 5.1. Regions with highest preva- average, with up to 0.8%4 in the most affect- lence of HIV-infection (by the end of 3 ed regions. The trend is also reflected in 2004) growing numbers of babies born to HIV-positive mothers. According to various experts,4,14 by the end of 2004 the number of such children was around 12-14,000, of whom 15-20% were HIV-infected and 10% were left by parents in state care.

ccording to the classification of UNAIDS Aand WHO, Russia is now in the phase of concentrated epidemic, i.e. when HIV preva-

95 Chapter 5

mal, socially active life. Estimates of the num- ARV treatment is essential from a human ber of HIV-infected people, who have died in rights viewpoint, but ARV treatment also Russia in the last 10 years vary from 12004 to has many other positive aspects for control over 60002. When interpreting these mortality of HIV/AIDS epidemics. The availability of data we should take into account that HIV- free access to treatment increases the incen- infection only started to spread rapidly in tive for people to be tested for HIV, which Russia in the second half of the 1990s and enables medical institutions to provide HIV therefore the full picture of demographic loss- prevention, like counselling and behaviour- es and other consequences of HIV/AIDS for al interventions among vulnerable popula- the country is not yet clear. tion groups. In addition, ARV drugs significantly reduce concentration of the virus in stimates of the number of people in the blood and other biological fluids, ERussia in need of ARV treatment also strongly reducing the chances of it being vary. According to data of the HIV/AIDS transmitted to other people. ARV treatment Prevention Department of the Federal during pregnancy and labor sharply reduces Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights the risk of transmitting HIV from mother to Protection and Human Welfare not more child, leading to birth of healthy babies in than 20 thousand PLWHA had indications most cases. for HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) by May 2005. But a number of he majority of HIV-infected Russians are national and international experts believe Tyoung people with low income, mostly that as many as 50,000 Russians need ARV with experience of drug injecting. Many of treatment. At present approximately 3,000 them do not have adequate access to med- patients actually receive such treatment,2,4 ical services including ARV treatment, nor i.e. only about 10% of infected people in are they aware of their rights and obliga- need of therapy have access to it in Russia. tions with respect to HIV infection. They The main obstacle to expansion of ARV face a generally prejudiced attitude in socie- treatment programs is the high cost of ARV ty towards issues connected with HIV/AIDS, drugs. The current price of ARV drugs in mainly due to widespread lack of knowledge Russia is one of the highest in the world at about HIV/AIDS, fear of the disease and mis- between USD 4,000 and USD 10,000 per information. As a result, HIV-infected people patient annually. Free access of PLWHA to very often find themselves isolated and forced into marginal strata of society. Many Figure 5.2. Syphilis incidence in Russia per experts are worried that negative attitudes 16 100,000 of population (1991-2003) towards people living with HIV/AIDS, some-

300 times observed even among medical personnel, may lead to discrimination in access 250 to life-saving treatment – this is especially 200 true for those patients who became infected by using drugs and who represent the 150 majority of people living with HIV/AIDS in 100 Russia. Another potential obstacle for

50 expansion of ARV therapy in Russia is legal restrictions on use of substitution therapy, 0 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 which, by reducing intake of illegal opioids

96 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 and normalizing the life of drug-dependant Figure 5.3. Hepatitis B incidence in Russia 16 patients, helps to keep them in treatment per 100,000 of population (1991-2003)

15 programs. 50

40 5.1.2. OTHER MAJOR DISEASES 35 30

25 IV/AIDS is not the only disease that 20 poses a serious threat in Russia. Since H 15 the break-up of the USSR Russia has experi- 10 enced a number of parallel epidemics. The 5 early 1990s saw the beginning of an epidem- 0 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 ic of sexually transmitted infections (STI) which has no analogy among industrialized among drug users; on the other hand, it may countries at the end of the 20th century. be the result of a wider coverage by the spe- Syphilis incidence, which was most clearly cific vaccination. documented, increased 60 times within 6 years and peaked in 1997 (Figure 5.2). teady decline in the incidence of tubercu- Slosis, observed in Russia since World lthough the number of registered cases War II, also stopped at the beginning of the Ahas been steadily declining, the present 1990s. Incidence of tuberculosis and death incidence of STI is still more than 10 times from the disease more than doubled over 10 higher than in the EU or in the former Soviet years (Figure 5.4). Union. On the one hand such high STI rates demonstrate that young Russians actively any specialists18,19 attribute this dra- practice unprotected sex, and on the other Mmatic development to the combina- hand any STI increases the risk of HIV trans- tion of several factors: (1) economic instabil- mission. ity following the break-up of the Soviet Union; (2) worsening living conditions of a here has also been a sharp increase in large part of the population; (3) inability to Tconsumption of illegal psychoactive maintain medical infrastructure; (4) collapse substances in Russia since the beginning of the 1990s. The number of injection-drug Figure 5.4. Tuberculosis incidence and death users (IDU) in Russia is now estimated at 2 rates in Russia per 100,000 of population 16 to 4 million people12,17 or 1.5-3% of the coun- (1991-2003) try’s population. This rise in drug use has 100 resulted in increase of viral hepatitis Ç and 90 80 ë transmission (Figure 5.3), which currently 70 represent the most common co-infections 60 seen among Russian people living with 50

HIV/AIDS. 40

30 ecrease in the incidence of viral hepatitis 20 DB since 1999 can probably be attributed 10 0 to the effect of epidemiologic saturation 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

97 Chapter 5

of the former system for providing people Russia during the last decade has varied with medicines; and (5) a sharp rise in the from 0.23 to 0.74 per 100,000 population16, number of prisoners and overcrowding of which corresponds to only a few hundred penitentiary institutions, which traditionally cases per year. played a significant role in the epidemiology of tuberculosis in Russia. 5.2. COMBATING HIV/AIDS AND lthough there has been stabilization OTHER MAJOR INFECTIOUS Aand even some decrease in TB regis- DISEASES IN RUSSIA tration rates in the last three years, the Russian Federation now has the highest 5.2.1. ANALYSIS OF CURRENT tuberculosis mortality in Europe and is ACTIONS among the 22 countries of the world most affected by TB. It is particularly important 5.2.1.1. HIV/AIDS to note rapid spread of forms of the disease that are resistant to conventional drugs: ver the last few years the Russian such forms are now 9-10% of all tuberculo- OGovernment has become increasingly sis cases and up to 20% in prisons. Because concerned about HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis of this, tuberculosis is now transforming problems. It is showing more willingness to from a definitely curable disease into an ill- assume international obligations to control ness requiring expensive treatment and fre- the epidemics. The Russian Federation has quently having a lethal outcome. promised to donate USD 20 million for needs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, uberculosis is the main cause of death Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Russia is play- Tfrom infectious diseases in Russia. Like ing a leading role in discussion of HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS, it affects people in the prime of problems with other members of the their working age, mostly males. In the con- Commonwealth of Independent States. text of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is important Nevertheless, it should be noted that strategy that tuberculosis is the major cause of death documents prepared by the Russian of persons living with HIV/AIDS20. Until Government do not fully take into account the recently, these two epidemics had developed importance of combating HIV/AIDS, and top in Russia more or less separately but in the state officials hardly ever mention the last 2 years there has been considerable HIV/AIDS problem in public speeches. increase in the number of HIV and tuberculosis co-infections. According to data of the he Russian Federation has stated its sup- Federal Centre for Anti-Tuberculosis Care of Tport for the Three Ones strategy suggest- Patients with HIV-infection, the number of ed by UNAIDS. However, the HIV/AIDS prob- patients with TB/HIV co-infection exceeded lem is currently within the areas of responsi- 7600 by the end of 2004. bility of at least four different structures at the federal level, including the Ministry of Health alaria, whose control is given very and Social Security, the Federal Service for Mclose attention in MDG 6, does occur Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection in Russia in some endemic regions (e.g. and Human Welfare, the Federal Service for Volgograd region) and in the form of import- Supervision of Healthcare and Social ed cases. However, malaria incidence in Development Issues, and the Federal Agency

98 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 for Healthcare and Social Development. The problems with practical application of this presence of several coordinating bodies (the Law in Russia. A number of regions signifi- Coordination Council on HIV/AIDS of the cantly extend the list of persons liable to com- Ministry of Health and Social Development; pulsory testing for HIV-infection, in violation the National Coordination Council on AIDS, of the Law, and people living with HIV/AIDS the Coordination Council on Prevention of very often have great difficulty exercising Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV; etc.) their right to free qualified medical care, demonstrate the lack of a common approach which is guaranteed by the federal Law. The to effective control of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. most frequent reason for denial of care is insufficient financing from federal or regional nother important point is that the budgets, but discrimination is not uncommon Aamount of money allocated by the feder- against patients who, in the opinion of some al budget to combat AIDS (350 million rubles medical personnel, do not deserve or are or about USD 12 million in 2004) is complete- unfit for ARV treatment due to drug addiction ly inadequate given the scale of the Russian or other forms of socially unacceptable epidemic. During the last 2-3 years there has behaviour. There are also cases when PLWHA been a clear tendency to transfer spending are denied employment or are fired if an responsibility for HIV/AIDS to regional budg- employer discovers their HIV status. HIV-pos- ets, although only a few prosperous regions itive children may be discriminated at pre- can afford such expenditure: most territories school institutions or schools. Children born do not have the necessary resources, espe- to HIV-infected mothers and abandoned by cially to buy ARV drugs for a rapidly growing their parents offer special cause for concern. number of PLWHA. The resources being pro- They are often kept in infectious disease hos- vided for preventive measures like public HIV pitals for years due to legal irregularities. In awareness campaigns, targeted prevention the absence of teachers, psychologists and programmes for vulnerable groups with high other professionals in these institutions, even risk of infection, etc., are also very meagre.7 HIV-negative children develop mental and emotional retardation due to lack of neces- he legal base for combating HIV/AIDS in sary stimuli. TRussia is the Federal Law “On Prevention of the Spread of the Disease Caused by the ivil society plays an enormous role in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-infec- Ccombating HIV/AIDS in Russia. Most non- tion)”, which came into force in 1995, and governmental organizations (NGOs) working whose prescribed measures are being imple- on HIV/AIDS focus their activities on HIV pre- mented through the Federal Anti-HIV/AIDS vention among high risk groups that tradi- Program, which is part of the Federal Target tional medical institutions find difficult to con- Program for 2002-2006 on Prevention of tact, and on protecting human rights of Social Diseases. The Law outlines a wide PLWHA. Partnership between NGOs, govern- range of state guarantees on epidemic con- ment organizations and UN agencies is trol and declares the rights of people living increasing year by year, both in joint projects with HIV/AIDS. Most experts believe that pro- and through participation in work of the visions of the Law do not contradict interna- Coordinating Council on HIV/AIDS of the tional legal requirements and conform to rec- Ministry of Health and Social Development, ommendations developed on the intergov- and the Country Coordination Council on ernmental level.21 However, there are serious AIDS. However, NGOs, especially in the

99 Chapter 5

provinces, often face serious difficulties and anti-tuberculosis institutions. Another tradi- even hostility from government health insti- tionally difficult problem is insufficient co- tutions. Almost all NGOs are constantly short operation between penitentiary and civilian of financing because charity mechanisms are medical services, leading to interruption of not yet developed in Russian society, and therapy and reducing the effectiveness of there is insufficient government support for tuberculosis treatment. An increasing propor- their work. tion of TB cases with multiple drug resistance indicate that the current health system is unable to cure a considerable number of 5.2.1.2. TUBERCULOSIS tuberculosis cases. Practical implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment Short n order to build up capacity of TB services Course (DOTS), recommended by WHO, Iand upgrade tuberculosis control the remains a difficult task even in its Russian Russian Government has adopted a Federal version, especially in remote regions. Target Program "Urgent Measures for Apparent lack of qualified personnel and Tuberculosis Control in Russia in 1998-2004", inadequate following of recommendations which was reworked in 2001 and extended to can jeopardize results that have already been 2006. In 2001, the President signed the Law achieved to date. All this is aggravated by the “On Prevention of the Spread of Tuberculosis fact that observed convergence of HIV and TB in the Russian Federation,” and the epidemics and the rise in numbers of people Government subsequently approved Decree living with AIDS, expected in the near future, No. 892 on implementation of this Law. may deteriorate the tuberculosis situation. Cooperation between the Ministry of Health, WHO and major international donors has ince the late 1990s several international being organized through the High-Level SHIV/AIDS and tuberculosis control proj- Working Group on Tuberculosis. ects have been implemented in Russia with Establishment of this Group in 1999 was the financial support of different UN agen- instrumental in starting a constructive dia- cies, USAID, DFID (UK), CIDA (Canada), logue between Russian and international TACIS, Open Society Institute, and other experts. There has been major progress in donors. In 2003, in the framework of the revision of existing national methods of World Bank loan, a major five-year project tuberculosis control and improving their con- was launched for fighting tuberculosis (with formity with international standards, as about USD 100 million financing) and AIDS reflected in the Orders by the Russian (USD 50 million financing). In 2004 two pro- Ministry of Health No. 109 “On Improvement grams started in Russia with financial sup- of Anti-tuberculosis Measures in the Russian port from GFATM: a large-scale GLOBUS Federation”, and No. 50 “On Introduction of project aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention and Recording and Reporting Documentation for treatment in 10 regions of the Russian TB Monitoring”. However, these positive Federation (about USD 89 million for five results are not sufficient to effectively control years) and a regional TB control project in tuberculosis in Russia. According to WHO,22 the Tomsk region (about USD 10 million for long-term hospital treatment of tuberculosis five years). It is expected that another five- patients is still common in Russia, which year project will be supported by the Global leads to unjustified diversion of limited Fund in 2005, this time for implementation resources to support a huge infrastructure of of treatment programs: USD 120 million for

100 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 HIV/AIDS and USD 90 million for tuberculo- Box 5.1. Russia’s efforts to achieve Goal 6 of the UN Millennium Development Goals: “To have halted by 2015, and begun to reverse, the sis. These programs, however, do not cover spread of HIV/AIDS” The Russian Federation has recently devoted considerable efforts to fight- all Russian needs and are limited in terms of ing the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The Government has set up the Coordination duration: when international projects come Council on HIV/AIDS issues (within the Ministry of Health and Social Development). The Council’s members are representatives of nine federal to an end, Russia will have to rely on its own ministries and agencies, nine NGOs, medical practitioners from regions, resources to combat HIV/AIDS and tubercu- and people living with HIV/AIDS. Financing of HIV/AIDS preventive control in Government budgets at all losis. There is therefore an urgent need to levels has substantially increased. The Federal Anti-HIV/AIDS Program is build up the country’s potential and to now being implemented, and funding of preventive activities has substantially increased: federal and regional budgets allotted 2 billion rubles (USD increase government allocations for long- 70 million) for such activities in 2004 alone. It has become easier for HIV-infected people to obtain access to proper term implementation of sustainable public treatment: antiretroviral drugs are becoming cheaper, health services for health measures, which are independent of this category of patients have improved, and medical personnel and social workers have become much better informed about HIV/AIDS issues. donor aid. More than 200 Russian non-governmental organizations work with Government organizations and UN agencies in different activities aimed at HIV prevention among different population groups. Five leading NGOs formed a consortium to fight HIV/AIDS in Russia and applied for funding to 5.2.2. ADAPTATION OF TARGETS the Global Fund. The program obtained support and is now being implemented in 10 regions of the Russian Federation. This demonstrates a high AND INDICATORS OF GOAL 6 TO professional level of NGOs and positive trends in development of civil soci- RUSSIAN CONDITIONS ety as a whole. The Russian Federation has supported application of the “Three Ones” principles at the national level. These principles, suggested by UNAIDS, include (1) a single national strategy to control the epidemic, (2) a single he application of MDG philosophy in the national coordinating center, and (3) a single system of monitoring and per- Tfight against HIV/AIDS and other major formance measurement to control HIV/AIDS. Along with increase of activities against HIV-infection in the country, infectious diseases could contribute to Russia is also taking an active part in international anti-HIV/AIDS efforts. strengthening of health in Russia and rise of Russia endorsed the idea of establishing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and promised to assign USD 20 million (USD 10 Russia’s Human Development Index. Target 7 million of which have been already transferred). Russia has brought atten- “To have halted by 2015, and begun to tion of other CIS member states to the problem of HIV/AIDS in their countries and supported adoption of relevant measures in those countries in reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS” fully corre- pursuance of the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS signed in June 2001. The HIV/AIDS problem receives considerable attention as part of sponds to the country’s needs and does not the work of the G8. At the G8 Summit at Sea Island in 2004 Russia and other require any modification. Indicator 18 “HIV G8 member states supported the US initiative on establishment of the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise. Another example of international coop- prevalence among pregnant women aged 15- eration is the partnership formed by Russia, Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, and 24” also seems to be adequate for Russia, Ukraine to exchange technologies on HIV/AIDS matters. Russia has a major scientific potential in this field and is ready to share it with other countries since further impact of the epidemic in Russia to eradicate the epidemic. will depend on extent of the spread of Russia will continue demonstrating its political will to solve problems caused by HIV-infection and applying necessary efforts, both nationally and HIV/AIDS among the general population. This internationally, to achieve Millennium Development Goal 6 aimed at pre- Indicator might require a slight rephrasing vention of HIV/AIDS spread in the world. A.T. Goliusov due to the nature of statistical data, which are recorded in Russia. It would best be “Proportion of population aged 15-24 years rephrased as “Percentage of HIV-positive with the accurate knowledge about pregnant women”. HIV/AIDS” (19b).

t is obvious that long-term trends in devel- he Indicator “Condom use as a share of Iopment of HIV/AIDS epidemics depend on Tcontraceptive prevalence” (19c) can show the level of the population’s awareness and the level of condom use as well as give indi- the prevalence of certain behavior types. The rect information about efficiency of cam- components of Indicator 19 are therefore paigns for safe sex. But the fact that this highly important: “Condom use at last sexual Indicator is determined within the total preva- act with non-regular partner” (19a); and lence of other means of contraception makes

101 Chapter 5

it quite difficult to interpret the data. It is also 23a: Tuberculosis incidence per 100,000 unclear what levels of this Indicator should be population; and considered optimal for the target setting. 23b: Tuberculosis mortality per 100,000 population. ndicator 20 “Ratio of school attendance of Iorphans to school attendance of non- ussian national standards for tuberculo- orphans aged 10-14 years” is extremely Rsis treatment are close but not identical important for developing countries that have to the DOTS strategy recommended by WHO. suffered from severe HIV/AIDS epidemics, Therefore, instead of the regular wording e.g. sub-Saharan Africa. But this Indicator will “Proportion of TB cases detected and cured not be meaningful in Russia because orphan- under DOTS”, for Russia it would be better to hood in Russia is almost not associated with say “Proportion of TB cases detected and HIV/AIDS. Two additional Indicators for Target cured under direct observation”. 7 seem to be much more relevant: (1) “Number of new cases of HIV-infection esides, given the role that STI can play as registered during a year” - this Indicator Ban indicator of high-risk sexual behavior shows overall trends of epidemic develop- and as a predictor for further development of ment; and the Russian HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is reason- (2) “Percentage of people with late stages able to add one more indicator to Target 8, of HIV-infection receiving adequate therapy” - namely: “Syphilis incidence per 100,000 pop- this Indicator reflects one of the most acute ulation” (Appendix 5.1. Table). current problems of the Russian epidemic, which is access to life-saving treatment. 5.3. POSSIBLE SCENARIOS AND iven the structure of infectious disease TARGET PROGRESS INDICATORS Gmorbidity in Russia, Target 8 “To have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the inci- he problem of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and dence of malaria and other major diseases” Tother infectious diseases goes far beyond should be changed for Russia. It could be for- the framework of the health system, threaten- mulated as follows: “To have halted the ing adverse consequences for the demo- spread of tuberculosis and other socially- graphic situation in Russia, development of determined infectious diseases and consider- its human resources, economy and defense ably reduced incidence of these diseases.” potential. As the birth rate in Russia remains Accordingly, Indicators 21 “Prevalence and at a very low level, the coming increase in death rates associated with malaria” and 22 HIV/AIDS mortality and possible intensifica- “Proportion of population in malaria-risk tion of the tuberculosis epidemic combined areas using effective malaria prevention and with HIV infection threatens rapid increase of treatment measures” could be omitted. population losses in the next decade. The main victims of these infections are young ndicator 23 “Prevalence and death rates people who will not be able to work normally Iassociated with tuberculosis” is essential and contribute to national welfare. Future for Russia, but the following slight reformu- aggravation of negative mortality trends may lation would help to take account of the have a negative effect on size and composi- nature of health statistics, which are collect- tion of the labor force and considerably speed ed in Russia: up the process of depopulation in Russia.

102 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Growing numbers of people in need of long- imitations of existing forecasts are not a term therapy will require increase in Lpurely Russian phenomenon and are due resources that could otherwise be invested in to the fact that spread of HIV/AIDS is largely the country’s economic development. There dependent on hidden forms of behaviour, will be a loss of productive potential as fami- which cannot be studied directly. In addition, ly, friends and others are diverted from vari- there are major variations in expert assess- ous activities to take care of HIV-infected peo- ments of the size of major risk groups as well ple. In the long term there is a threat of over- as the total number of PLWHA in Russia. As a all reduction of activity at the macroeconom- result, scenarios and forecasts tend to be ic level, causing reduction of output competi- based on a large number of assumptions, tiveness and export potential.23 considerably reducing their validity.26 Dynamism of the epidemiological process, opulation shrinkage and general health and spread of the disease to new social Pdeterioration among conscripts have groups also result in low predictability. The been causing problems with call-up to the rate and scale of the world HIV/AIDS epidem- Russian Armed Forces for quite a while. ic in the 1990s considerably exceeded all Continuing spread of HIV/AIDS among young export forecasts at the beginning of the people may further reduce supply of con- decade. scripts and have negative impact on the country’s defense capacity. ccording to the prognosis of Vadim V. APokrovsky, Head of the Federal AIDS he number of people in Russia with Centre6, the number of PLWHA in Russia by THIV/AIDS will inevitably grow in coming 2015, assuming realization of the best-case years even if effective preventive programs scenario involving large-scale expansion of start today. Forecasts by the World Bank24 and prevention programs, will be 3 million. In the the US National Intelligence Council25 suggest pessimistic scenario, based on active hetero- that the number of HIV-infected Russians may sexual HIV spread among the general popula- reach 9.6 million by 2015, and in the absence tion (supported by high STI incidence rates in of wide access to ARV therapy male life the country), the number of those infected expectancy may reduce by four years. In such will be 5-6 million. Forecast of the HIV/AIDS a case, economic consequences of the epi- mortality rate is more difficult, but it will demic could result in a GDP decrease of 7% by largely depend on the levels of access to ARV 2015. However, the majority of these pes- treatment, which Russia can provide for its simistic scenarios were based of the HIV citizens in years to come. Taking into account trends seen in Russia in 1999-2001. More the time of the start of the HIV epidemic in recent slowdown in spread of the epidemic Russia and the average lifespan of untreated offers hope that the worst expectations of ava- HIV-infected persons (12 years), it is obvious lanche-like development of the epidemic will that without a large-scale expansion of ARV not occur in Russia. Nevertheless, increased treatment programs, Russia will see numer- HIV/AIDS-related mortality will definitely con- ous deaths of people living with HIV/AIDS in tribute to already high population losses in 2008-2010 and as many as 1-1.5 million lives Russia in the near future, and the negative lost by 2015. The majority of PLWHA will die demographic effect will be intensified by the of tuberculosis, aggravating the general epi- fact that HIV/AIDS mostly affects young peo- demiological situation in the country and ple with consequent decline of the birth rate. leading to even bigger population losses.

103 Chapter 5

Joint impact of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis on ehavior indicators are somewhat more the country’s economy will be serious and Bdifficult, because they require data from can put Government targets of eradicating special sociological studies: poverty and doubling GDP into question. – Condom use at last sexual act with non- regular partner” n the light of these scenarios Goal indica- – Proportion of population aged 15-24 years Itors for 2015 for Target 7 “To have halted with the right knowledge about HIV/AIDS” and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS – Condom use rate of the contraceptive infection” should be based on optimistic prevalence rate” (19c) expectations, whose fulfillment will depend on large-scale expansion of prevention and owever, some of these indicators are treatment programs. Significant reduction of Halready regularly assessed as part of high-risk behavior could then stabilize the several major studies.9 In addition, develop- HIV/AIDS epidemic at an endemic level, cor- ment of the national system of monitoring responding to current morbidity levels in the and evaluation as well as introduction of sec- majority of industrialized European countries ond generation epidemiological surveillance (i.e. HIV prevalence among the adult popula- methods should make it possible to effective- tion at a level of about 0.3-0.4%). Goal indica- ly collect all necessary data. tors for Target 8 “To have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and he indicator “Percentage of people with other major diseases” would be morbidity Tlate stages of HIV-infection receiving ade- and mortality rates registered in Russia in the quate therapy” can be calculated on the basis early 1990s (Appendix 5.1. Table). of regional statistics and be verified against the data of pilot studies regularly carried out in the framework of monitoring and evalua- 5.4. MONITORING OF PROGRESS tion of HIV/AIDS control programs. TOWARDS MDG 6

ata collection on the majority of indica- 5.5. CONCLUSIONS AND Dtors for Goal 6 is not difficult, because RECOMMENDATIONS the information can be found either in annual statistical data of the Ministry of Health or be he spread of HIV-infection and its combi- easily calculated on the basis of routine sta- Tnation with epidemics of tuberculosis and tistics. These indicators include: sexually transmitted infections pose a threat – “HIV prevalence among pregnant to Russia’s welfare and security, but timely women” and appropriate measures can considerably – “Number of new HIV cases registered improve the situation. The earlier invest- during a year” ments are made in proper programs, the – “Tuberculosis prevalence per 100,000 higher will be the economic and social gains population” in terms of deaths prevented and healthy – “Tuberculosis mortality rate per 100,000 years of productive life saved. Common prob- population” lems of the governmental programs to con- – “Proportion of tuberculosis cases detect- trol HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and STIs are, on ed and cured under direct observation” the one hand, insufficient financing and, on – “Syphilis incidence per 100,000 population” the other hand, diversion of major funds to

104 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 support existing medical infrastructure, currently the basis of epidemiological surveil- which does not match the new epidemiologi- lance in the country - should be supplement- cal conditions. Effective public health meas- ed by second-generation methods, i.e. by ures that are most appropriate for the current regular HIV/AIDS monitoring among target situation often represent a major challenge to population groups and by behavioral studies. traditional thinking and entrenched financing 6. The health system should learn how to pro- mechanisms, so that obstacles are placed in vide services, which are needed for difficult cat- the way of their introduction to practice. egories of patients with high-risk behavior, whose numbers are expected to rapidly he following recommendations can be increase in the near future. Given the size of the Tmade based on analysis of the situation problem, the required optimization of treatment with HIV/AIDS and other major infectious dis- methods will need to be based on wider use of eases in Russia: out-patient approaches and internationally rec- 1. Russia urgently needs a political commit- ognized, standardized therapy regimens. ment to fight HIV/AIDS that implies recognition 7. Mass awareness campaigns are needed of the problem by the country’s leadership and on HIV prevention among the general popu- continuous implementation of comprehensive lation and to promote tolerance and non- measures against the epidemic. Experience of stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS. other countries strongly suggests that in the 8. Drug use was and is the major cause of absence of far-sighted leadership, control of HIV/AIDS spread in Russia. Experience of other the epidemic will be limited and ineffective. countries proves that prevention measures tar- 2. It is necessary to overcome current lack geting IDUs, including needle exchange proof administrative coordination in dealing with grams and improved access to drug dependen- HIV/AIDS. To achieve this, there is need for a cy treatment, can substantially reduce spread single government body or a joint committee of HIV-infection. Therefore, along with meas- on HIV/AIDS that would be authorized to ures to reduce supply of and demand for nar- develop and supervise implementation of cotics, Russia needs to support harm-reduction anti-HIV/AIDS programs on the federal, programs. Treatment and rehabilitation of drug regional, and municipal levels. addicts also needs to be improved, including 3. Financing of anti-HIV/AIDS and tuberculo- provision of access to substitution therapy. sis measures should be substantially increased 9. International experience shows that to fully cover all expenses required for preven- repressive strategies are ineffective in fight- tion and treatment programs. International ing HIV and provide a very negative impact grants and credits cannot substitute Russian on the legislative climate necessary for Government funding for epidemic control. implementation of modern anti-epidemic 4. A comprehensive strategy to address programs. HIV control in Russia should be HIV/AIDS should be included in Russia’s long- organized in full conformity to international term economic programs. The most effective recommendations as a comprehensive control measures, including ARV therapy, package of medical, economic, and social should be instated as Government policy and measures, with due observance of human secured with strong financial guarantees. rights obligations. 5. HIV/AIDS epidemiological surveillance 10. Considerable reduction of prices for needs to be improved to assure better fore- ARV drugs is absolutely crucial for the imple- casting and efficient decisions to fight the epi- mentation of large-scale sustainable pro- demic. The registration of new HIV cases – grams of HIV/AIDS treatment in Russia. This

105 Chapter 5

can be achieved through a range of meas- contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS by ures, including negotiations with pharmaceu- supporting educational programs that inform tical companies, importing generic drugs, employees on HIV/AIDS prevention measures, national production of ARV medicines, etc. by publicly denouncing stigmatization of 11. It is necessary to expand cooperation PLWHA, and by support of public awareness with NGOs fighting HIV/AIDS, and this should and other prevention campaigns on HIV/AIDS. include development of mechanisms to provide such NGOs with government support, o conclude, successful combating of particularly financial support, which could be THIV/AIDS and other major infectious dis- done by contracting NGOs for provision of eases is only possible through a comprehen- treatment and prevention services. sive approach based on best international 12. People living with HIV/AIDS should be practices in prevention, treatment, care, and actively involved in development and imple- human rights. To succeed Russia will need mentation of programs aimed at fighting the serious reform of its health system, substan- epidemic. tial increase in financing of epidemic control 13. Another financial resource for HIV/AIDS programs, and united efforts by government programs could be partnership between busi- structures, the business sector, NGOs and ness and society. Russian businessmen and people living with HIV/AIDS. None of these trade unions are potentially powerful allies in tasks are easy, but addressing each of them fighting HIV/AIDS, but they are not yet will contribute to national well-being and involved in the process. Business leaders can prosperity.

1. UNAIDS Report on Global AIDS epidemic, 2004 2. Data of the Federal Centre for AIDS 3. “Na poroge epidemii. Neobkhodimost’ neotlozhnikh mer v bor’be so SPIDom v Rossii”. Report of the USA-Russia work group on the fight against HIV/AIDS. TPPS, 2003, p. 38 4. The HIV/AIDs Surveillance Department at the Federal Service of the RF for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare 5. A.P. Seltsovsky, S.V. Poliakov, A.I. Mazus, E.M. Kozhokin, T.S. Gruzenkova, A.Y.Olshansky, E.A. Briun, S.P. Kandaurov: “HIV/AIDS v Rossii: tendentsiyi, problemy, mery protivodeistviya”, Moscow 2004, p. 47 6. V.V. Pokrovsky “VICH infektsiya v Rossii: prognoz.Voprosy virusologii” 2004, ‹3, pp. 31-34 7. Decree of the Head National Sanitary Doctor of the RF ‹16, 25.04.2005 “O dopolnitel’nikh merakh po protivodeistviyu rasprostraneniyu VICH-infektsii v Rossiyskoi Federacii” 8. “HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Reversing the epidemic. Facts and policy options.” UNDP, Bratislava, 2004 9. Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, 2001 10. “Povedeniye naseleniya sviazannoye s riskom VICH-infitsirovaniya (Otchet ob issledovanii i metodicheskiye rekomendatsii)”. L.V. Sultanov, E.R. Demyanenko, S.G. Maximova, Barnaul, 2003 11. N.V. Sokolov, R.V. Diatlov, O.I. Borodkina et al “Riskovannoye seksual’noye povedeniye v studencheskikh obschezhitiyakh S.-Peterburga”. Russian magazine “VICH/SPID i rodstvenniye problemi”, 2001, 5(1), pp. 69-70 12. Rhodes T., Bobrik A., Sarang A., Bobkov E., Platt L. “HIV transmission and HIV prevention associated with injecting drug use in the Russian Federation.” International Journal of Drug Policy 2004; 15: 1-16 13. J. Kelly, Y.A. Amirkhanian, Y.V. Granskaya et al “Faktory riska infektsii i neobkhodimost’ provedeniya preventivnikh programm sredi bisexual’nikh muzhchin S.-Peterburga.” Russian magazine “VICH/SPID i rodstvenniye problemi”, 2005 – T.5 - ‹ 1, . 66-67 14. “Deti rozhdenniye VICH-infitsirovannimi zhenschinami v Rossii i social’noe sirotstvo: analiz situatsii v Rossii”. TPPS, 2004, p. 44 15. Joint standing of WHO, UNODC and UNAIDS. Substitution therapy applied to patients with opioade dependence, practice of HIV-infection and AIDS. 2004, p. 37 16. WHO Health for all database (HFA-DB) Available online: http://www.euro.who.int/hfadb 17. Report of the international committee on control of narcotics, 2004 18. Yerokhin V.V., Punga V.V., Rybka L.N. “Tuberculosis in Russia and the problem of multiple drug resistance.” Ann N Y Acad Sci 2001; 953: 133-137 19. “Review of tuberculosis control programmes in Eastern and Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union.” Harvard Medical School, 2001, 144 20. Pierpaolo de Colombani, Banatvala N., Zaleskis R., Maher D. “Evropeiskaya bazovaya strategiya bremeni TB/HIV.” European bureau of WHO, 2003, p34 21. Federalniy zakon “O preduprezhdeniyi rasprostraneniya v Rossiyskoi Federacii zabolevaniya, vizivaemogo virusom immunodeficita che- loveka (VICH infekcii)”: istorya, soderzhaniye, perspektiv. S.V. Polubiskaya 2004, TPPS, p.12 22. WHO project report “Cost-effective TB control in the Russian Federation”, St. Petersburg, 2002 23. Shombi Sharp. Appendix 1 in the Report “HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Reversing the epidemic. Facts and policy options.” UNDP, Bratislava, 2004 24. Ruhl, C.,V. Pokrovsky, and V.Vinogradov, “The Economic consequences of HIV in Russia”, The World Bank Group in Russia, 2002, available at http://www.worldbank.org.ru/eng/statistics/hiv/default.htm 25. Gordon D. F. “The Next Wave of HIV/AIDS: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, India, and China” National Intelligence Council, September 2002 26. Grassly N., Garnett G. “The future of the HIV pandemic.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization. May 2005, 83 (5), 378-382

106 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 5.1

Table. MDG Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases

107 Chapter 6 Ensuring environmental sustainability

he aim of Goal 7 is to ensure environmen- he World Summit on Sustainable Ttal sustainability for the planet and for indi- TDevelopment (Johannesburg, 2002) vidual countries. Sustainable development has decided to adopt and implement world-wide been a fundamental theme of the UN over the sustainable development strategies, starting last two decades. Major UN forums in Rio de from 2005. Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002) were dedicated to questions of sustainable development and how mankind can achieve it. The 6.1. PROBLEMS OF ENSURING urgency reflects awareness of ecological dan- SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT gers and of an impasse connected with current economic models worldwide. A build-up of here is a growing awareness in the world environmental deformations, some of them Tthat Russia is the main “environmental global, are threatening mankind’s future and donor” on the planet and the main contributor his very existence. Human health and well- to sustainability of the biosphere. The country being are under threat in many countries. In has the largest forested area (over 20% of total order to be sustainable, development must world forest), the largest expanse of virgin land, huge water resources, and unique ecosystems Box 6.1. The Russian Presidential Decree “Concept for Russia’s Transition to and biodiversity. The economic value of servic- Sustainable Development” (1996) Sustainable development is “stable socio-economic development, which es rendered by Russian natural ecosystems to does not destroy its natural basis. Improvement of people’s quality of life prevention of global climate change is estimat- must not exceed limits of the biosphere’s tolerance to economic activities, beyond which there is a risk of damage to natural mechanisms of environ- ed at USD 50-150 billion a year.1 Russia’s natural mental regulation and a threat of global environmental changes”. resource capital also plays a major role in the world economy since the country has 30% of meet the needs of today's generation without world reserves of natural gas, approximately compromising the ability of future generations 10% of oil reserves, 50% of diamonds, 25% of to meet their needs. nickel reserves, 17% of tin, etc. For these reasons, achievement of environmentally sustain- he Russian Presidential Decree “Concept able development in Russia is important for the Tfor Russia’s Transition to Sustainable whole of mankind and not only for Russians. Development” was issued in 1996 on the basis of UN decisions and gives priority to the he targets and indicators, which Goal 7 relationship between improvement of living Tsets for human development, imply solu- standards and socio-economic development, tion of two main problems in ensuring envi- on the one hand, and environmental limita- ronmental sustainability: tions, on the other hand. This Concept is line – to reduce anthropogenic environmental with the MDG ideology (Box 6.1). impact and natural resource depletion;

108 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 – to improve environmental conditions of mate change could not take effect without human development, to reduce environ- Russian ratification, which was provided in mental threats to people’s security, health 2004. Russia has also helped global environ- and daily lives. (Goal 7, its targets and mental sustainability by ratifying the indicators in the world and Russian con- Convention on Biodiversity and the Montreal texts are shown in Appendix 6.1, Table 1). Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The country has joined the UN ver the last two decades Russia has Convention to Combat Desertification and Otaken two steps towards addressing ratified the Stockholm Convention on these issues: first, strategic directions for pro- Persistent Organic Pollutants. tection of the environment in Russia have been finalized; and, second, legal and regula- aradoxically, Russia’s deep socio-eco- tory foundations for environmental protec- Pnomic crisis in the 1990s had a favorable tion have been laid. Much environmental leg- effect on the natural environment: sharp islation and strategic documents for sustain- recession in industry, agriculture the timber able development have been put in place industry and other sectors reduced emissions since the 1990s. The following documents and discharges of polluting substances into deserve mentioning: “Foundations of the air and water, and reduced rates of natural Strategy of the Russian Federation on resource depletion and degradation. These Environmental Protection and Attainment of tendencies are clear in Table 6.1., which Sustainable Development” (1994); the Russian Presidential Decree “Concept for The 1993 Constitution of the Russian Russia’s Transition to Sustainable Federation, Article 42, establishes the Development” (1996); the Environmental constitutional right of Russian citizens Doctrine of the Russian Federation (2002); the “to a favorable environment, … and to Federal Target Programme of the Russian compensation of damages caused to Federation “Environment and Natural health or property by any violation of Resources” (2002-2010), etc. In 2002 a new legislation on ecology”. Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” was adopted. A total of over 30 federal laws shows that discharge of polluted effluents and approximately 200 bylaws are effective in dropped by almost one third in 1990-2003, the country concerning environmental pro- pollutant atmospheric emissions dropped by tection and use of natural resources. one quarter, use of natural water sources fell by one third, deforestation rates were halved, he 1993 Constitution of the Russian oil extraction slipped by 18% and coal pro- TFederation, Article 42, establishes the duction was 30% lower. constitutional right of Russian citizens “to a favorable environment, … and to compensa- owever, this “respite” for the environ- tion of damages caused to health or property Hment ended as the Russian economy by any violation of legislation on ecology”. began to grow in 1999. Air pollution from stationary sources has started to rise, and air ussia has actively promoted efforts by pollution from motor transport has grown Rthe international community to stabilize more quickly; and production of energy the global environmental situation. The sources, mainly oil, has increased by 1.4 Kyoto Protocol on prevention of global cli- times compared with 1995 (Table 6.1). The

109 Chapter 6

Table 6.1. Basic indicators of industrial housing. Urban housing is substantially better impact on the environment provided with these amenities compared with and natural resources depletion in Russia rural housing. Despite significant worsening (1985-2003) of rural living standards in the 1990s due to the crisis in agriculture, provision of amenities in rural settlements improved. Rural areas saw marked improvements in provision of water mains (11% increase in the areas of housing supplied), sewerage (13%), central heating (21%) and hot water supply (11%).

pgrade of the housing stock and Uimprovement of engineering infrastructure is helping to reduce resource consumption and environmental impact. Thus, in 1995- 2003 average daily water supply to housing problem of waste utilization is becoming and other social needs was reduced by almost acute: waste creation has growth by 3.4 times 30%, from 303 liters to 222 liters. Though this since 1995, and the level of recovery and neu- indicator is still high by world standards, this tralization has only improved by 60%. tendency is encouraging.

mprovement of sanitary conditions along espite reduction of environmental impact Iwith reduction of environmental impact Dand improvement of housing amenities, from the economy gave an overall improve- the environmental situation in the country as ment in living conditions, in line with the tar- a whole remains difficult. Moreover, a series gets of Goal 7. As can be seen in Table 6.2, of tendencies are shaping up in Russia, which there has been substantial improvement of may counter its sustainable development. conditions in all types of settlements. In the These include: country as a whole, water mains, sewerage, – impact of environmental pollution on central heating and gas are supplied to 70- human health; 75% of housing (by area), while baths (show- – structural shifts in the economy, tending to ers) and hot water are available in 61-65% of increase the proportion of sectors, which use natural resources and create pollution; Table 6.2. Table 6.2. Development of – high level of indicators for use of natural housing amenities (proportion of hous- resources and creation of pollution; ing area, %)* – environmentally unbalanced investment strategy, which leads to growing disproportions between sectors, which use natural resources, and other sectors, which carry out refining, processing and infrastructure tasks; – high levels of equipment depreciation; – negative dynamics and values of macroeconomic indicators, which take account of the environment factor; * Statistical survey of rural housing amenities has only been carried out since 1993.

110 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 – understatement of economic value of nat- have prepared a methodology for human ural resources and services; health risk assessment. Results of the assess- – natural-resource-based export; ment have been taken into account in decision- – imperfect legislation; making processes by executive and legislative – inadequate mechanisms for exercising authorities in many countries. In particular, ownership rights to natural resources; – inefficient environmental protection man- Levels of environmental pollution and agement; development of amenities have major – underestimation of the potential for sus- influence on the key parameter of human tainable development, lack of long-term development: health and longevity, i.e. environmentally balanced economic strat- human capital as a whole. egy, etc. experts at Moscow State University have used e will now review main aspects of the the methodology to calculate economic costs Wtendencies listed above. of damage to human health in Russia, caused by air and water pollution. The figures suggest evels of environmental pollution and costs equal to between 3% to 6% of GDP.3 Ldevelopment of amenities have major These are high levels and represent a powerful influence on the key parameter of human argument for transition to environmentally development: health and longevity, i.e. human sustainable economic development, and cor- capital as a whole. Relevant key indicators rection of several national development priori- raise concerns about successful human devel- ties with a view to the environment. opment in Russia, as has been discussed in previous Chapters of this Report. nsustainable trends in Russian develop- Approximately 60 million people now live in Ument are related in many respects to zones of Russia with an adverse environmen- underestimation of the environmental factor tal situation (15% of the country’s territory). in macroeconomic strategy, leading to further Since 1999 the number of cities with high and degradation of the environment and depletion very high levels of atmospheric pollution has of natural resources. The ongoing rise of the increased 1.6 times, and 60% of the urban pop- economy threatens to aggravate these ulation live in such cities.2 The share of drink- processes, due to restructuring of the econo- ing water samples, which do not meet hygiene my in the 1990s in favor of high environment standards is approximately 20%, and the basic exploitation (raw material-based and polluting problems are inadequate water treatment industries), and deterioration of resource-eco- technology and high levels of depreciation of nomical and high-tech industries. This ten- water supply networks (more than 60-70%). dency is clear through the period 1990-2003 (Appendix 6.1, Table 2). The relative weight of elatively high levels of water and air pol- the fuel industry had increased by 2.5 times in Rlution, and of waste production in com- 2003 compared with 1990 to 20%. The share of parison with world standards also present the electric power industry had risen by three health hazards in Russia. As part of increasing times (from 4% to 12.1%). The share of ferrous international attention to environmental metallurgy in overall structure of the industri- impact on human health, the World Health al sector increased 1.7 times over 1990-2003. Organization (WHO), US Environmental During the same period the share of sectors, Protection Agency and other organizations which have little environmental impact, has

111 Chapter 6

The main obstacle to sustainable develop- relaxed. This was reflected in steady reduction ment in Russia is the inefficient, environ- of the influence of environmental agencies ment-exploiting structure of the economy. within the Russian Government. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural considerably declined. The share of high-tech- Resources, which had considerable power, nology branches of mechanical engineering existed from 1991-1996, but was then trans- and metal working dropped from 32% to 20% formed into the Committee for Environmental between 1990 and 2003, and there has been Protection with sharply reduced functions and catastrophic recession in light industry. The influence. In 2000 the Committee was disband- economy as a whole has seen considerable ed and its functions transmitted to the Ministry shift towards sectors, which make huge use of of Natural Resources, whose main purpose is natural resources. productive use of natural resources.

adly balanced investment strategy, which atural resource and environmental protec- Bcauses growing disproportions between Ntion in the Russian Government is now vest- environment-exploiting sectors of the econo- ed in three bodies: the Ministry of Natural my and processing sectors, aggravates envi- Resources of the Russian Federation; the Federal ronmental problems. In the absence of envi- Agency for Hydrometeorology and ronmental or economic limitations and incen- Environmental Monitoring; and the Federal tives the only criterion of efficiency is quick Environmental Technological and Nuclear generation of high profits, and that is best Inspectorate. This disintegration of environment achieved by exploitation and/or sale of natural protection management does not promote envi- resources (oil, gas, timber, etc.). ronmental sustainability. Departmental functions may be duplicated (for example, the situation with ncreasing “weight” of Russia’s economic environmental inspections is confusing) or, con- Istructure from the viewpoint of environ- versely, overlooked (for example, accurate identi- mental impact has been accompanied by fication of pollution impact on public health). deteriorating age structure of production facilities, and, as a consequence, by increased here are also legal problems. numbers of environmental incidents and dis- TEnvironmental legislation in Russia is asters. Old equipment is replaced too slowly extensive, but its application to bring environ- due to insufficient financing. Depreciation in mental offenders to book is problematic, due some sectors is at levels of 50-60%. to inefficiency of enforcement mechanisms and sanctions. Environment protection norms ecentralization of environmental manage- and rules are dispersed among 800 various Dment has become a considerable prob- documents, of which 80% have recommenda- lem. In the 1990s, under conditions of industri- tory character. A large number of violations go al recession and growing social problems, unpunished, available legal sanctions (high environmental protection standards were penalties, closure of environmentally harmful enterprises or facilities, legal claims by citi- Russia’s long-term environmental priori- zens and public organizations for environ- ties are set out in Presidential Decrees mental damage) tend not to be applied. and Russian Government strategy documents, which deal directly or indirectly o, the main obstacle to sustainable devel- with sustainable development. Sopment in Russia is the inefficient, envi-

112 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ronment-exploiting structure of the economy. term action rather than complex long-term Backwardness of the processing and trans- policy. Official Government programmes for forming industries, and of infrastructure and the short term, medium term and long term distribution, backward and dirty technologies perspectives give minimal attention to envi- lead to constant or increasing environmental ronmental problems. The same neglect is evi- impact, high losses of natural resources and dent in recent draft programmes, particularly raw materials, and extra pollution. the summary report “Goals, Targets and Performance Indicators of Budget Subjects (Federal Ministries, Services and Agencies 6.2. TASKS FOR ENSURING supervised by the Russian Federal ENVIRONMENTAL Government)” (2004). SUSTAINABILITY FOR RUSSIA here are objective and subjective reasons, 6.2.1. THE OUTLOOK FOR SUS- Twhich cause underestimation of the envi- TAINABILITY BASED ON RUS- ronmental factor in economic development SIAN GOVERNMENT ACTION and decision-making. The most common objective reason is inefficiency of the tradi- ussia’s long-term environmental priorities tional market model of the economy for solu- Rare set out in Presidential Decrees and tion of environmental problems. This is an Russian Government strategy documents, international problem and has led to the which deal directly or indirectly with sustainable appearance of global and regional environ- development. Russia has set itself two Federal mental problems (the “market failures” of Target Programmes, “Environment and Natural theory) (Box 6.3). But in Russia’s case the Resources” and “Housing”, which both have underestimation was also due to the above- relevance for the environment. Both are sched- mentioned sharp decline of industrial produc- uled for implementation up to 2010 (Box 6.2). In tion in the 1990s, which temporarily reduced 2003 the Government adopted “Foundations of natural resource use and aggregate pollution. State Strategy for Use of Minerals and Sub-soil Resources”. There are also National mportant subjective reasons include: an atti- Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs), which Itude to ecological restrictions, which views comprise legislative and normative acts, as well them as barriers to economic growth, adher- as some other Federal Target Programmes, ence to the slogan “first the economy, then ecol- which are currently being developed and imple- ogy”; fixation of decision-makers on short-term mented. Three NEAPs have been adopted by the objectives (“patching holes”); the illusion of Government to date (for 1994-1995, for 1996- inexhaustibility of Russia’s huge resources and 1997, for 1999-2001). The Ministry of Natural its huge expanses spaces, which seem able to Resources adopted an Action Plan for absorb/disseminate pollution ad infinitum, etc. Implementation of the Environmental Doctrine of the Russian Federation in 2003-2005. Box 6.2. The structure of the Federal Target Programme “Environment and Natural Resources” The Programme includes eleven sub-programmes: “Forests”, “Water owever, the task of environmental sus- Resources and Natural Areas of Water”, “Water Bio-Resources and Aquaculture”, “Quality Management of the Environment”, “Waste”, “Support tainability is insufficiently taken into H of Special Protected Natural Areas”, “Preservation of Rare and Vanishing account in recent strategic documents of the Animals and Plants”, “Protection of Lake Baikal and the Baikal Natural Area”, “Revival of the Volga”, “Hydro-meteorological Support of Life Safety and Russian Government, which treat environmen- Rational Use of Natural Resources”, “Progressive Technologies in Cartography tal problems as matters for tactical and short- and Geodetics”.

113 Chapter 6

There are objective and subjective reation and depletion of natural resources at the sons, which cause underestimation of the macroeconomic level, and to adjust basic environmental factor in economic devel- economic development indicators in the light opment and decision-making. of ecology. For example, data published by the World Bank, calculated using the genuine ransition to sustainable development savings method, show significant variance Trequires incorporation of the ecological between traditional economic and ecological- factor in the system of basic social and eco- ly adjusted indicators for all countries. In nomic development indices. This MDG ideolo- Russia the genuine savings indicator has gy matches this idea. Underestimation of the been negative throughout recent years, and ecological factor in decision-making is in urgently needs to be taken into account in the many respects connected with the fact that current conditions of economic growth. So, traditional development indicators neglect the while from the conventional standpoint the value of natural capital and degradation of the year 2000 was the most prosperous for the environment: GDP, per-capita income, etc., Russian economy in many years (GDP grew ignore ecological degradation. Growth of by 9%), genuine savings were negative these indicators in Russia today is due to (-13%), mainly due to depletion of the raw- technogenic environment-exploiting develop- material base. ment. But this very process creates potential for sharp deterioration of economic indicators in the future due to natural resource depletion 6.2.2. ADAPTATION OF TARGETS and environmental contamination. AND INDICATORS OF GOAL 7 TO RUSSIAN CONDITIONS he international community is working Ton development of criteria and measures se by the Russian Government of MDG of sustainable development, which some- Uideology regarding ecologically sustain- times involve a highly complex system of able development would promote increase of indicators. The United Nations offers a sys- environmental management efficiency and tem for “Integrated Environmental and solution of environmental problems, and Economic Accounting”, the World Bank uses would reduce ecological threats to public the concept of “Genuine Savings”, the OECD health. The latter goal, which is reflected in and the European community have GARP1, many core documents of the United Nations, GARP2, TEPI, etc.4 The basic point in these is accepted and supported by Russia, approaches is an attempt to take account of although Russia has not done all it could for the damage caused by environmental pollu- its realization. We will now consider Targets and Indicators of Goal 7 in more detail, Box 6.3. “Market failures” review their adequacy to Russian realities and Environment degradation, natural resource depletion, and excessive pollution propose other targets and indicators, which point to market malfunctions. From the conceptual point of view, “market failures” in environmental protection are, primarily, connected with the impossibil- are more suitable to the Russian context of ity of adequate accounting for social costs, due to environmental damage, external effects (externalities) that complicate implementation of a “polluter pays” sustainable development. principle, and the problem of open access to natural resources, their less-than- fair price, if any, etc. The essential problem for the market is vagueness and short-sightedness. Vagueness is caused in many respects by lack of knowledge arget 9 “Integrate the principles of sustain- about laws of ecosystem functioning, which leads to neglect of distant and diffi- Table development into country policies cult-to-predict consequences of market decisions. There is also the problem of market “myopia”: fixation on quick results, mainly profit, while underestimating and programmes and reverse the loss of envi- long-term damage and benefits. ronmental resources” is consistent with

114 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Russia’s targets both in the short term and Use by the Russian Government of MDG long term. The future of Russia, development ideology regarding ecologically of the human potential of its future genera- sustainable development would promote tions, preservation of the world’s greatest nat- increase of environmental management ural capital, and support of Russia’s globally efficiency and solution of environmental important ecosystem, depends on successful problems, and would reduce ecological achievement of this target. The only amend- threats to public health. ment, which may be needed, is to the words “environmental resources”. The exhortation virgin territories in Russia. The sector is to “reverse the loss of environmental the largest polluting factor in Russia, pro- resources” seems to refer mainly to renewable duces more than 50% of all harmful atmos- natural resources (soil, forests, water, etc.), pheric emissions in the country, approxi- which are crucial for the overwhelming major- mately 20% of contaminated effluent, ity of less developed countries. For Russia, the more than 30% of solid industrial waste most serious problem is depletion of non- and up to 70% of total greenhouse gases; renewable mineral resources (oil, gas, metals – the indicator of energy intensity is a repre- and so on), and obviously it is unfeasible to sentative indicator of sustainable develop- completely stop them being used up. It makes ment, reflecting both economic and eco- more sense, therefore, to call for prevention of logical aspects; environmental resource loss by their excessive – the role of the energy sector in the econo- or ineffective use - that may be applicable to all my will remain the same in the future, resources and corresponds to the meaning of judging by plans to increase its production, the word “losses” in the Russian language. In leading to increase of anthropogenic this case target 9 should read as follows: impact on the environment in Russia; “Integrate the principles of sustainable devel- – there is urgent need for major reduction of opment into country policies and programmes energy intensity in the Russian economy, and prevent losses of natural resources”. with realization of energy-saving programmes. his target is strictly connected with eco- Tnomic growth and its quality. Here again nergy intensity in the Russian economy is the major indicator is that of GDP energy inten- Ecurrently extremely high, and must be sity or, which is the same, energy consumption reduced. In a development that was unique in per 1 dollar of GDP, as in the MDG wording the world, Russia showed growth of the indi- (Indicator 27). This indicator is No. 1 priority cator by 16% in the 1990s.5 Figure 6.1 shows not only for ensuring environmental sustain- energy intensity indicators of the countries ability, but also, perhaps, for the whole nation- ranking high in the UN Human Development al economy in Russia. A number of points Index, calculated on the basis of UN statistics. should be stressed in this regard: Russian energy intensity is on average 2.5-4 – the leading role of the energy sector in the times higher than for these countries. Russian economy in formation of GDP, Certainly, Russia is a northern country, but the taxes, state budget incomes, employment, indicators of the Scandinavian countries sug- and export incomes; gest huge potential for energy saving in – the energy sector is the major contributor Russia. The example of Norway is characteris- to environmental pollution, depletion of tic: it is a northern country like Russia, has sig- natural resources and degradation of huge nificant power resources and at the same time

115 Chapter 6

energy intensity is 3.3 times lower. East change. In the MDG this indicator is defined as European transition economies - Poland and “carbon dioxide emissions per capita and con- Hungary - have considerably lower energy sumption of ozone-depleting CFCs (ODP intensity. The greatest progress in reducing tons)” (indicator 28). It should be pointed out GDP energy intensity has been achieved in the that ozone-depleting substances included in USA, Germany and Hungary, which have cut this indicator have not been produced in the indicator to about a third of its 1980 level. Russia since 2000, so they are no longer relevant for the country. It should also be noted ther indicators for Target 9 are also close- that performance of the Kyoto Protocol is not Oly connected with development of energy measured by carbon dioxide emissions per production. Emissions of carbon dioxide have capita, as proposed in the MDGs, but by per- special importance in connection with ratifica- formance of countries’ obligations regarding tion of the Kyoto Protocol by Russia. At pres- total amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. ent 96% of national emissions of carbon diox- Therefore, the MDG indicator 28 should be reworded for Russia as “Carbon dioxide emis- According to commitments under the sions (tons)”. According to commitments Kyoto Protocol, Russia should produce no under the Kyoto Protocol, Russia should pro- more greenhouse gases during the first duce no more greenhouse gases during the budgetary period of the Protocol (2008- first budgetary period of the Protocol (2008- 2012) than in 1990. These are very mild 2012) than in 1990. These are very mild requirements for Russia by virtue of its requirements for Russia by virtue of its signifi- significant reduction of emissions follow- cant reduction of emissions following the eco- ing the economic crisis of the 1990s. nomic crisis of the 1990s. Russia now emits only 70% of its 1990 carbon dioxide emission levels. Obligations of other countries are much ide are due to fuel combustion for production tougher: the overwhelming majority of of power and heat. Carbon dioxide is the main advanced countries must combine the goal of greenhouse gas influencing global climate economic growth with the goal of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 6-8%. Figure 6.1. Indicators and dynamics of Rigidity and economic burden of those obliga- energy intensity (kg of oil equivalent per tions have persuaded the USA to abstain from $1,000 GDP at PPP) * Kyoto Protocol ratification.

0,8 he indicator, which we suggest for Russia, 0,7 T“Population size in highly-polluted urban 0,6 areas (million people)”, is also related to 1980 0,5 power generating. The contribution of energy 2001 0,4 production facilities to air pollution is approximately half of total pollution from fixed sta- 0,3 $1,000 GDP (PPP) tionary sources. This indicator is a modifica- kg oil equivalent per 0,2 tion of MDG indicator 29 “Proportion of popu- 0,1 lation using solid fuels”, which is not relevant 0 for Russia due to insignificance. Nevertheless, n ary USAJapan France NorwaySwede GermanyPoland Hung Russia the purpose of the MDG indicator is obvious Great Britain *Calculated by: Human Development Report. 2004. UNDP, New-York, 2004, pp.207-208. enough: to monitor the number of people liv-

116 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ing with high levels of air pollution, and reduc- mately 2% of Russian territory. Other federal tion of those numbers. This target is acute for protected territories (special reserves and Russia, particularly in big cities with high lev- sanctuaries) take up another 1% of the country. els of pollution. The number of such cities The remaining 15,000 territories, controlled at totals 145 with total population of approximately 60 million. Russia is in a good position regarding forestry and biodiversity, occupying one DG target 9, connected with realization of the leading positions in the world. The Mof sustainable development principles, country has the world's largest forested includes two other indicators, which, in the territory. Russian context, are related in many respects to forestry: regional and local levels, also fulfill functions – proportion of land area covered by forest of environmental stabilization and preserva- (indicator 25); tion of biodiversity. There are another 35 wet- – proportion of territory protected to main- land territories of international importance in tain biological diversity of terrestrial envi- Russia, and 17 world heritage sites, of which ronment (indicator 26). 11 are cultural heritage sites and 6 are natural heritage sites, etc. The overall size of protected hese indicators can be applied as they are natural territories amounts to 10.5% of the Tin Russian strategies/programmes. Russia total area of the country. is in a good position regarding forestry and biodiversity, occupying one of the leading DG Target 10 concerns improvement positions in the world. The country has the Mof people's clean drinking water sup- world's largest forested territory and forested ply, and the corresponding Indicator 30 esti- territory as a percentage of total territory is mates the share of population having steady also one of the highest in the world at 45%. access to a source of good quality drinking The crisis of the 1990s saw sharp reduction of water in cities and rural localities. The impor- deforestation, favoring preservation of forest- tance of this indicator is obvious: at present 2 ed areas. However, the “forestation” indicator billion people in the world are not provided has huge regional differentiation, varying from with clean drinking water, and this is the 0.2-1.0% (Kalmykia, Nenets Autonomous Area) cause of numerous diseases and deaths. For to 70-80% (Republic of Komi, Irkutsk Region, Russia this indicator can be amended to Primorsky Krai, etc.). A low percentage of “Proportion of housing with mains water, forested territories is characteristic in many urban and rural”. Table 6.2 shows that this regions of the European part of the country, indicator is close to 90% in cities, and the which makes efforts to preserve and increase proportion of rural dwellings with mains forested territories quite relevant there. water is over 40%.

he percentage of territory, which is pro- he theme of MDG target 11 is improve- Ttected for conservation of biodiversity, is Tment of living standards: “By 2020, to have quite high in Russia. The country has more achieved a significant improvement in the lives than 15,600 nature reserves. Statistical indica- of at least 100 million slum dwellers”. Two indi- tors for biodiversity conservation in Russia’s cators are used to assess progress in achieving regions only include data on federal reserves this Goal: “Proportion of urban population and national parks, which occupy approxi- with access to improved sanitation” (indicator

117 Chapter 6

Possible perpetuation of the raw material export; territorial expansion of economic activ- basis of the Russian economy due to ity and destruction of extensive natural admission to the WTO could have unpre- ecosystems; an increasing number of industri- dictable ecological consequences. al accidents due to deterioration of equipment; structural change in the energy balance due to 31) and “Proportion of households with access partial replacement of gas with coal, etc. to secure tenure, owned or rented” (indicator 32). The target definition itself on improvement here are concerns about the state of of living conditions of the population is quite TRussia’s reserves of natural resources. The suitable for Russia, although its interpretation draft, prepared in 2004 by the Ministry of in the MDGs as related to inhabitants of slums Natural Resources, of a “Long-term State is irrelevant. As a general target for the country Programme for Subsoil Reserve Studies and we would propose the following: “To improve Mineral Resource Replacement in Russia Based housing development and quality”. Two indi- on the Balance of Consumption and cators could be informative for Russia: Replacement of Mineral Resources up to 2020” “Proportion of housing with drainage, urban gives a pessimistic assessment of real stocks. and rural" and "Proportion of dilapidated and Commercial stocks of many minerals, including tumbledown housing”. Dynamics of the for- oil, uranium, copper, and mined gold, will run mer indicator are shown in Table 6.2. The indi- low in 2015. Oil and gas reserves in the Volga- cator of dilapidated and tumbledown housing Ural and West- Siberian regions are running is now above 91.255 million square meters, out. Depletion of main oil and gas provinces in and it is climbing: the total area of such the Northern Caucasus has reached 70-80%, in dwellings has increased by 2.4 times since the Ural-Volga region 50-70% and in the West- 1995, from 1.4% to 3.2% of total housing. In Siberian region depletion is above 45%. 2003 approximately 5 million Russians lived in dilapidated and tumbledown buildings. Most ossible perpetuation of the raw material of these people had incomes below the subsis- Pbasis of the Russian economy due to tence minimum, and were unable to improve admission to the WTO could have unpre- their living conditions. dictable ecological consequences. It is obvious that the most appealing assets in Russia for transnational and foreign companies are its nat- 6.3. SCENARIOS AND TARGET ural resource sectors, particularly fuels, since INDICATORS FOR TRANSITION TO investments in oil and gas production have a SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT rapid yield. Foreign companies have much scope for rapidly strengthening their positions 6.3.1. ENVIRONMENTAL SUS- thanks to large investment potential and short- TAINABILITY OF ECONOMIC age of funds of many Russian companies. DEVELOPMENT SCENARIOS lobal climate change presents a substan- nvironmental sustainability in Russia will Gtial problem for the future of the national Ebe influenced in the near future by a range economy. The reality of climate change is rec- of factors. Ecological effect of some factors can ognized in all international documents and be defined unequivocally as negative: escalat- forecasts. Warming and thawing of frozen ing extensive production of raw materials; ground can have extremely negative effect on continuation of the policy of natural resources infrastructure facilities, structures, pipelines,

118 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 roads, etc., in the permafrost zone, and almost he existing model based on consump- two thirds of Russia’s territory is in that zone. Ttion of natural resources is highly Energy production facilities in Siberian and dependent on the country’s natural resource northern regions are especially vulnerable. stocks. The pessimistic scenario up to 2015 contains two obvious potential threats: 1) he future holds the threat of new problems above-mentioned depletion of commercial Tfor human development as well as ecolog- stocks of oil and other minerals by 2015; 2) ical problems. For example, energy producers possible sharp drop of world prices for oil plan to restructure the fuel balance by reduc- and other raw materials (this is effectively ing inputs of natural gas and extending use of equivalent to the first threat because com- coal and fuel oil for power production. The mercial viability of new remote deposits, products of coal combustion are 10-50 times which require significant investments, auto- more toxic than gas, and those of fuel oil are 3 matically decreases). times more toxic. Such a change will increase air pollution in urban areas, raising disease et us consider the “price” threat in more and mortality rates. According to calculations Ldetail. Difficult climate and remote pro- by the Fund for Defense of the Environment, duction sites make the cost of oil production such a changeover in generating fuels will lead in Russia several times higher than in the to 40,000 more deaths in Russia. Middle East and Latin America, and the costs will continue to grow, so the general tenden- t the qualitative level we can try to make a cy is towards efficiency decline of energy Ageneral analysis of the three national production investments. The situation in the development scenarios up to 2015, related to oil market may also change due to escalat- environmental sustainability: pessimistic, iner- ing oil recovery in the OPEC countries, post- tial and optimistic. war restoration of Iraq, etc., leading to increase in world oil supply and decline of he first two scenarios will lead to a "non- prices. This possibility makes investment in Tsustainable" type of development in the new production territories more risky, since Russian economy. Unfortunately, even contin- a drop in world prices could “cut-out” a sig- uation of current trends (the inertial scenario) nificant part of oil production in the remote will means increasing deterioration of the northern areas and at off-shore fields with environment. Only the optimistic scenario, undeveloped infrastructure. Huge invest- based on a major change in Russia’s econom- ments, which have become inefficient, may ic growth paradigm, can lead to sustainable be frozen, leaving huge territories and sea development. areas ecologically damaged.

he scenarios can be based on pro- uch price developments, along with Tgrammes of the Russian Government, the Sdepletion of commercial stocks, will cause Center for Strategic Developments, and the sharp reduction of federal budget proceeds Ministry of Natural Resources. The two key and spending on social needs, and unemploy- documents in question are the “Energy ment will grow. Clearly, the state and compa- Strategy of Russia for the period to 2020” and nies will considerably reduce their spending the draft “Medium-term Programme of Socio- on environmental protection in such a situa- economic Development of the Russian tion, the operating load on old fields will Federation (2005-2008)”. increase, and money-saving priorities will lead

119 Chapter 6

In the last 3-4 years the President of Russia tural-technological changes. In the last 3-4 and members of the Government have years the President of Russia and members of repeatedly emphasized the need to escape the Government have repeatedly emphasized raw-material-based development of the the need to escape raw-material-based devel- Russian economy. opment of the Russian economy (Box 6.4). All recent conceptual documents, strategies and to corner-cutting as regards ecological stan- programmes of the Government are focused dards (atmospheric emissions and discharges on a new type of development. (Detailed of pollutants into water), leading to environ- description of such a future economy is mental contamination and threats to health. beyond the scope of this Report. The issue of This scenario leads the country further away the new economy based on knowledge was from sustainable development. the subject of the previous UNDP Human Development Report for Russia (2004)). he second scenario (inertial) is clear Tenough: in 2015 “everything will be as he main features of the proposed future now”. The country will manage to discover and Teconomy from the viewpoint of environ- develop new mineral reserves; with high world mental sustainability are as follows: priority is prices for raw materials development of off- given to development of technology-intensive, shore sites in the Barents Sea and Sakhalin will high-tech, processing and infrastructural sec- be profitable; huge export of oil, gas, wood, tors with minimal environmental impact; metals, chemical raw materials, etc., will con- essential importance is given to ecological continue. All this will mean the preservation of the ditions of human life and their provision; envi- present economic structure, a raw-material and ronmental pollution is reduced; the share of the environment-exploiting development model, raw-material sector in the economy decreases; with further depletion of natural resources and efficiency and economy of natural resource uti- growth of pollution. It is obvious that such lization rise significantly, cutting consumption growth cannot be sustainable and negative of natural resources and pollution volumes per consequences similar to those in the pes- unit of final result (reduction of the intensity of simistic scenario may appear after 2020-2030. environment-exploitation). Clearly, transition to sustainable development requires compensa- ealization of the third scenario (opti- tion for exhaustion of natural capital through Rmistic), allowing transition to sustainable higher investments in human and material cap- development, needs a major change in the ital. Important practical steps include major existing development paradigm to break “non- increase of investments in science, education, sustainable” trends in the economy. The new public health, innovative development, and type of economy that is required can be establishment of special funds, such as the defined in several ways: a knowledge-based Fund of Future Generations, which exists in economy (the most widespread international many countries of the world. The economic definition); an innovation economy; a high- mechanism of the knowledge-based economy tech economy; an information economy; a (through the system of taxes, credits, privi- post-industrial economy; a sustainable econo- leges, investment climate, etc.) stimulates cre- my; and so on. Aside from the formal defini- ation, distribution and use of knowledge for tion, the basis for reaching such an economy growth and “suppresses” those types of activ- is: priority development of human capital, ity, which deplete natural capital and pollute knowledge and information, and deep struc- the environment. Many of the above-men-

120 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 tioned features have already proved them- Assessment of existing ecological and eco- selves in developed countries. nomic risks shows that Russia will gain more if it increases yields from fields in already ransition to ecologically and economically developed resource regions of the country Tsustainable growth based on environmen- and abroad: new deposits in the north of the tally-balanced, structural and technological Caspian Sea, more active participation in reorganization of the economy, with efficient resource saving and reduction of pollution, According to the optimistic scenario in clearly offers great potential. Structural and the Energy Strategy, structural reorgani- technological rationalization of the economy zation of the economy and implementa- could free up to one half of all natural resources, tion of energy-saving technologies which are now used inefficiently, with growth of should bring energy intensity down 45% final results and major reduction of pollution by 2015 and 58% by 2020. levels. Such a course would considerably reduce production levels and areas given over development of energy resources in Central to natural resource and mineral production, Asia, etc. At present, the oil extraction factor reduce land under cultivation, diminish defor- at fields has significantly declined, from 50% estation, etc., by improving use and deepening at the end of 1980s to no more than 30% now, processing of natural and raw material according to expert estimates. This is partly resources, and it would also significantly raise due to ageing of large fields and deterioration people’s living standards. According to the of stocks, but it is also due to weakening of “Energy Strategy for Russia up to 2020” (2003), state control over subsoil extraction. fairly simple energy-saving technologies would make it possible for Russia to save up to half of cologically expedient reduction of the pro- the energy, which it now consumes. Eportion of natural resources in export structure under the optimistic scenario would not he “Factor Four” Report to the Rome Club mean automatic reduction of economic gains T(1997)6 shows how it is possible to double from use of the country’s natural-resource capi- production by halving resource use, through tal (its “natural advantages”). Restructuring of application of specific technologies. the national economy, discussed above, and Contemporary industrial infrastructure could particularly increase in the share of refining and be maintained using half of current global processing sectors could raise tens of billions energy consumption, while the new infrastruc- more for Russia from sale abroad of processed ture based on the existing technologies could products instead of raw materials. give 90% reduction. Russia could reduce energy consumption by 3-6 times using traditional (not cutting-edge) western technologies, and 6.3.2. TARGET REFERENCE achieve growth of output results. POINTS FOR THE MDG INDICA- TORS ertainly, it would be naive to try and Cforcibly cut growth rates of the natural- e now review quantitative parameters resource sectors, primarily energy production, Wof progress indicators for MDG Goal 7 in Russia, given the current social and eco- (ensuring environmental sustainability) and its nomic situation in the country. However, effi- targets, based on the indicators proposed ciency of these sectors needs to be improved. above and adapted for Russia.

121 Chapter 6

Assessment of existing ecological and power consumption forecast is given in economic risks shows that Russia will Athe “Energy Strategy for Russia up to gain more if it increases yields from 2020”, approved by the Russian fields in already developed resource Government in 2003. Average GDP power regions of the country and abroad. consumption worldwide has decreased by 19% in the last 20 years, and in the devel- ecrease of energy intensity is crucial if oped countries by 21-27%. In Russia the DRussia is to realize the optimistic scenario. energy intensity of GDP increased by 18% in This would be an essential link in the chain 1990-1998 due to deep economic crisis. As pulling the economy towards sustainable the economy has recovered energy intensi- development. Reduction of energy intensity, ty has begun to fall by 2-3% annually. along with other factors, usually accompanies According to the optimistic scenario in the positive structural shifts in the economy, reduc- Energy Strategy, structural reorganization tion of the proportion of environment-exploit- of the economy and implementation of ing sectors and parallel growth of high-tech energy-saving technologies should bring sectors. Orientation to lower energy intensity energy intensity down 45% by 2015 and 58% should promote energy-saving programmes, by 2020 (Appendix 6.1, Figure 1). which have not been carried out in Russia to date. The energy-saving potential in Russia is evelopment dynamics of “forested” and huge, and the energy intensity indicator is the Dprotected lands will be influenced up to key for Goal 7 in Russia. Its reduction will be the 2015 by development of energy production. major precondition for progress with other For example, according to available estimates, Goal 7 indicators, i.e. there is a correlation one dollar of investments in development of between dynamics of the indicators: northern fields destroys 2-4 square meters of – as regards protected and forested territo- natural ecosystems. The multi-billion dollar ries – saving of energy resources and spending required for new developments rationalization of their use will make it pos- makes the ecological damage obvious. Vast sible to do without expensive projects to tracts of land will have to be developed for develop production at virgin sites including new energy production infrastructure: forests; pipelines, roads, etc. Reduction of forested – carbon dioxide emissions – reduction of land will also be affected by increase of timber energy intensity through improvement of felling. The current level of timber felling is domestic energy-use technologies will almost 2.5 times lower than in 1990, but reduce emission of greenhouse gases; growth of domestic and international demand – ecological aspect of human living condi- for wood products will cause expansion. tions – modern energy-use technologies and energy saving considerably reduces herefore, we could take maintenance of environmental pollution. Tthe current 45% of Russia under forest as the indicator for the optimistic scenario by Box 6.4. From a speech by Russian President, Vladimir Putin: 2015 via increased reforestation and increased “It is obvious that unless we start to move quickly today, particularly in implementation of structural reforms, we may face a lengthy economic stagnation depth of wood processing to reduce need for tomorrow. We still live predominantly in a rent, not a productive, type of economy. Our economic system has as a matter of fact changed very little. What is the primary wood as raw material. Preservation of primary source of money? Oil, gas, metals, other raw materials. The additional forests will also be promoted by Russia’s ratifi- income yielded by export is either “eaten up” or feeds capital outflow, or, at best, is invested in the same raw material sector.” cation of the Kyoto Protocol, under which Source: Izvestia, April 25, 2005. reforestation to limit national carbon dioxide

122 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 emissions can be both profitable and ecologi- majority of opinions, they will not. Under the cally effective. optimistic scenario, with radical reorganization of energy production structures and reduction any developed countries have high proof power consumption, Russia will not exceed Mportions of protected land in their total volumes of greenhouse gases emissions as territory (Austria and Germany have 33% each, compared with 1990. This is confirmed by the the USA 26%, Great Britain 21%, etc.). This sug- forecast assessment of the “Third National gests that the share of protected land in Russia (now over 10%) could be extended to 20-25%, Improvement of ecological living condi- particularly considering the importance of tions depends much on development of Russian protected lands for preservation of the the housing market, and favorable world biosphere, and the fact that 65% of development is targeted by the. Russia’s land is still almost untouched by the economy. However, such extension is bound to Report by the Russian Federation”, according be counteracted by growth of raw material sec- to which, even with economic growth carbon tors: subsoil resources, timber and agriculture dioxide emissions in 2015 will not exceed 85- (assuming the pessimistic or inertial scenarios). 90% of the 1990 level, assuming economic restructuring. Russia could obtain significant t is natural to link the indicator for aggregate economic benefits from sale in the world mar- Icarbon dioxide emissions by 2015 with ket of its free quotas on greenhouse gases Russia’s obligations under the Kyoto protocol. emissions, which are estimated to have value According to data from the Federal of several billion dollars. Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Service, Russian anthropogenic ncertainty about future development of emissions of carbon dioxide in 2003 were 3050 Uvarious trends makes it hard to predict the million tons or 70% of total emissions of green- number of the people living in highly polluted house gases in 1990. The contribution of cities. As was already noted, air pollution both Russia to global emission is 6.3%, representing from stationary sources and vehicles is grow- 26.7% of US emissions, 47.2% of those in the ing, leading to increase in the number of now European Union, and 47.9% of those in China.7 “dirty” cities. Under the optimistic scenario Emissions of carbon dioxide (together with structural and technological restructuring of other five greenhouse gases) in 1990 are the the economy plus transition to EURO ecology ecological limit for the country during the first standards for cars could halve the number of budgetary period of the Kyoto protocol from people living in highly polluted cities from 2008 to 2012. It is still not clear what agree- approximately 60 million to 30 million. ments and indicators will follow after that term, but the determination of almost 130 countries, mprovement of ecological living condi- which ratified the Kyoto Protocol, shows strong Itions depends much on development of commitment of the world community to fight the climate changes. So toughening of the top There is currently a broad discussion limit for greenhouse gases emissions by 2015 on whether Russia’s obligations under is likely. There is currently a broad discussion the Kyoto Protocol will shackle the on whether Russia’s obligations under the country’s economic growth. According Kyoto Protocol will shackle the country’s eco- to the overwhelming majority of nomic growth. According to the overwhelming opinions, they will not.

123 Chapter 6

The current situation points again to the he current situation points again to the value of establishing a central ecologi- Tvalue of establishing a central ecological cal department, under the Federal department, under the Federal Government, Government. to support uniform federal ecological policy and carry out ecological supervision, as hap- the housing market, and favorable develop- pened in the 1990s (although the bodies ment is targeted by the Federal Target vested with this responsibility, varied). The Programme “Housing” and, in particular, its new entity could have status of a Federal sub-programme “Relocation of Citizens of Service interacting with all federal, regional the Russian Federation from Dilapidated and and local levels of government. Such a Tumbledown Housing”. Under the optimistic Service could carry out monitoring of the scenario practically all urban housing could country's progress in ensuring environmen- be connected to water mains and sewerage tal sustainability. A system of indicators for by 2015 (95-97% of housing). It is more diffi- sustainable development would assist the cult to predict development in rural settle- monitoring (this is a commonly used ments. From 1993 to 2003 the proportion of approach in other countries). rural dwellings with amenities increased significantly, by 11-13%. So the rural target for e will now review problems of monitor- 2015 regarding mains water could be 55-57% Wing the MDG Indicators in more detail, (41% in 2003), and 48-50% for sewerage firstly as regards statistical support. (32% in 2003). he Indicator “Proportion of land area cov- he small percentage of dilapidated and Tered by forest” is calculated based on Ttumbledown housing (3%) makes it fair to state forest surveys which gather information expect that all such housing will have been on surface area of forest, stocks of wood by pulled down by 2015. type, and yearly gain of wood and its use. The surveys are carried out once every five years.

6.4. MONITORING OF PROGRESS he Indicator “Proportion of protected TO GOAL 7 AND NECESSARY Tarea” is now presented in state statis- CONDITIONS tics for natural preserves and national parks of federal importance. However, as noted he institutional factor is highly impor- above, these two categories account for Ttant for monitoring of progress toward only one fifth of all the protected areas in sustainable development. As was already the country, much of which is the responsi- noted, current Government structure bility of regions. Departmental and regional involves confusion and dissociation statistics for all types of protected areas are between agencies responsible for decision- available, and the Federal State Statistics making on matters of environmental sus- Service could aggregate and update them tainability. Many regions have responded by on a regular basis. establishing their own systems of ecological management. For example, the Tomsk here are a number of methods for calcula- Region has created one of the country's Ttion of the energy intensity indicator. The most effective structures for ecological man- indicator is quantitatively defined in docu- agement at regional and municipal levels. ments and programmes of the Federal

124 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Government, but the Russian Statistics Service 6.5. CONCLUSIONS AND does not publish it. Since this indicator is the RECOMMENDATIONS key for sustainable development, it is expedient for the Russian Statistics Service to annu- ransition to sustainable development ally calculate and publish it. Timplies strengthening of environmental priorities in state policy. In Russia’s case we nventory check and control of the indicator would point out the following key directions I“Carbon dioxide emissions” as well as other for change, which, directly or indirectly, could greenhouse gas emissions are defined in Kyoto lead to minimization of environmental impact Protocol requirements, so this indicator needs and to more efficient use of natural resources: to be included in Russian official statistics. – to develop and adopt a long-term strategy Emissions of greenhouse gases are currently of environmentally sustainable develop- estimated in documents of the ment in the Russian Federation; Interdepartmental Commission of the Russian – to create environmental conditions in Federation on Problems of Climate Change, and Russia, which will facilitate development of in departmental reporting of the Federal human capital; Hydrometeorology and Environmental – to eliminate environmental threats to Monitoring Service. human health; – to consolidate state control and monitoring ata on population of highly polluted urban of environment quality, primarily air quali- Dareas and air quality measures (based on ty (particularly in major cities) and quality the complex air pollution index) are available in of drinking water; departmental statistics of the Ministry of – to improve housing amenities, particularly Natural Resources and the Federal ecological conditions of urban and rural Hydrometeorology and Environmental dwelling; Monitoring Service. These data should be annu- – to upgrade people's environmental educa- ally published by the Russian Statistics Service. tion and culture at all levels of the educational system, to propagate the ideas of hree indicators reflecting ecological condi- environmental sustainability; Ttions and quality of housing (“Proportion – to carry out environmentally balanced of housing with mains water, urban and rural”, restructuring of the economy, to foster “Proportion of population with access to sew- knowledge-based innovation and creation erage, urban and rural”, “Proportion of dilapi- of a knowledge-based economy; dated and a tumbledown housing”) are well – to adjust customary indicators of develop- documented in state statistics and are annual- ment to take account of the environmental ly updated. aspect; to incorporate adequate valuation of natural resources and services, and hree important future indicators of environmental impact in economic indica- TRussia’s progress in attaining environmen- tors when taking economic decisions on tal sustainability within the MDG framework macro- and micro-levels; can be proposed (Appendix 6.2): – to build environmentally favorable taxa- – virgin lands; tion, credit systems, subsidies, trade tariffs – fixed asset replacement ratio; and duty systems; – population using drinking water, which does – to create conditions for extended replace- not meet hygiene standards (million people). ment of natural resources, which will stim-

125 Chapter 6

ulate and compel natural-resource users to – to re-establish a single “environmental” replenish the resources, which they con- department under the Federal Government sume, at rates exceeding the extraction to stop inefficiency and decentralization of and utilization rates; environmental protection management; to – to radically improve use of natural extend potential for environmental man- resources and liquidate their loss at extrac- agement and control at regional and tion sites and in all stages of their transfor- municipal levels; mation, and to implement resource-saving – to redirect export strategy towards technologies using existing and new eco- reduction of the raw material share in nomic and legal instruments; exports, and increase in the share of – to substantially reduce consumption of nat- high-tech products with a high propor- ural resources and pollution per unit of tion of added value; final result (on the macro-level: per unit of – to improve laws related to environmental GDP) leading to reduction of environment- protection and use of natural resources, as exploitation and pollution intensity indica- well as environmental factors related to tors, including energy intensity; public health; – to improve efficiency and differentiate the – to ensure active involvement of the gen- payment system for use of natural eral public and business in solution of resources, in order to promote recovery of national and regional environmental natural rent; problems; – to build an efficient system of economic – to support business participation in voluntary sanctions for violation of environmental environmental programmes and mecha- standards, to fully implement the “polluter nisms, such as environmental insurance, envi- pays” principle; ronmental certification, environmental audit; – to implement programmes for rehabilita- – to support the role of Russia’s global tion of territories in a critical environmental ecosystem services in ensuring the planet's condition, including measures for improve- biosphere sustainability; to use environment of health of local populations; to mental arguments at the international level grant state support to works for liquidation to obtain benefits, including economic ben- of local environmental damage; efits, for Russia; – to clearly delimit ownership rights to natu- – to support programmes of international ral resources at federal and regional levels, and regional cooperation in environmental to return key natural resources to federal protection as well as international proce- property; dures and protocols.

1 K.S.Losev. Significance of the Kyoto Protocol for Russia. Bulletin “On the Way to Sustainable Development of Russia”, no.27, 2004, p. 7. 2 The Government Report “Situation and Protection of the Environment in the Russian Federation in 2003”. Moscow: The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, 2004, p.p. 9-10. 3 Bobylev S.N., Sidorenko V.N., Safonov Yu.V., Avaliani S.L., Strukova E.B., Golub A.A. Macroeconomic Assessment of Human Health Costs in Russia Caused by Environmental Pollution. åoscow, Nature Protection Fund, 2002. 4 Indicators of Sustainable Development: Framework and Methodologies. Background Paper no.3. UN Commission on Sustainable Development. New York, 2001; Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting an Operational Manual / Studies in Methods. Handbook of National Accounting. UN, New York, 2000; Hamilton K. Genuine Savings as a Sustainable Indicator. The World Bank, Washington DC, 2000; Expanding the Measure of Wealth: Indicators of Environmentally Sustainable Development. The World Bank, Washington DC, 1997; Green Accounting in Europe - Four Case Studies. Edited by A. Markandya and M. Pavan, London, 1999. 5 Fundamentals of Power Strategy of Russia for the period up to 2020 (2000). 6 E. Weizs_cker, A. Lovins, H. Lovins. Factor Four. New report to the Rome Club. Moscow: Ed. Academia, 2000. 7 The Government Report “Situation and Preservation of the Environment in the Russian Federation in 2003”. Moscow: ed. by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, 2004, p.16.

126 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 6.1. MDG Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability Table 1. Table

127 Appendix 6.1.

Table 2. Change of branch structure in industrial production in Russia over 1990-2003 (%)

Source: Author’s calculations, Russian Statistical Year-book 2004. Moscow: ed. by the Russian Statistics Service, 2004.

Figure 1. GDP dynamics and its energy intensity in Russia from 2000 to 2020 (% of 2000)

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

100 50 82 82 72 72 64 55 56 42 0 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 GDP energy intensity by moderate variant GDP energy intensity by optimistic variant GDP dynamics, % of 2000, by optimistic variant GDP dynamics, % of 2000, by moderate variant

128 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 6.2.

hree important future indicators can be economic activities than any other country, Tproposed for Russia’s progress in representing approximately 65% of the achieving the Goal of environmental sus- country's surface area. This territory is sig- tainability within the MDG framework: nificantly more than ecosystems kept in their – virgin lands; natural state in other large countries: Brazil, – fixed asset replacement ratio; Canada, Australia, the USA and others. – population using drinking water, which Areas with natural ecosystems are shrinking does not meet hygiene standards (mil- worldwide: at the beginning of the 20th cen- lion.people). tury they had been destroyed on 20% of the world’s land surface, but now that figure is he first two indicators can be added to 61-63%. In Russia they are being reduced Tthe indicators of target 9 “Integrate the mainly by the energy and timber industries. principles of sustainable development into Russia’s indicator of virgin lands is impor- country policies and programmes and tant for the rest of the world. reverse the loss of natural resources”, and the third one to target 10 “To provide the nother indicator can be proposed, population with sustainable access to safe Awhich directly ties population number drinking water”. and polluted water consumption: “population using drinking water, which does not ndicators, which show contrary tenden- matching hygiene standards (million peo- Icies, can also be applied in the analysis of ple)”. At present in Russia 20% of drinking protection of ecosystem functions and biodi- water samples do not match hygiene stan- versity. Theory and world practice most dards. Departmental information of the often use the indicator of protected area Ministry of Natural Resources of the (MDG indicator 26). The area of these terri- Russian Federation can be used as statisti- tories in Russia is increasing. Russia plays cal basis for this indicator. the leading role in the world in terms of the preservation of global public goods, and he environmental threat of deterioration renders major ecological services to the Tand ageing of fixed assets was already whole planet. Russia’s ecosystem offers the mentioned above. The factor of capital biggest single contribution to planetary sta- renewal in the industry has dropped from bility, largely due to the huge areas of 10.6% in 1970 to 1.8% in 2003, reflecting Russia, which still remain in their natural completely inadequate investment levels. state. Russia has more land undisturbed by This indicator is available in state statistics.

129 Box 6.5.

Box 6.5. Environmental charges it of general budget reform in Russia, which naturally ter- Economic efficiency of the model of environmental minated the economic experiment of environmental impact charges impact payment as a possible state source of financing The system of payment for environmental impact for environmental projects and programs. Opponents of appeared at the end of 1992 and was as follows: this reform argued that it was better to have a small but – Facilities, which produced environmental impact, guaranteed budget for environmental purposes than to were subject to payment calculated as a product of depend on the will of Parliament in distribution of budg- payment rates multiplied by the scope of the et funds based on current socio-economic priorities. impact (atmospheric emissions, discharges into The general ratios of environmental charges within water, production and disposal of waste), and the allowed norms (chargeable to the enterprise's expense payment progressively increased depending on the items), and both within and above agreed limits excess over standard rates and provisionally (payable from net profit) were 40% and 60% respective- agreed limits of the impact; ly, according to average statistical estimates for 1999- – sums invested in environment protection measures 2001. Cost characteristics of the payments based on this (a specified list of approved works) were deductible ratio in main branches of the economy are shown in from the payments; Figure 1. The following figures show the significant size – revenues from the payments were accumulated in of extra payments for environmental impact: in non-fer- a system of special off-budget (environmental) rous metallurgy they were more than 450 million funds and were spent to finance federal and region- rubles, in fuel production 350 million rubles, and in the al environmental projects and programs. electric power industry more than 270 million rubles. Adoption of the Budget and Tax Codes (2000) ended Environmental payment for environmental impact the target-oriented use of funds raised from the pay- within permitted levels (as well as the total payment) is ments (at least, at federal level). This logic was in the spir- incommensurably small in comparison with the expenses required from enterprises to reduce environmental impact. For this reason the payment had ceased to be a Figure 1. Approximate ratio of standard and stimulating factor in realization of environmental protection investments by enterprises. According to the extra environmental payments in various Russian Statistics Service, the environmental payment for emissions (discharges) of pollutants within permitted branches of the economy levels and for waste disposal in 2000 was not more than mln. rubles 8.8% of investments in fixed capital assigned to envi- 500 450 ronmental protection, and only 1.8% of total expenses of 400 enterprises for environmental protection. At the same 350 time, according to expert estimates (survey of enterpris- 300 es in various industries), the amounts, which, according 250 to enterprises’ own estimates, were necessary as envi- 200 ronmental protection investments, exceeded actually 150 100 charged environmental payments by 2-3 times. 50 According to the main goal of state environmental 0 g policy, which is provision of citizens' rights to a favor- try g ls my kin vices allurgy able environment and preservation of sustainable envi- materia ransport metallurgyceutical) ht industry T Agriculture ma Fuel production Lig Food industry. ÔÓËÁ‚Ó‰ÒÚ‚‡ f the econo ronmental equilibrium, the primary purpose of the envi- , wood processin es o Ferrous met l-phar and relatedh ser Electrc power indus Nonferrous Construction ronmental payment should be to create economic Forestry ÔÓÏ˚¯Î al and petrochemical industry Housing and pulp and paper industry Other branc incentives for enterprises to reduce environmental al engineering(without medicaland metal equipment) wor ÑÛ„ËÂ Chemic(withoutnic chemica impact and convert their facilities to “environment- Mecha friendly” technologies (reduction of environmental Payment within permited levels of emissions (discharges) of pollutants,wastes disposal. impact, reduction of raw material input to production, increase of energy efficiency). However, the average Payment over permited levels of emissions (discharges) of pollutants,wastes disposal. standard environmental payment in 2000-2001 was just 0.04-0.05% of production costs (Figure 2.). Such tiny Figure 2. Ratio of standard environmental pay- payments, even if they were doubled as proposed, were insufficient to give enterprises significant financial ments to production costs (2000) incentives to reduce environmental impact. The proportion of environmental payment for stan- 0,14 dard emissions and discharges of pollutants, and waste disposal, in revenues of the federal budget for 2001 and 0,12 2002 was not more than approximately 0.05% and 0,10 0.04% of total tax revenues respectively. At that, the cost of administration of the payment was approximately 0,08 commensurable with its size. The complexity of pollu- 0,06 tion monitoring and the cumbersome nature of the payment system are evidenced by the fact that this fee was 0,04 levied on approximately 250 polluting companies, 0,02 although more than 95% of total receipts were from 35- 40 polluting companies. 0,00 g g ls , Value of federal and regional budget incomes from ry vices allurgy allurgy ineerin ustrymateria met t industry Transport Agriculture standard environmental payments for pollutant emis- Ligh Food industry Fuel production hemical industrymetal working sions and discharges and waste disposal was com- Ferrous metferrous hanical eng Non ec and Construction Electric power indust M Wood, wood processin mensurable with Government expenses for administra- Housing and related ser and paper and pulp ind tion of environmental protection and urgent environ- Chemical and petroc including fiour-and-cereals industry

130 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 mental interventions. However, environmental protec- Figure 3. Proportion of environmental extra pay- tion investments were financed from other sources of state income. ments in the total payments charged Different industries produce substantially different environmental impact above allowed standard rates (according to expert estimations) (Figure 3). The “dirtiest” industries, which produce above-standard impact, are the coal industry, ferrous 70 ,0 and nonferrous metallurgy, and wood processing. The proportion of extra environmental payments in those 60,0 industries exceeds 60% of the total payments charged. 50,0 Improvement of environmental payments mechanism 40,0 The Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” determines types of environmental impact, which become the 30,0 basis for collection of payment. However, the legislator has not defined the form of collection of payment, leav- 20,0 ing decision on that matter to a special law. A Government session in the spring of 2005 defined its 10,0 position on the payment, which essentially is as follows: - environmental extra payment should be established 0,0 and gradually increased as an incentive for payers to imple- ry y g g " king ation ment measures aimed at environmental protection within materials metallurgy Oil refining as industry t industry al production G Oil production etal wor emical industry Food industryLigh the framework of environmental protection investments; Co Wood processin Ferrous Ch erage of the branch and m Construction Av "Russian Feder - standard environmental payment (for environmen- ElectricNonferrous power indust metallurg Mechanical engineerin tal impact within the limits of effective standard rates) should be canceled; - the practice of setting provisionally agreed standard tants and to set regional rates of payment, based on rates (limits) on pollutant emissions and discharge their environmental situation. should be excluded; The corresponding draft federal law will be consid- - a basic list of pollutants should be finalized and ered by the State Duma in the autumn session of 2005, approved so that environmental payments can be when a final form of environmental payment and its administered and charged; basic characteristics will be determined. - subjects (regions) of the Russian Federation V.V. Gavrilov should be allowed to expand the basic list of pollu-

131 Chapter 7 Develop a global partnership for development

illennium Development Goal 8, dle-income countries like Russia should be M“Develop a Global Partnership for adapted to the specific development condi- Development”, calls on the international tions of each country. community to jointly address issues including creation of open and non-discriminatory he summary report of the UN Millennium trading and financial systems, adoption of a TProject, prepared under the direction of policy of duty-free and quota-free access for Professor J. Sachs, Adviser of the UN exports from less-developed countries to Secretary General on Achieving the other markets, resolution of the debt prob- Millennium Development Goals, and entitled lems of developing countries, implementa- “Investing in development: A Practical Plan to tion of an “Enhanced debt relief programme Achieve the Development Goals As Stated in for heavily indebted poor countries”, and the Millennium Declaration”, says the follow- provision of more generous official developing about the specific position of such coun- ment assistance to these countries. tries as Russia in the global partnership for development: “Middle-income countries are n addition to these general goals, the inter- challenged to complete the process of eradi- Inational community will need to develop cating extreme poverty within their own and implement strategies that would help countries and to join the ranks of donor coun- young people in developing countries find tries at the same time.” decent and productive work, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing coun- he Russian Federation, a legal successor tries (in cooperation with pharmaceutical com- Tof the USSR, became an independent panies), and make available to these countries, political subject of political and economic in cooperation with the private sector, the ben- relations in the modern world in 1991. The efits of new technology, including information new Russia designed its foreign policy based and communications technologies. on its new position and capabilities, and the state of its society, taking account of the ithin the framework of global partner- major change in its “weight” in the world and Wship for development, low-income qualitative shifts in international relations. countries are normally recipients of international assistance, and high-income countries ussia’s policy on participation in the glob- are its donors. Middle-income countries can Ral partnership for development is in a play both roles simultaneously, and that is formative stage. Creation of conceptual relevant to the case of Russia, which is a framework, principles and priorities is influ- heavily indebted middle-income country. enced by a number of internal and external Global partnership targets as applied to mid- factors. These include critical reconsideration

132 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 of Soviet assistance to developing countries, the Middle East, South East Asia, as well as reference to post-Soviet Russia’s experience Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, of receiving help from the outside world, Nicaragua, Guyana, and other countries. In analysis of the resource base of Russia’s for- Syria alone, beginning in 1957, the USSR con- eign policy and trends in its evolution, as well as review of Russia’s experience of participa- Although in 1990 Russia accounted for tion in international development assistance only 61% of national income and 59% of programmes up to now. national product in the USSR, the country assumed the entire 100% of former Soviet debt liabilities under a succes- 7.1. RUSSIA’S HISTORICAL sion treaty on foreign debt and assets of HERITAGE the former Soviet Union.

n the USSR, aid policy was largely deter- structed 63 facilities, which now provide 22% Imined by ideological considerations and of the country’s electrical power and 27% of commercial aspects were secondary. The aim its oil. Implementation of this strategy to sup- was to strengthen independence of develop- port socialist development made the Soviet ing countries from international “imperial- Union one of the world’s major donor states ism” and stimulate the recipient countries to and creditors. choose the socialist model of development. n the course of transformation of political oviet help was granted to countries, Idecision-making after the collapse of the Swhich declared their “socialist orienta- USSR and creation of the Russian Federation, tion” or abandoned the capitalist course of development of a conceptual policy frame- development, and was directed to develop- work for aid to foreign countries had low pri- ment of key branches of their economy. An ority. No special decision-making body was indispensable precondition for Soviet aid was set up to ensure implementation of such a that the recipient countries should promise policy. not to transfer facilities, built with Soviet help, to private owners. Assistance was granted s steady financing dried up, former- predominantly on a bilateral basis, which ASoviet economic structures began a ensured compliance with foreign policy direc- mass “exodus” from recipient countries. tives of the USSR leadership. However, their quite substantial economic interests in these countries were retained and enerous economic, scientific and tech- inherited by the Russian Federation. Gnological, and military aid to the socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, hen the USSR collapsed, total debt of the People's Republic of China, Socialist Wcountries, which were receiving Soviet Republic of Vietnam, Democratic People's help, totaled bout USD 80 billion. At the same Republic of Korea (DPRK), and to Cuba were time, Soviet debt to London and Paris clubs intended to strengthen the position of of creditors and other international financial Socialism worldwide. organizations was USD 108 billion. Although in 1990 Russia accounted for only 61% of oviet aid contributed significantly to national income and 59% of national product Sdevelopment of many countries in Africa, in the USSR, the country assumed the entire

133 Chapter 7

100% of former Soviet debt liabilities under a (according to some estimates, between USD succession treaty on foreign debt and assets 50 and USD 200 billion were exported in 1992 of the former Soviet Union. Russia also inher- alone). Russia’s borrowing and loans from ited all of the foreign property of the former international financial organizations grew USSR, and acquired the right to receive debt rapidly. repayments by the countries, which had been receiving Soviet help. he Russian Federation had to deal with Ttransformation of economic, social, and political systems, and at the same time 7.2. FORMATION OF RUSSIA’S address acute social and economic problems, POLICY ON THE GLOBAL PART- take measures to preserve the country's NERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT unity, and deal with other pressing issues of the transition period. ollowing 1991, the Russian Federation Fhad to find its place in a changing world, n terms of purchasing power parity, realize its national interests in the new condi- IRussian GDP in 1992 was 81% of 1990 level. tions, and construct its domestic and foreign By 1995 it had fallen to 63% of the 1990 level, policy accordingly. In developing a national and by 1998 to 57%. The country faced acute policy of global partnership, Russia must find forms of many of the problems defined in the the optimum balance between the need to Millennium Development Goals (more address domestic issues and the need to detailed accounts are given in previous increase its participation in international Chapters). This burden predefined Russia’s efforts to support development. role in global partnership as a recipient rather than a donor of international development assistance. 7.2.1. DOMESTIC FACTORS inancial and technical support from inter- ussia’s position and capabilities in the Fnational financial organizations (the Rglobal partnership for development are International Monetary Fund and World sensitive to major domestic factors such as Bank), countries of the European Union and successful completion of internal transforma- other states helped Russia to overcome the tions, securing high rates of economic growth initial phase of the transition period. These to rapidly overcome negative social and eco- parties provided assistance to Russia in order nomic consequences of the dismantling of to strengthen “democracy, rule of law and the socialist system, and increase of the public institutions”. The IMF allocated USD resource base of Russia’s policy. 22 billion to support market transformations in the Russian economy and create condi- ost-soviet Russia as a recipient of inter- tions for growth. The World Bank approved Pnational aid. Dismantling of the political 53 credit projects for Russia totaling USD 13.4 and economic systems of Socialism during billion; the European Union (EU) set up the 1990s was accompanied by a grave pro- Technical Assistance for the Commonwealth duction setback and violent drop of living of Independent States (TACIS) and (since standards for most Russians. The situation 1994) for Mongolia. The TACIS programme was aggravated by the amount of Soviet debt provided 1.2 billion ecu in 1991-1998 for inherited by Russia, mass capital flight implementation of 2000 projects in Russia. A

134 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 programme for higher education cooperation Box 7.1. Priorities of the international programmes of assistance for Russia IBRD strategy in Russia for fiscal years 2003-2005 was directed to supporting with the former USSR countries and improvement of the business climate and development of competition, enhancement of management of the state sector, social issues, combating infec- Mongolia, TEMPUS, was also launched. tious diseases, and protection of the environment. Future priorities for cooperation between the IMF and Russia include support for structural reforms and improving the country’s administrative system on the federal and regional level. uring the first phase of reforms, Russia The new 3.138 billion euro TACIS budget for 2000-2006 includes financial sup- Dhas failed to achieve the living standard port for restructuring of the Russian economy, funding for development programmes in the private sector, agriculture, power industry and transport, support targets that were later set out in the for reforms of the public administration, social services, and education. In April Millennium Development Goals. Russia still 1999, the EU Council approved the new TEMPUS programme for 2000-2006. needed international financial help to complete its transformations. ompletion of structural transformations is Ca large-scale and complex task that ynamics of Russia’s resource capabili- affects both resource capabilities of the coun- Dties. The extent and forms of Russia’s try and the socio-economic status of its peo- involvement in a global partnership must be ple. Considerable efforts and financial weighed against development of its resource resources need to be allocated for the 10-year capabilities. The current state of these capa- Programme of Social and Economic Reforms bilities defines Russia's role in global partner- adopted by the Russian Government in 2000. ship as both recipient and as donor. Its implementation will allow Russia to make a decisive step towards reaching the he second phase of Russian reforms at Millennium Development Goals in full (as Tthe end of the 1990s was marked by par- adapted to the country’s conditions) by 2015. tial recovery and early stages of economic Russia would find it very difficult to start pro- growth, slight reduction of poverty incidence, viding help to other countries on a large scale relative macroeconomic and political stabi- until it has resolved these domestic problems. lization. Budgetary and tax discipline was secured, and inflation was lowered from 86% espite relative success in addressing the in 1999 to 15% in 2002. The average econom- Dmost acute social and economic issues, ic growth rate, according to the IBRD, was 6% and despite a turn to economic growth, between 1999 and 2002. Russia’s GDP at the beginning of 21st century (in terms of purchasing power parity) was n the last few years, the Human one and a half times lower than the GDP of IDevelopment Index (HDI) in Russia has been showing signs of growth. In 1995 Russia Table 7.1. Gross domestic product in 1 was 72nd of 175 countries in terms of HPDI, in terms of purchasing power parity 2001 it was 60th and in 2002 it was 57th.

t the current stage of internal transfor- Amations in the country, priority is being given to infrastructure projects, which aim to ensure conditions for sustained economic growth, institutional transformations in the public administration, and support of social infrastructure. Programmes of cooperation between international financial organizations and Russia incorporate these issues (Box 7.1). 1 Data on all countries except Russia taken from OECD database.

135 Chapter 7

Italy, UK, and France each, almost two times which allows quickest possible achievement lower that GDP of Germany, over three times of the MDGs inside Russia, will help to lower than GDP of Japan, and more than nine expand the country’s resource base for partic- times lower than US GDP. Of the Group of ipation in international development assis- Eight (G-8), only Canada had GDP somewhat tance programmes as a donor state. lower than Russia (Table 7.1). GDP per capita in Russia was approximately three and a half ussia’s debt to international credit times lower than that of Italy, Germany, Rorganizations. High rates of borrowing Japan, France, and UK, almost four times from international financial organizations since lower than that of Canada, and almost five the beginning of 1990s increased Russia’s for- times lower than that of the USA. According eign debts to USD 189.2 billion by 1999. to the OECD, of the 42 countries that partici- pated in programmes of international GDP n agreement with the London Club, comparison in 2002, Russia ranked 38th Awhich includes the world’s leading com- between Mexico and Bulgaria (Appendix 7.1. mercial banks, on 25-year restructuring of the Table). Any forms of Russia’s participation in bulk of former USSR debt with a seven-year international development aid programmes, payment delay was signed on November 16, which would worsen the current situation in 1995 in Frankfurt. Russia undertook to pay off the country instead of improving it, cannot be USD 1.5 billion of interest in 1996, and pay in Russia’s national interests. back remaining interest over 20 years with the same payment delay as for the principal owever, the Russian government amount. Agreement on restructuring of Hbelieves that it has the capacity to Russia’s commercial debt was signed resolve the current economic and social prob- February 11, 2000. It provided for remission lems, including meeting the Millennium of 36.5% (USD 10.6 billion) of the debt princi- Goals in Russia, primarily with internal pal and 33% (USD 2.2 billion) of bonds issued resources, without further engagement of by the Russian Foreign Trade Bank borrowed international funds. This is facilitat- (Vneshekonombank). The remaining sum ed by growing monetary reserves at the was converted into Eurobonds to be secured Central Bank of Russia thanks to high prices by the Russian Government, with 30-year for energy resources and some other Russian payment delay and seven-year grace period. export articles in the world market. his agreement created an important he Russian Ministry of Finance plans to Tprecedent, which was used as the basis Tstop foreign borrowing completely in for a similar agreement with the Paris Club of 2009. In 2006, the Russian Government Creditors (PCC) on long-term restructuring of intends to raise a total of USD 1 billion in the USD 38 billion former USSR debt on sim- credits from international financial organiza- ilar conditions. However, no agreement on tions and governments of foreign states, then comprehensive restructuring of Russia’s ex- over USD 700 million in 2007, and over USD Soviet debt to the PCC was reached. 600 million in 2008. eanwhile, the average servicing rate of he above-mentioned report by experts MRussia’s foreign debt is now as high as Theaded by Jeffrey D. Sachs agrees that 7.13% or close to USD 7 billion yearly. The reduction of Russia’s debt burden to a level, Russian Minister of Finance, Alexei Kudrin,

136 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 believes that servicing cost of this debt is three of Creditors at face value, to be carried out in to four times higher than international debt June to August 2005. The Agreement reduces servicing costs paid by other countries in the Russia’s debt to about USD 25 billion. Group of Eight (G-8). Between 1996 and 2001, According to the Russian Minister of Finance, hard currency payments to PCC countries this early repayment will save Russia USD 6 totaled USD 19.08 billion, including USD 8.78 billion. The Minister emphasized that the billion of debt principal and USD 10.3 billion funds saved will be used for social issues and interest. Settlement of former USSR debt was investment, enhancing resource capabilities USD 9.94 billion, or 52.13% of total payments. of Russian development aid policy.

he debt to PCC countries is now Russia’s hanges in the domestic decision-making Tbiggest debt. Its repayment is scheduled Cprocedure. Reforms in Russia have led to for 2012-2015. Russia currently spends USD 2 fundamental changes in the domestic deci- billion a year in interest payments. As of January 1, 2005, Russia’s ex-Soviet debt to Representative bodies (federal and the PCC was USD 43.1 billion, representing regional parliaments) and civil society the largest part of Russia’s debt to the Club. organizations will perform key functions Russia’s key creditors in the PCC are: in determining the nature of Russia’s par- Germany (USD 20.3 billion), Italy (USD 5.7 bil- ticipation in global partnership for develop- lion), Japan (USD 3.7 billion), USA (USD 3.5 ment, in providing resource potential, and billion), and France (USD 3.4 billion). Russia is in controlling implementation. willing to pay these debts ahead of schedule, as it has already done with IMF debt. sion-making procedure, as new social and Anticipatory payment of its USD 3.3 billion economic interest groups emerged within debt to the IMF, due in 2005-2008, has saved society. These groups have created political Russia USD 204 million in interest payments. parties, business structures, trade unions, uncensored mass media, and civil society ttempts by the Russian Government to organizations to protect their interests and for Aobtain discount on interest due on PCC political lobbying (these issues are discussed debt that is discharged ahead-of-schedule in more detail in Chapter 9). have not yet met with full understanding among PCC creditors, but acceptance of ublic opinion is becoming an important Russia’s proposals would let it direct substan- Pdomestic factor that can influence the tial funds, saved on interest payments, to par- future content of Russia’s participation in glob- tial financing of accelerated MDG implemen- al partnership and the extent of its official tation efforts in Russia. This could strengthen development aid. In order to gain the support Russia’s credit rating. Settlement of a consid- of public opinion, Russia’s policy in this respect erable portion of Russia’s debt to the PCC must not clash with efforts to raise well-being could lower the country’s national-debt-to- and living standards inside the country. GDP ratio to 14% by the end of 2006 from over 100% at the end of 1999. epresentative bodies (federal and region- Ral parliaments) and civil society organiza- n June 2005, Russia signed an agreement tions will perform key functions in determin- Ion advance repayment of USD 15 billion of ing the nature of Russia’s participation in (predominantly Soviet) debt to the Paris Club global partnership for development, in pro-

137 Chapter 7

viding resource potential, and in controlling al interests. Systemic transformation of implementation. Involvement of these parties Russian society has overcome former incom- in decision making about Russia’s participa- patibility of its values, and economic and tion in the global partnership has been limit- political system with those of Western coun- ed before now, but that is likely to change. tries, helping lay a groundwork for Russia’s integration into the world economy. ussian business circles play an increasing- Rly significant role in implementation of nsuring favorable external conditions for development assistance projects. Closer coor- ERussia’s progressive development is the dination between public and private institu- major goal of the country’s foreign policy. Russia’s strategy for participation in the glob- Russia’s participation in international al partnership must rely on clear understand- development assistance projects can help ing of the role, which “global public benefits” employ thousands of people in various play in Russian national interests, and of how branches of Russian industry and supply global problems influence Russian socio-eco- Russian businesses with foreign orders. nomic development.

tions in the effort to secure long-term econom- lobal public benefits” and national ic interests of the country helps to create favor- “Ginterests. Protection of national able conditions for Russian business on foreign interests is the main priority of Russia’s for- markets and to protect legitimate interests of eign policy. Everyday life of Russians, the Russian business abroad. This purpose is country’s socio-economic development, and served by cooperation agreements between the state of its human potential are increas- the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), ingly influenced by global demographic, Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and migrational, environmental, energy, resource, Industrialists (RUEI), Union of Oil and Gas and food issues. Producers, the NGO Business Russia (Delovaya Rossiya), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. s Chapter 5 of this Report indicates, the ARussian dimension of the global spread ussia’s participation in international of AIDS poses a real threat to national inter- Rdevelopment assistance projects can ests. Russia will also be unable to completely help employ thousands of people in various free itself from the virulent poliomyelitis virus branches of Russian industry and supply until this infection is eradicated in a number of Russian businesses with foreign orders, thus countries of Asia and Africa. Russia’s demo- boosting prosperity of Russians and promot- graphic situation is a matter of growing con- ing a more favorable attitude towards the cern, since natural population decline in the country’s participation in global partnership. last 14 years has totaled 10.4 million people. Replenishment through migration has compensated the loss to some extent, limiting the 7.2.2. INTERNATIONAL FACTORS total decline to 5.3 million. But Russia’s employable population may decrease by arge-scale economic, political, and social about 10 million more in 2006-2018. Lreforms in Russia have caused violent transformations in social relations, custom- ccording to the Minister of Regional ary ways of life, and understanding of nation- ADevelopment, if current demographic

138 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 trends persist, there will be four dependants priority to Russian cooperation in resolving per working citizen in Russia by 2025. Existing these problems on a global scale. demographic trends could create serious Otherwise, the relevance of these national obstacles to social and economic develop- programmes is dubious. This approach will ment in most regions of the Russian give conceptual integrity to Russia’s partic- Federation and jeopardize financial stability ipation in global partnership for develop- of the pension system, the medical insurance ment based on the MDGs, and will define system, and other vitally important spheres the place of “global public benefits” in of social security. Russian national interests.

here is an increasingly urgent need for an ussia’s integration to the world econo- Timmigration policy to match national inter- Rmy. High economic growth rates offer a ests, allowing replenishment of the Russian solid basis for accelerated implementation of population with young, educated, and employ- the Russia-adapted MDGs, improvement of able citizens. Russia will have to be absorbing the country’s well-being, and growth and up to 2 million such immigrants annually in 10 development of its human potential. Strong years time to maintain strong rates of eco- economic growth also helps Russia to inten- nomic growth. Surplus labor in some CIS sify its contribution to international develop- countries and in many developing countries ment assistance programmes as a donor. offers the main source for such immigration. central precondition for high economic ussia has vast deposits of energy, raw Agrowth rates in Russia is the country’s Rmaterials, and other natural resources of integration into global economic structures global importance, and its involvement in inter- and comprehensive and equal participation national natural-resource trading directly affects of Russia in development of basic operating national interests, well-being of the population, principles of global financial and economic prospects for development of a number of systems. The county also needs to be industrial sectors, and employment levels. In this area, fundamental national interests of the It would be in Russia’s interests to focus country have obvious global dimensions. its attention and resources on top-priority support of national and international lobal challenges cannot be properly programmes targeting global problems, Gresolved by efforts of one country or which are particularly manifest in Russia several countries: international mechanisms itself and have serious impact on the need to be created to address them jointly country’s human potential. with relevant joint financing. It would be in Russia’s interests to focus its attention and involved in multilateral mechanisms that gov- resources on top-priority support of national ern international trade and economic, mone- and international programmes targeting tary, scientific, technological, and investment global problems, which are particularly man- relations. Dealing with these issues is the top ifest in Russia itself and have serious impact priority of Russia’s foreign policy in interna- on the country’s human potential. tional economic relations.

ational programmes of economic and he process of Russia’s accession to the Nsocial development must give high- TWorld Trade Organization (WTO) has

139 Chapter 7

reached its concluding phase, and work to 1994 Russia and the Organization for align Russian legislation with WTO standards Economic Cooperation and Development is mainly complete, although a limited num- (OECD) signed a declaration on cooperation. ber of issues need to be coordinated in bilat- The OECD is considered to be the “brain center” of the world economy, setting the “rules” Lack of conceptual integrity and well- for international economic relations. Russia is designed long-term strategy meant that, also making steps toward further cooperation until recently, Russia’s participation in with regional and sub-regional integration international development programmes structures in Africa and Latin America. tended to be influenced by short-term economic or political goals of particular Government agencies or their heads, 7.2.3. RUSSIA’S PARTICIPATION rather than Russia’s strategic interests. IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP- MENT PROGRAMMES eral negotiations. The 2005 World Bank report – “Russia’s Accession to the WTO. How This ack of conceptual integrity and well- Will Affect Macroeconomics, Various Ldesigned long-term strategy meant that, Industries, the Labor Market, and the until recently, Russia’s participation in inter- Population” - says that Russia’s yearly profit national development programmes tended from accession to the WTO will be USD 19 bil- to be influenced by short-term economic or lion thanks to liberalization of barriers, which political goals of particular Government keep foreign companies off the Russian mar- agencies or their heads, rather than ket. However, experts of the Russian Russia’s strategic interests. That inevitably Academy of Sciences (RAS) estimate that led to dispersion of limited resources, WTO membership will not give Russia either reducing their impact. losses or dividends exceeding 1% of GDP. Accuracy of optimistic or pessimistic esti- espite the grave economic situation in mates will depend on the final conditions, on D1992, the Russian Government decided which Russia enters the WTO. in that year to contribute 100 million SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) to the ussia has become a member of the G8, International Development Agency (IDA). Rand actively participates in the work of the This decision was implemented over the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the next eight years. After failing to keep up European Bank for Reconstruction and payments to the IDA, the Government nev- Development (EBRD), and the Paris Club of ertheless decided to make its scheduled Creditors. The country has also been a stock- contribution in 1996, although Russia could holder in the World Bank since 1992. In 1998, not afford to do. This can be taken as an Russia joined the Asia-Pacific Economic illustration of the lack of a well-thought-out Cooperation (APEC) intergovernmental forum. concept for participation in international Russia and the EU have an agreement on part- development programmes. nership and cooperation, and the EU has offered to promote integration of Russia into t seems more reasonable to judge tenden- the world trade system. In 2002, the Russian Icies and priorities of Russia’s global devel- Government and the European Investment opment partnership policy by practical Bank (EIB) signed a Framework Agreement. In actions in very recent years.

140 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 peaking at the OECD forum “Russian Box 7.2. Write-offs by Russia of debts owed to it by other countries In January 2005 Russia decided to write off USD 9.78 billion out of Syria’s USD SExperience in Development Assistance 13 billion debt. Syria agreed to pay the remaining USD 3.618 billion in parts: USD 2.118 billion should be transferred to Russia’s account in a Syrian bank and the and Reduction of Poverty: Implementing the other USD 1.5 billion is to be repaid within 10 years. Millennium Goals” in February 2005 in Paris, Russia has granted a debt amnesty of USD 11.1 billion to Mongolia, which had repaid USD 300 million of its debt to Russia. Vietnamese debts totaling USD 9.53 the chief Russian delegate emphasized that billion have been written off and remaining USD 1.5 billion is to be repaid Russian efforts are focused on relief of debts between 2016 and 2022. In 2001 Russia wrote of 80% of debt owned by Ethiopia and a further USD 1.12 owed by the world’s poorest countries. Russia billion was practically written off in March 2005, in the framework of the PCC. has written off debts of developing countries Outstanding USD 164 million should be repaid before 2035. In 1992 Russia wrote off USD 2.55 billion of USD 3.11 billion owned by to the value of more than USD 40 billion in the Nicaragua. However, Nicaragua failed to keep up payments and the balance returned to USD 3.4 billion by 1996. Russia then forgave 90% of the Nicaraguan last three years alone (Box 7.2 and Table 7.2). debt, suggesting payment of the remainder over 15 years. In 2004 the residual 10% was also forgiven. Angolan debt of USD 5 billion was restructured in 1996, when Russia wrote off n terms of debts written off versus Russia’s 70% of the debt, having received Angola's obligation to repay the remaining IGross Domestic Product, Russia’s debt for- debt in the form of bills by 2016. In 1997 Russia forgave 80% of USD 2.54 billion debt owned by Mozambique, and 50% of the remainder was forgiven in 2002 giveness of poor countries has been more with creation of a 30-year installment plan to settle the rest of the debt. About generous than that by any other lender, even 70% of Laos’ debt of USD 1.08 billion was written off by Russia in 2003. The rest, with interest at a special reduced rate, is to be repaid by Laos before 2036. In though Russian resource capabilities are 2001 Zambia’s debt of USD 798 million was re-structured with similar conditions. appreciably lower than those of high-income In March 2005 Russia decided to write off more than 90% of the Iraqi debt totaling almost USD 9 billion, based on an understanding that Russia’s economic countries and even some middle-income interests and interests of Russian companies in Iraq will be taken into account. USD 117 million of Tanzanian debt and USD 114 million of Mali debt have been countries. Absolute figures of Russian write- written off in the last four years, as have at least half of debts owed by Algeria, offs have exceeded figures of all G8 members Ghana, Guinea, Yemen, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Guyana. Agreements have yet to be reached with other debtor countries, including Afghanistan, Algeria, except for Japan and France. And the real Yemen, Cambodia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Cuba and Libya. extent of Russian participation in international development aid is even higher. uch investments are likely to grow quickly Sthanks to deepening cooperation between s is known, Russia has relieved ex-Soviet the CIS countries in aerospace, transport devel- Arepublics (now independent countries opment, oil and gas (including the Caspian Sea with low incomes), including Azerbaijan, region), electric power, information and com- Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tadjikistan munication technologies and other segments. of their shares of Soviet debt, and now pays There are additional stimuli for growth of high interest on that debt to the Paris Club. Russian direct investments in CIS countries Russia thus has to pay a surtax to the Paris based on development of integration between Club for the amount of debts forgiven by Russia to these countries. Such creditor prac- Absolute figures of Russian write-offs tice is unprecedented; it does not match the have exceeded figures of all G8 mem- spirit or letter of global partnership for devel- bers except for Japan and France. opment based on the MDGs. Russia and Belarus, the Common Economic t is also a fact that many CIS countries receive Space between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Imajor Russian aid in the form of money, Kazakhstan, as well as Euro-Asian and Black which they save due to differences between the Sea economic cooperation, etc. prices at which Russia sells various goods (notably fuel) to these countries and world ussia trains specialists for many CIS coun- prices. Finally, Russian business plays an Rtries and developing states. Besides teach- important role in economic and social developing foreign students in Russian educational ment of many CIS countries (Table 7.3). institutions, Russia assists in establishing vari-

141 Chapter 7

Table 7.2. Largest debts written off Tajikistan the number of people infected with by Russia AIDS has grown by 1700% since 2000 and a similar situation has developed in Uzbekistan. The World Bank has allocated USD 25 million to fight HIV and AIDS in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Aid for this purpose is also being provided by the Global Initiative to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in which Russia is both a donor and a recipient.

ussia has taken a USD 150 million loan from the IBRD to finance the project Source: “Kommersant Daily”, No. 16, February 1, 2005 R * As evaluated by Vnesheconombank. According to Standard and Poor's rating agency infor- “Prevention, Diagnostics, Treatment of mation, the debt was USD 10 billion, and the write-off was USD 9.7 billion. ** Preliminary estimation by Russian Ministry of Finance. Tuberculosis and AIDS”, which aims to sta- *** After clearing (cross-cancellation) of Russian debt to Syria. bilize and then reduce statistics on these dis- **** The initial amount of the debt for 1992 without interest for the next years eases in Russia. Effectiveness of the struggle ous professional educational institutes abroad. against HIV and AIDS in Russia will be sig- Slav universities in Baku, Yerevan, Bishkek nificantly impaired unless Russia helps to have been opened with Russian assistance, a combat the disease in neighboring Central branch of Moscow State University functions in Asian countries. The same applies to other Crimea, and agreement has been reached on global problems, whose negative manifesta- opening of a University in Egypt with Russian tions are felt both in Russia and in neighbor- assistance. Development of such activities in ing CIS countries. the future will be an important element of Russian participation in global partnership for ussian aid to countries, which have been development, and will have an influence on the Rvictims of natural and man-made disas- country’s long-term immigration policy. ters, has increased significantly in recent years. In particular, Russia contributed USD 30 million evelopment of equitable and mutually of targeted humanitarian, technical and med- Dadvantageous relations with other CIS ical aid in the beginning of 2005 to Asian and states and Russia’s traditional partners is in South-East Asian countries affected by the cat- accordance with the Government’s National astrophic tsunami. Security Concept, matches Russia’s national interests in the international sphere and has pri- s well as offering assistance on a bilateral ority significance for the country. Abasis, Russia is expanding its participation in financing of United Nations agencies. The ussia supports in particular the efforts of country also helps to replenish resources of the RCIS countries in the struggle against International Development Agency (IDA) and manifestations of global problems, which are other international financial organizations, and also having serious effects in Russia. For helps to realize their development assistance ini- example, according to World Bank experts, tiatives, including the Global Fund for the increase of HIV-infection in some parts of the Struggle Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and former Soviet Republics of Central Asia has Malaria, the Trust Fund for the Initiative for exceeded 1000% in just four years. In Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), and the

142 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Global Initiative on Liquidation of Poliomyelitis. duties. Goods falling under such preferential Russia allocated average USD 65 million dollars treatment had value of USD 345 million out of annually for these purposes in 1998-2002. In total USD 600 million Russian imports from 2004 Russia invested USD 11 million as multi- Africa in 2003. partite aid under the World Food Programme. The country supports activities of regional eco- ussian companies are involved in a num- nomic commissions of the Economic and Social Rber of large African investment projects in Council (ECOSOC), in particular the United mineral resources, power, and metallurgy, and Nations European Economic Commission (EEC), Russia provides much aid to African countries as well as the United Nations Economic and in education and public health services. Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Russian business is taking part in efforts to (ESCAP, the only universal body on multipartite intensify trade and economic cooperation socio-economic cooperation in that region). between Russia and the South Africa Regional

ussia, as a shareholder of the World Bank, In 1998-2004 Russia wrote off debts of Rsupports the Bank’s efforts to provide inter- African countries totaling about USD 14 national development aid. An agreement billion and at the summer 2005 G8 meet- between Russia and the World Bank to hold reg- ing the country expressed readiness to ular consultations on problems of the Central write off a further USD 2.2 billion dollars Asian region was reached in November 2002, of African debt. Russia grants trade pref- within the framework of these efforts. Russia has erences to 50 African countries, includ- also expressed interest in discussing questions ing the 29 least developed, whose of economic development of Transcaucasia, and imports to Russia are not liable to cus- reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq. toms duties. Goods falling under such preferential treatment had value of USD ussia pays special attention to helping 345 million out of total USD 600 million Rcountries in Africa, which is often regarded Russian imports from Africa in 2003. as the world’s “poverty epicenter”, both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of UN Development Community (SADC), which incor- projects, the G8 and other multipartite forums. porates 14 African states. Negotiations are Russia views the international project “New underway for signing of cooperation agree- Partnership for Africa’s Development” ments between Russia’s Chamber of (NEPAD), approved in 2002 on the initiative of Commerce and Industry and partner organiza- African countries, as the key strategy for coop- tions in the SADC countries (Angola, eration between Africa and the international Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania). community. ussia is evolving political dialogue with n 1998-2004 Russia wrote off debts of African Rthe Organization of African Unity (éÄU) Icountries totaling about USD 14 billion and at and sub-regional organizations, hoping to the summer 2005 G8 meeting the country work through these organizations in order to expressed readiness to write off a further USD access multipartite economic projects on the 2.2 billion dollars of African debt. Russia grants African continent. In August 2002 the Russian trade preferences to 50 African countries, Government decided to co-finance expenses including the 29 least developed, whose of the IMF’s Comprehensive Programme of imports to Russia are not liable to customs Technical Assistance to African Countries,

143 Chapter 7

Table 7.3. Total amount of Russian MDGs at home using their own resources and investments in CIS economies regular credits (loans provided by the World Bank and regional development banks on commercial terms). The experts suggested that the definition “acceptable indebtedness level” be replaced with a new wording – “indebtedness level, which does not block achievement of the goals of development as set out in the Millennium Declaration” – and recommended to speed up relief of debt burdens of the most indebted middle-income countries, particularly through the Paris Club.

t the current stage of its development, ARussia is gradually laying aside its role as a recipient of international development, and and Russia joined Great Britain, Germany, aiming to attain the MDGs domestically Italy, France, Japan, and the African Bank of through its own efforts and, in large measure, Development to help fund an IMF programme at its own expense. Russia is also making for creation of African regional technical help efforts to increase its contributions to interna- centers. The programme is being implement- tional aid programmes and international devel- ed within the framework of the African Fund opment initiatives. for Consolidation of Personnel and 1. Russia’s domestic development priority for Organizational Potential. the coming decade is to complete its process of social transformation, including such expen- his review of Russian participation in bilat- sive and socially painful reforms as transfor- Teral and international assistance pro- mation of the state administration, education grammes combined with analysis of domestic and health, housing-and-municipal utilities, and international factors, and trends in Russia’s and structural reorganization of the economy. resource base gives an idea of how Russia’s 2. The major element in Russia’s transforma- role in the global partnership for development tion will be steadily high rates of economic is shaping up. growth including no less than doubling of Gross Domestic Product. 3. Complete achievement of the MDGs with- 7.3. RUSSIA’S URGENT OBJEC- in Russia is a task of paramount importance in TIVES IN THE CONTEXT OF the coming decade. Domestic implementation GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR of the MDGs, in a form adapted to Russian DEVELOPMENT conditions, is an excellent way of ensuring that current socio-economic transformations have a he Report to the UN Secretary General, social orientation. Successful advance in this T“Investing in Development: A Practical direction will enable Russia to strengthen its Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development capacities as a donor of international develop- Goals As Stated in the Millennium Declaration” ment aid. notes that average-income countries, such as 4. At a time when Russia has to tackle large- Russia, can provide financing to achieve the scale socio-economic problems and achieve

144 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 the MDG at home using its own resources, the which are adequate to national interests. They diversion of significant funds to meet debt lia- should be reflected in Russia’s Foreign Policy bilities and the high interest on those liabilities Concept and National Security Concept. hinders and protracts the country’ progress Priority significance at an initial stage should be towards becoming an international aid donor. given to programmes which can bring direct or Advance payment of Russia’s liabilities to inter- appreciable indirect benefits to Russia. national financial institutions on conditions that 7. The concept of Russian policy in global are adequate to national interests will speed up partnership for development should define the economic growth, help attain higher standards place of “global public benefits” in Russian of well-being in Russia and significantly national interests, and should make clear what expand the resource base for Russia’s partici- is Russia’s understanding of the global partner- pation in the global partnership for develop- ship itself, of forms of participation in it by var- ment as a donor country. Such a scenario ious groups of countries, and of the purposes would meet both Russia’s interests and inter- and means for achievement of such global ben- ests of the entire international community. efits. The Concept should take account of the Russia’s mass write-off of debts of the poorest specificity of Russia’s participation in such part- countries to the former Soviet Union helps nership as a middle-income country and for- those countries to attain the MDGs and mulate conditions whose fulfillment would deserves to be reflected in lightening of the allow Russia’s transformation from a predomi- burden of service of Russia’s own indebtedness nantly recipient country into a donor of inter- to the PCC in order to help accelerate achieve- national development assistance. ment of the MDGs inside Russia. Freeing 8. Until now Russia has no special establish- Russia from the obligation to pay high interest ment responsible for realization of Russian pol- on debts of CIS states, which Russia itself wrote icy in the relevant area and authorized to coor- off, would comply with standard practice of dinate activity of various ministries and depart- rendering development assistance. ments, economic entities, business structures, 5. A precondition for successful and secure scientific research institutes and civil society achievement of the first seven MDGs inside organizations. It might be expedient to create a Russia is its partnership in international efforts National Agency for Development Assistance, to solve mainly those problems, which are par- taking account of specificities of Russia’s particularly acute in Russia itself and which affect ticipation in global partnership and experience its native national interests. Acting both as a of the work of similar establishments in other recipient and as a donor, Russia should also countries. support similar efforts by neighboring coun- 9. Contents of Russia’s future strategy in this tries, on both bilateral and multipartite bases. area should take account of fundamental val- Russia’s participation in such international pro- ues reflecting the new state of Russian society grammes as a donor state should be viewed as — adherence to respect of human rights and an integral part of its efforts to solve these personal freedom, a market economy and problems domestically. democratic values. 6. Russia’s policy of participation in the glob- 10. State policy in global partnership, and the al partnership for development is not yet fully forms and amounts of Russia’s development formed and not yet integrated in programmes assistance should be discussed openly with for current and future national development. Government representatives at various levels, Russia has yet to develop and ratify basic mass media, public organizations and Russian dimensions of its future strategy in this area, business. There is a need to convince enlight-

145 Chapter 7

ened public opinion in Russia of the benefits for able aid to the poorest CIS countries, and pro- the country from participating in the task of motes solution of acute economic, social and global development. other obstacles to stable development in those countries. Russia also participates in bilateral he analysis in this Chapter suggests the fol- and international programmes of assistance to Tlowing formulation of MDG 8, adapted for African countries. Support for Russian busi- Russia: “Participation in global development ness investments in CIS countries and other partnership adequate to Russian national inter- developing states would be of special signifi- ests, focused on: cance in this respect. – creation of favorable international conditions for elimination of internal obstacles to arget 14: Satisfy special needs of devel- human capital development and achieve- Toping countries, which do not have ment of the MDGs inside Russia; access to the sea, and small island countries. – priority assistance by Russia in solution of Land-locked countries with which Russia global problems, which are acutely mani- maintains active economic ties includes fested inside Russia itself; many Central Asian countries, Armenia, – gradual build-up of Russia’s contribution to Moldova and Mongolia. international development programmes as a donor country.” arget 15: To solve debt problems of devel- Toping countries in a package, using both e will now consider possible interpreta- national and international actions. National Wtion of targets attaching to MDG 8 for actions were described in this Chapter. Russia, Russia. as a permanent member of the G8, the IMF, the World Bank and other international bodies, can arget 12: To continue creation of open, assist efforts of the international community in Trule-based, predictable and non-discrimi- achieving this target. In particular, at the recent natory trade and financial systems. Russia meeting of the G8 in Scotland, Russia took an adheres to the rules, which govern interna- active part in formulating G8 initiatives for tional finance and trade. It aspires to partici- helping development of African states. pate in regulation of acting rules in accordance with its national interests, being guided arget 16: In cooperation with the devel- by adherence to respect of human rights and Toping countries to develop and realize personal freedoms, market economy princi- strategies allowing young people to find wor- ples and democratic values. Russia’s member- thy and productive work. Russia should par- ship of the IMF, the World Bank, its coopera- ticipate in solution of these problems, since tion in the framework of G8, participation in the country already trains young people from regional agreements, growing cooperation developing countries and could enhance with the European Union and with other CIS quality of their workforce, partly for subse- countries, and intention to join the WTO fol- quent employment in Russia. low the spirit and letter of target 12. arget 17: In cooperation with pharmaceuti- arget 13: Satisfy special needs of the least Tcal companies provide availability of inex- Tdeveloped countries. Russia is among pensive basic pharmaceuticals in developing world leaders by amounts of debt write-off for countries. This task is urgent inside Russia the poorest countries. It also renders consider- itself. Solution of the problem domestically will

146 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 prepare the Russian Federation to increase CIS countries with low incomes and in other help to developing countries in this domain, developing countries. including cooperation with national and for- 7. Amount of funds provided by Russia to eign pharmaceutical companies. finance professional training of young people in developing countries. arget 18: In cooperation with the private 8. Dynamics of legal immigration into Russia. Tsector to take actions so that all countries could enjoy the advantage of new technologies, especially information and communica- 7.5. POSSIBLE SCENARIOS tion technologies. Again this task also requires urgent solution inside Russia. While working to he international target parameter of Official install such technologies at home, Russia is TAid for Development (OAD) allocated by also helping to finance relevant technical assis- developed countries is 0.7% of gross national tance to African countries, working with many product. At present this parameter is achieved CIS countries in this field, and providing rele- (or exceeded) by Denmark, Luxembourg, the vant educational support. Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Commitments to follow a schedule for achievement of this target by 2015 have been given by 7.4. MONITORING OF RUSSIA’S Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Great Britain, Finland ADVANCE TO GOAL 8 and France. OAD in donor countries in 2002 averaged 0.23% of gross domestic product. ost of the issues that relate to the global Russia as a middle-income country with per cap- Mpartnership for development have signif- ital GDP three-five times lower than donor coun- icant domestic and international political tries, the 0.23% target parameter is unlikely to be dimensions. Monitoring of these dimensions is achievable in the coming decade (not including very difficult. Several parameters can be sug- sums of written-off debts and price preferences gested, none of which give a complete picture in trade with low-income countries). of Russia’s advance towards Goal 8 (in its form adapted to Russian conditions), but which help hether various scenarios for Russia’s fur- to ascertain whether or not progress in the Wther participation in global development right direction is being made: partnership are realistic does not only depend 1. Amount of funds borrowed from external on change in Russia’s available resources for sources and intended for financing of activity to this purpose, but also on internal and external achieve Goals 1-7 of the MDG. political factors, which can only by assessed 2. Rate of reduction of Russia’s debt burden hypothetically. Political and economic vague- to the PCC and its yearly payments to PCC ness makes it impossible to realistically predict members. the character and scale of Russia’s participation 3. Amount of funds being paid to Russia in global development partnership in the com- annually by debtor countries. ing decade. 4. Amount of funds provided by Russia to support official bilateral aid. t can be assumed at any rate that Russia 5. Amount of funds provided by Russia as a Iwill continue to write off bad debts of the participant of international programmes and poorest countries, that the amount of bor- projects for development aid. rowings from external sources specifically 6. Amount of Russia’s direct investments in for achievement of the MDGs (adapted to

147 Chapter 7

country conditions) will be reduced, and that international aid programmes for develop- the Russian Government will work to reduce ment and projects for solution of global the burden of Soviet debts to be repaid by problems, particularly those with immediate Russia to the Paris Club. It is realistic to impact on socio-economic conditions in assume more Russian involvement in vari- Russia. It can also be assumed that Russia ous forms of assistance to CIS countries. will implement programmes to stimulate Russia will also continue assisting develop- legal immigration of excess labor from the ment of African countries on both a bilateral CIS and developing countries, and make and international basis, including aid with efforts to train the migrants. Priorities of involvement of Russian business. In addition Russia’s global partnership policy will the poorest countries will be granted further evolve as the domestic situation and avail- preferences in trade (import of their goods able resources allow, and will be influenced to Russia will not be liable to customs by success or failure of international efforts duties). As it increases its resources the to solve problems of sustainable develop- Russian Federation will take a greater part in ment worldwide.

Box 7.3. Russia's participation in G8 country’s recent strong economic development, growth Russia views G8 as a key international forum in which of gold and currency reserves, responsible policy in the leaders of the main democratic industrial countries world energy markets, and a well-defined procedure for coordinate collective approaches to solving pressing repayment of foreign debts. problems of global politics and the economy, as well as Growth of the national economy enables Russia to global problems of human development. The scope of increase its participation in G8 efforts to resolve acute issues discussed by G8 is very wide and substantially problems of developing countries. Russia is one of the coincides with the issues set out in the United Nations main participants in the programme for reduction of Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Therefore, real- debts of the poorest countries. Russia has contributed ization of G8 decisions promotes achievement of the USD 11.25 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Millennium Goals, including the development goals. Tuberculosis and Malaria, USD 11 million to the World Russia views its participation in G8 as an important Food Programme, and USD 8 million to the World and distinct trend of its foreign policy, one of the major Health Organization to fight poliomyelitis. tools for realization of its national interests based on Together with its G8 partners, Russia takes an active multilateral interaction, and a means for acceleration of part in implementation of the NEPAD programme and a integration into the world economy and creation of long-term G8 Africa Action Plan as well as respective favorable external conditions for further socio-econom- decisions of the Evian and Sea-Island summits. Russia ic development inside Russia. has written off or committed to write off debts of The Russian position in G8 has been considerably African countries to the value of USD 16.5 billion. strengthened in recent years, as acknowledged by the deci- Russia applies preferential customs and tariffs on sion of the Kananaskis Summit (Canada, June 2002) that goods from African countries. G8 presidency functions should be granted to Russia in Development of joint approaches to solving global 2006. The decision demonstrates recognition by other G8 problems is an important aspect of Russian participa- members of Russia’s increasing role in the modern world. tion in G8. Thus, the innovative G8 decision on cooper- Active participation by Russia in G8 promotes inter- ation in the most promising science and technology ini- national security. Our country takes an active part in ful- tiatives (hydrogen power, bio- and agriculture technolo- filling G8 decisions aimed at non-proliferation of gies, global monitoring of natural processes) was weapons of mass destruction and materials and tech- approved by the Evian Summit (2003) with active par- nologies for their development. ticipation of Russia. G8 involvement in the war against terrorism is very Various activities to prepare Russia’s G8 presidency in important for Russia. Decisions at the Kananaskis, Evian 2006 are now being carried out. Russia wants to ensure and Sea-Island summits have generated a substantial continuity of G8 activity, but also to put forward new ini- basis for anti-terrorist cooperation, including suppression tiatives relevant to the interests of its G8 partners and of terrorism financing, detection of persons and organiza- also with practical value for the whole international tions participating in terrorism, and prevention of trans- community. Main outcomes of the 2005 World Summit port terrorism. Russia is also taking an active part in coop- dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the United Nations eration to fight drugs, transnational crime and corruption. will certainly be taken into account. Further consolidation of Russia’s positions in G8 financial and economic activity is promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

148 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Box 7.4.

Box 7.4. The new Swedish policy for lenge was also brought up by the OECD in global development its DAC peer review of the new Swedish The new Swedish Policy for Global policy. The OECD argued that “while the Development (PGD) states that all policy PGD mandate is clear and has high-level areas should contribute to a more equi- political support, much remains to be table and sustainable global development. done to implement its policies and inten- The objective of the Swedish development tions, whether at headquarters or in the cooperation is to contribute to an environ- field.” However, if implemented on a ment supportive of poor people’s own wider basis, it has the potential of moving efforts to improve their quality of life.1 global development into a new era. One of the most innovative and interest- The Centre for Global Development ing features of the PGD is policy coher- together with the magazine “Foreign ence, which means that development Policy” has constructed an index that issues should be taken into account in all ranks rich countries’ policies on a set of relevant policy areas and not just in devel- issues related to development.2 opment assistance. It also means that the The CGD/FP index covers seven cate- millennium development goals (MDGs) gories; aid, investment, migration, envi- should apply to all policy areas. This fea- ronment, security, technology and trade. It ture of the new policy emphasizes the idea is a little ironic that Sweden is the leader that development is not about aid alone of the 21 rich countries in the aid category, but rather a complex set of policy areas, but only scores about average on the such as agriculture, trade and finance. The other indicators with investment and secu- belief is that a coherent or holistic view is rity being at the lower end of the scale. necessary in order to meet the MDGs. However, the fact that Sweden improved Although the policy is undoubtedly com- its ranking from eighth to third between mendable and a step in the right direction 2003 and 2004 (and the US from 20th to in a globalized world, it remains to be seen 7th) mainly due to a methodological how it will be implemented. The fact that change in the index illustrates the danger some important aspects in this regard are of putting too much emphasis on rank- beyond Sweden’s own control, such as EU ings.3 Moreover, as many of the coherent farm policy, illustrates both the need for a policies discussed in the PGD and in rank- coherent international development policy ings such as the CGD/FP are more depen- and difficulty of its implementation by one dant on an international than national pol- country alone. The implementation chal- icy level, there needs to be increased

Trade Technology Security Environment Migration Investment Aid NIDERLANDS DENMARK SWEDEN AUSTRALIA UNITED KINGDOM CANADA USA GERMANY NORWAY FRANCE FINLAND AUSTRIA BELGIUM PORTUGAL ITALY NEW ZEALAND GREECE IRELAND SWITZERLAND SPAIN JAPAN

149 Box 7.4.

focus on global governance. The role of focus on how institutional environment the EU in farm policy and the WTO in trade affects economic growth and what aspects policy are the most obvious examples. of this environment are of particular The most appealing feature of the PGD is importance. Very thorough research has arguably the simultaneous deepening established strong links between, on the (increased focus on poverty reduction) one hand, institutional factors such as and widening (policy coherence), which it legal origin, quality of laws, level of cor- offers in approaching global development. ruption and the rule of law, and economic The widening is especially crucial in the development and growth on the other. A globalized environment, in which develop- clear pattern is emerging from the ment assistance is taking place. Many of research; formal laws and rules are not of the challenges and opportunities facing fundamental importance for economic developing countries are indeed interna- growth, it is enforcement that matters. tional or even global. The prominent role Many transition and development coun- of policy coherence is therefore a good tries have comparable rule systems, but sign that the new policy takes the increas- the authorities set to monitor and guaran- ingly complex set of issues, which affect tee enforcement are much weaker than global development, into account. their counterparts in developed countries. A central problem for understanding of The aid-growth-poverty reduction formula the connection between institutions and explained4 economic growth is the indentification Sweden’s new Policy for Global problem, i.e. given that there is a statisti- Development (PGD) with a strong focus on cal correlation between a given institution poverty reduction in cooperation with the and economic growth it can determine if political and economic development in the there is a causal connection between the transition countries in Central and Eastern them, or whether a third variable, such as Europe has brought about a revaluation of geographical proximity, determines both. Sweden’s activities in the region. The Even if there is a causal connection objective of this brief is to present a possi- between them it may be difficult to estab- ble conceptual framework for this revalua- lish the direction. Good growth can lead to tion based on recent academic research. the establishment of certain institutions, The brief focuses on discussion of the link and the other way around. To understand between development aid, economic the causality is of great importance when growth and poverty reduction. formulating and evaluating the effects of development assistance. Development aid, economic growth and poverty reduction The role of external anchors

The link between development aid, eco- It is important, but not sufficient, to nomic growth and poverty reduction is determine what institutions are most central to the discussion within transition favorable for economic growth and how and development studies. The point of the initial conditions may have affected departure here is that economic growth is the choice of institutions. There are often a precondition, but no guarantee, for numerous examples of countries with poverty reduction, which leads the analy- apparently very similar initial conditions sis to a discussion of what brings growth. where the result in terms of both institutional development and economic growth It is all about institutions and enforcement has been very different. The importance of leadership is certainly one important fac- An important element in all the steps in tor but the external factors influencing the aid-growth-poverty reduction is the impor- directions of the leaders are also importance of institutional environment. The tant. The role of external anchors has, for ability of a particular country’s institutions instance, been obvious in Central and affect not only the general preconditions Eastern Europe where the possibility of EU for economic growth, but also how the membership has played a determining growth is distributed and how different role in the political process and, ultimate- development assistance interventions ly, for the institutional development. The affect growth and poverty. In this context, WTO is another example of a potential institutions are defined in a wide sense to external anchor, which is evident in the incorporate laws and rules necessary for case of China and perhaps in Russia and the market to function but also the organs, Ukraine in coming years. which ensure that the rules are applied and An external anchor normally offers some implemented. The concept also includes form of economic and political reward, the political institutions, which generate and its strength is determined by the size the laws and influence how they are of the reward, the level of insecurity over applied. Moreover, a wide interpretation of the size of the reward and when it will be the institution concept even includes the given, and how the reward will be distrib- social norms and cultural patterns, in uted among individuals and groups.5 The which the rules and laws are based. impact of the EU enlargement process is Academic research has recently come to to a great extent explained by the fact that

150 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 such large groups in society and the polit- main themes in the new Swedish Policy ical elite wanted the membership, primari- for Global Development (PGD). Sweden ly as a token that they had re-entered has, in cooperation with France, also European culture. The way the accession established an International Task Force on process was designed also had a great Global Public Goods with a mission to importance for institutional development study how the most important global pub- in these countries. The effects of develop- lic goods are provided today.6 The task ment assistance can be much greater if force should also come up with recom- they are combined with external anchors mendations on how management and and wide conditionality that is conducive financing of global public goods can be to aspirations among large groups in the improved in order to fight poverty and recipient country. promote sustainable development. In the longer perspective, it is probably The global public goods discussion is, of internal anchors, often in combination with course, not restricted to the global level external forces that sets the pace of insti- and to development cooperation. This tutional change. The importance of an eco- brief takes a closer look at how public nomic middle class of entrepreneurs and goods are relevant on the regional as well civil servants with a strong interest in as the global level and in regular interna- deepening of the rule of law is of great tional cooperation as well as in develop- importance. But other users of institutions ment cooperation. and organizations in civil society, such as Six policy areas are most often referred an independent legal system and free to global public goods: combating com- media, are also important potential inter- municable diseases; conflict prevention; nal anchors. Strengthening these groups’ conflict management and humanitarian political influence vis-a-vis monopoly efforts; catastrophe management; finan- interests and government is a central com- cial market stability; the fight against ponent of building and sustaining vital organized crime and corruption; and envi- institutions. Transparency in decision-mak- ronment. All of these public goods are not ing and governance are particularly impor- necessarily global, though. Migration, sea tant to strengthen the winds of change. pollution and catastrophe management Development assistance aiming at pover- are examples of public goods that can be ty reduction through economic growth more relevant on a regional basis. The should therefore be focused on institution- focus on regional public goods ought to al change and strengthening of already be of special interest for areas, such as the functioning institutions. Research shows Baltic Sea region, with a high degree of that direct institutional copying and tech- integration. nical assistance based on institutions in The most common definition of public the donor country have limited ability to goods is that someone’s consumption of succeed. To the extent that such assis- the good does not prevent someone else’s tance is given, much care should be devot- consumption of the same good (non-rival) ed to the wider institutional context and and that the good can be enjoyed by all considerable room should be given to consumers (non-excluding). The fact that adaptation to local conditions. The analy- public goods are non-rival and non- sis must also take account of ability of the excluding make them very difficult to price specific institutions to change. and result in a free-rider problem as some Research shows that development assis- individuals, regions or countries do not tance should instead focus on building produce or finance the public good as they external and, even more importantly, can enjoy it in any case. This leads to a internal anchors. The relative and absolute constant supply problem as the public importance of different types of anchors, goods tend to be under-produced. This is a and the prospects for development assis- general problem for public goods provi- tance to be successful is to a great extent sion but is even more difficult to manage dependent on the local conditions and on a regional or global level as the gover- change over time. Even if the basis for nance structure and added value is less much of the institutional change is at a clear compared to the national level. This national level, the large differences is where development assistance has and between different regions in Russia, for can continue to play a crucial role. instance, indicate scope for regional Development assistance has been an development projects as well. important financing instrument of global public goods. The provision of public From development assistance to regional goods in the Baltic Sea region is a good public goods provision example. About half of Swedish develop- Discussion of common solutions to ment assistance to Russia has, for instance, shared problems has grown in parallel been directed to environment and common with growing interdependence and inte- security. Given the difficulty in getting suf- gration between countries. The issues sur- ficient financing and production of these rounding production, management and public goods in regular international coop- financing of public goods are central fea- eration, development assistance has been a tures of this discussion. Global public convenient source for financing the produc- goods are also put forward as one of the tion of these public goods.

151 Box 7.4.

There is, however, a potential danger for so far has been mitigated by relatively siz- the future provision of public goods in able amounts of development assistance. general and for regional public goods pro- There is clearly a need to continue and vision in the Baltic Sea region in particu- even increase the financing of public lar. It may be more difficult (at least intel- goods in the region, but it is not clear if lectually) to finance these goods from the these public goods should be financed development budget with a policy focus- from the development budget, regular ing more strongly on poverty reduction, international cooperation budgets, or from which the PGD does. As Sweden is phas- some other public or even private sources ing out its development assistance to the in the future. The PGD is unfortunately transition countries in the Baltic Sea unclear on this topic. This is a complex region as a result of their strong econom- issue, though, as some public goods are ic growth, there will be much less avail- most effectively financed and managed on able financing for these goods in the the global level whereas others are more region. The need for provision of public suitable on the national or even local level. goods in a region such as the Baltic Sea is, However, a few general considerations are however, likely to increase as the region is valid. The principle of subsidiarity should becoming more integrated. Increased be respected and a careful analysis of the trade and interaction between countries in institutional and financial capacity to pro- the region is bound to stimulate increased vide the goods at each level should be car- interest in and concern about common ried out. Another general recommendation problems. There is already a wide public is to increase funding for regional public interest in, or fear of, issues like environ- goods from various sector ministries, ment, health, migration and organized implying that part of the responsibility is crime in the region. There are a number of moved from development cooperation to regional and sub-regional institutions regular international cooperation. This is dealing with these issues that have recog- definitely relevant for Sweden’s engage- nized the importance of regional public ment in the Baltic Sea region, as develop- goods provision. There is, however, a ment assistance is being phased out. financing and management problem that Marcus Sbedberg

1 See http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/3102/a/18434 for details about the PGD 2 For details about the index, see http://www.cgdev.org/rankingtherich/ 3 See a comparison between 2003 and 2004 with the new methodology on http://www.cgdev.org/rankingtherich/lastyear.html 4 This is an abbreviated, slightly revised and translated version of a note to a background paper of a commission evaluating Sweden’s future development cooperation with Eastern Europe. 5 Berglof och Roland (1997). 6 http://www.gpgtaskforce.org

152 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 7.1

Table. Gross domestic product per capita

The table outlines final results of Gross Domestic Product comparison by 42 countries of the world according to 2002 data, estimated and published by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

153 Chapter 8 Millennium Development Goals and regions of Russia

he Millennium Development Goals were agencies. The analysis of Russian regional Tprepared as a tool of development, evalu- statistics identifies just 17-18 indicators fully ation and planning at the national level. meeting the MDG indicators or close to them However, Russia, as the country with the (Appendix 8.1. Table). The goals of eradicat- world’s largest territory, displays huge differ- ing extreme poverty and forming a global ences between socio-economic development partnership for development are the least levels of its many regions. If we only estimate supported by statistics. However, the avail- and forecast average country indicators we able indicators in combination with the run into an obvious problem: some regions human development index for Russian have already reached goals, which others are regions makes it possible to identify the unlikely to achieve in the foreseeable future. acutest development problems and the A disaggregated system of MDG indicators potential for coping with them in the regions tailored to Russian specifics is needed to take of the Russian Federation (in this Chapter the account of regional diversity for purposes of terms “regions” and “RF subjects” are used designing and implementing the national interchangeably to refer to the 89 administra- development strategy. tive divisions of the Russian Federation).

oal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty. The 8.1. MDG INDICATORS FOR Gextreme poverty level in the regions can REGIONS only be appraised indirectly, based on population differentiation by income, official he MDGs require certain adjustments as poverty level and income deficit. Income Tapplied to Russia. It was already pointed inequality among Russians, as in all transition out in previous sections of this Report that economies, has aggravated: in 1990 the 20% some goals and indicators, e.g. achieving uni- of the population with the lowest income took versal primary education or gender equality 9.8% of total income, but in 1994-2003 this in access to education, are not relevant for lowest-income group had only 5.5-6.5%. The the country as a whole. Nor are they relevant share of the poorest quintile in income varies for its regions. Due to this, the analysis below only slightly between most regions, in a does not include a regional dimension of range of 6.0-7.8%. The richest RF subjects are MDG Goal 2 “Achieve universal primary edu- most polarized in terms of income: Moscow cation“. Setting up a system of disaggregated (2.5% share of the poorest quintile) and key MDG indicators runs into informational limi- oil and gas producing areas (4.6-5.0 %). tations: far from all indicators prepared for Russia as a whole are calculated for Russian he capital coefficient (the ratio between regions and published by state statistics Tincomes of the 10% of people with the

154 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 highest incomes and the 10% of people with poverty in almost in half of regions was 20- lowest) is very high over Russia in general – 30%. However, regional variance remains very more than 14 times in 2003 and still growing. high: the minimal share of the poor in 2003 In the European Center, the Volga Area and was registered in the autonomous areas of the Russian South inequality is less pro- Tyumen region (8-11%), while the maximum nounced (8-11 times), since a lower cost of level was in Ust-Ordynsky and Buryatsky living makes it possible to avoid poverty even autonomous areas and Ingushetia (83%), if incomes are not high. In Moscow the polar- although reliability of data for the North ization of population by income is enormous Caucasus republics is relative, since they have (52 times), so the poverty level is no different the highest share of shadow income. High from the average for Russia, although the poverty indicators in the regions are deter- average per-capita income of the capital’s mined by historically determined lags in eco- population is the highest in the country. In nomic development (less-developed republics Moscow over 2 million residents have of the North Caucasus and Southern Siberia) incomes under the subsistence minimum, or slow economic rehabilitation following a which is almost 7% of all low-income heavy recession in the 1990s (depressed Russians. In the relatively developed regions Ivanovo and Chita regions). the proportion of poor people is close to the Russian average, while polarization of he impact of economic growth on reduc- incomes is especially high in the Republic of Ttion of the poverty level and of its region- Komi, Samara and Sverdlovsk regions (17-21 al variance is less than the impact of growth times). An additional poverty factor in the on average per-capita income dynamics. In North and East of the country is high cost of the five years since the Russian economy living, especially affecting pensioners and started to expand, the distribution of regions families with children. However, in two oil- by poverty level has never overcome the cri- and gas-producing autonomous areas of the sis shift of 1999 and has not returned to the Tyumen region (Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty- situation in pre-default 1997 (Figure 8.1), Mansi) high polarization of income (18-20 although pre-crisis average per-capita income times) and high cost of living do not tell on the level of poverty, which is twice lower than Figure 8.1. Distribution of RF subjects by the Russian average. The advantages of these the share of population with income autonomous areas are obvious: people under the subsistence minimum employed in the oil and gas sector have high 40 1997 wages and regional budgets receive super- 35 1999 high proceeds, which enable a powerful 2002 redistribution policy in the form of numerous 30 2003 extra bonuses and allowances to people 25 working in the public sector. However, the sit- 20 uation in these two areas cannot be extended to the rest of the country, since other regions 15 number of regions have no such revenues. 10

5 uring 1999-2003 the proportion of people 0 Dliving under the poverty line in Russia 8-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-90 declined from 29% to 20%, and the level of poverty level, %

155 Chapter 8

was regained in 2002. Poverty reduction in regions (not counting out autonomous the regions is out of step with growth of the areas). The poorest regions of Russia – average per-capita income because disad- Republic of Ingushetia, and Ust-Ordynsky and vantaged people get only a meager share of Komi-Permyatsky autonomous areas – the growing income. Social protection of remain among the outsiders (10-20% ratio). needy groups in Russia has never been effec- However, the income deficit in Ingushetia has tive enough, and poor households feel their shrunk 13 times during the years of econom- poverty and social exclusion more acutely ic growth, although accuracy of data for this against the background of greater inequality Republic is relative. A 10-fold reduction has and higher consumption standards among been observed in Tyva, and in other less the majority of the population. developed republics (Kalmykia, Dagestan, Altai) it was 5 to 6-fold. Among regions popu- ousehold incomes are growing, so the lated by Russians (as op-posed to smaller eth- Hamount of money that would be needed nic groups) the highest poverty gap ratio is in to solve the poverty problem is decreasing as depressed Ivanovo region (6%), but there has a share of the total income of a region’s been a substantial reduction – by 3.5 times. inhabitants. This is referred to as the poverty gap ratio, calculated as the ratio between he scale and geography of extreme total extra income that would be needed to Tpoverty in Russia (the proportion of peo- lift people out of poverty (i.e. up to the pover- ple whose incomes are less that a half of the ty line) and total monetary incomes of the subsistence minimum) can only be assessed population. For the country in general the for what was undoubtedly the worst year – index reduced from 6.8% to 1.0% between 1999 – since later data were not published. 1999 and 2003, and in most regions the The regional differentia-tion of extreme reduction was even stronger (Figure 8.2). In poverty was very high: in less developed 2003 the poverty gap ratio in 71 RF subjects republics and areas the proportion of people was below 5% of total household income, living in extreme poverty was as much as half whereas in 1999 there were only 9 such of all people living under the poverty line, in most middle-of-the road regions the propor- Figure 8.2. Distribution of regions by tion of people living in extreme poverty was poverty gap ratio (excluding autonomous 3-5 times lower, with the exception of some districts) regions of Siberia. Some developed RF sub- 70 jects registered a higher proportion of extremely poor (20% and more of all low- 60 income people): this was characteristic of the

50 capital and leading export regions where polarization in terms of income is acute. 40 However, other developed subjects – those with more favorable living conditions and lo- 30 calization of high incomes in some cities – 20 had a lower-than-average share of extremely poor people in all of those below the subsis- 10 tence minimum. According to NOBUS, the level of extreme poverty had reduced by 0 less than 1 1-4 5-9 10-19 20-49 50-180 2003, and most of those still in the group are poverty gap ratio,%

156 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 households with a high dependency burden bodied people and highest employment of or lack of such resources as health or educa- women (the same was true of these regions tion, etc. Such poverty is becoming stagnant, in Soviet times). and its eradication will require substantial financial allocations. en dominate among the economically Mactive population in three quarters of overty alleviation in Russia has been rec- regions due to difference of pension ages, Pognized as a state policy priority, but but the employment differences are not too regions have tended to be more successful in large. Newly developed industrial regions in reducing the depth of poverty than in bring- the European North, North-West Siberia and ing people out of poverty. The obstacle is not the entire Far East show a greater imbalance only slow growth in incomes of the poor or (44-46% of women among workers). There is persistence of a considerable inequality in gender equality in the structure of employ- income, but the inefficient social protection ment in the ageing and depopulating areas system. Available budget revenues are not of the European Center and North-West, as always used for target support of the poor, well as in Moscow and St Petersburg. and replacement of the previous system of Imbalances in favor of women (52%) are payment exemptions for various supposedly found in less de-veloped regions with specif- vulnerable social groups by money ic gender roles (republics of Tyva and Altai, allowances to these groups has diverted and several autonomous areas). There available cash away from the very poor, rein- women take the lead in the low-competition forcing an inefficient socialaid concept. labor market and become key family Substantial poverty growth risks are emerg- providers because of alcohol abuse and high ing due to price rises for housing and utilities male unemployment. Such gender equality and planned reform of the housing sector. can hardly be viewed as positive.

oal 3. Promote gender equality and he indicator suggested by the MDG is of Gempower women. The 2002 census Tlittle relevance for evaluating gender confirmed that Russia is not affected by gen- problems in the Russian labor market. der problems in the sphere of education: in Agricultural employment in Russia is general- all regions of the country economically ly male (59%), but women dominate non- active women have a higher education level agricultural employment in almost all RF sub- than men. Women’s economic activity in the jects, except for a few resource-producing regions generally continues features inherit- regions in the Far North. ed from Soviet times, which points to the effect of long-term modernization factors eminization of unemployment is not and age structure. The lowest economic Fcharacteristic of Russia: unemployment activity among women (less than half in the is dominated by men in two thirds of 15-72 age groups) is registered in the less regions. This is because men reject non- urbanized republics of the North Caucasus prestigious and low-income employment, with their traditionalist family roles and high while women are prepared to take unap- birth rates, while the highest (more than two pealing jobs. Declining labor mobility and thirds in the relevant age groups) is found in lower social and professional status of regions of the North and Far East, which women has become a trade-off for lower have kept the maximum proportion of able- female unemployment.

157 Chapter 8

Figure 8.3. Ratio of average women’s of education is not operating and an inverse wages to men’s wages and ratio of aver- relationship has even developed: the lower age per-capita income to subsistence the education level of a region’s population, minimum in separate RF subjects in 2003 the higher gender equality in labor remuner-

Monetary income to subsistence minimum, % Monetary income to subsistence minimum, % ation tends to be. The reason is that the North and East of the country, with their perennial 120 600 migration influx, show higher educational 110 500 levels, but income differentiation there is 100 400 determined by large-scale raw material 90 export production with high wages and pre- 80 300

Wages, % dominantly male employment. Moscow is the 70 200 only place where modernization of gender 60 100 roles is reducing earning disproportions. The 50 capital, where 43% of the employed popula- 40 0 ts n ry n n n n ry ia e io io RF ion io io va rea rea tion has higher education, shows an efficien- en rea ito g ito cow ykia Ty e s kess s A s A s A Reg R tarsta Reg Reg r u u u Terr Mo he Kalm o o alo-No vo k Terr ara Ta ita l C m m m ro h - o om cy of gender alignment through education a o e aluga Tver RegC n Y n yars K ropo ton to to o Sam v u u u Kem A Sta chaevo growth, which re-mains uncharacteristic for Krasn Kara yak A ryat A

i-Perm other regions. m Orda Bu Ko Ust- ender problems in Russia are manifest- his outdated gender structure is also seen Ged in different forms. First, there is a Tin politics. Female representation in the strong gender disparity in the sectoral struc- legislatures of RF subjects has been extreme- ture of employment in all regions – publicly low during the transition period (Figure 8.4). sector jobs with low remuneration levels In 7 regions there are no women deputies in have always been female-dominated. In the regional parliament, and female represen- recent years a problem has emerged of male tation is below 10% in half of all regions. The predominance at management levels in all RF sixteen RF subjects where the share of women subjects. This is partly due to evolution in the deputies exceeds 20% are mainly in Northern system of employment registration, but there Russia, and many of them are less developed is a tendency to displace women from man- autonomous areas (Chukotka, Ust-Orda agement roles, and particularly from the most Buryat, Jewish Autonomous Region, etc.). prestigious jobs. However, Moscow also has more than 20% women in its parliament. nother problem is gender variance in Alabor remuneration, although this is not he relationship between the level of true in all regions. There are various factors Tregional development and representation here, the most significant of which is sectoral of women in politics is unfortunately inverse: structure and development level of the access of women to decision-making is facili- regional economy. Usually, lower household tated by reduced male competition in regions incomes in a region entail higher gender with the least financial resources and most equality in terms of wages (Figure 8.3). In difficult socio-economic conditions. Women depressed agrarian and less-developed are better represented in legislatures of less regions women’s wages are about the same developed autonomous areas and in periph- as those of men. However, this is an undesir- eral municipalities. This repeats the situation able equality in poverty. The equalizing factor in employment: for example, troubled ag-

158 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ricultural enterprises tend to be headed by Figure 8.4. Distribution of regions by pro- women. Legislatures in more advanced portion of women in regional legislatures regions with substantial resources and higher in 2004 (%) education levels tend to exclude women: that 1% is characteristic of Tyumen, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Perm and other 6% regions. No one contests the need for more 8% 6% more than 40 involvement of women in state and municipal 31-40 governance and politics in general, but 9% 20% 21-30 inequality is not diminishing in practice. The 16-20 overall share of women in regional legisla- 11-15 tures remains low (9%) and has not changed 21% 6-10 in the last three years. 1-5 33% no oal 4. Reduce child mortality. Although Gthe infant mortality rate in Russia is still double that in developed countries, trends of this MDG indicator are encouraging. Infant thnic regions (traditional homelands of mortality has been in decline since the late Enon-Russian national groups) have the 1990s, and in 2003 its level in almost all regions highest infant mortality rates, particularly the was considerably lower than in Soviet times under-developed regions of Ingushetia and despite worsening of indicators in the difficult Tyva (27-28 deaths per 1000 births) and conditions of the 1990s (Figure 8.5). The posi- autonomous areas of the Extreme North pop- tive dynamics have a number of reasons: ulated by native minorities (20-30 deaths). decline of the birth rate has lightened the load The problem is not ethnic structure but low on obstetric institutions; and higher use of con- levels of economic development. These traceptives, especially in towns, has reduced regions are often characterized by poor diet the number of unwanted births. Some regions, (lack of calories) among pregnant women mainly those which are more economically (particularly in rural areas where the popula- successful, have introduced progressive moth- tion lacks a source of livelihood), and inac- er-and-child policies. For example, the Khanty- Mansi Autonomous Area has introduced com- Figure 8.5. Distribution of regions by pulsory genetic diagnostics of future mothers, infant mortality rate and the Samara Region is pursuing a special programme to modernize maternity homes. 60 1990 The infant mortality rate in those regions as 1994 50 well as in Belgorod Region and half of subjects 2001 of the North-West Federal District, including St. 40 2003 Petersburg, has fallen to 8-9 per 1000 live 30 births. The positive trend has continued since the Russian birthrate began to grow, because 20 efficiency of infant and child mortality reduc- number of regions tion policies in developed regions and towns is 10 supported by higher living standards and more 0 less than 10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-40 developed healthcare structure. infant mortality rate per 1000 births

159 Chapter 8

Figure 8.6. Number of officially regis- bodied men. In regions of Central Russia life tered HIV infections in Russian regions, expectancy of men and women differs by 15- 1987 to January 2005, per 100,000 of 17 years. Demographers view male super- population mortality as the main reason for low indica- RF average tors of longevity in Russia. Solution of the Kemerovo Region Ivanovo Region problem depends on radical changes in peo- Saratov Region Moscow ple’s living standards and way of life rather Primorski Territoryi than on improvement of health care. Tver Region Moscow Region Chelyabinsk Region Ulyanovsk Region oal 5. Improve maternal health. Decline Kaliningrad Region Gof the maternal mortality rate since the Leningrad Region Sverdlovsk Region second half of the 1990s (from 50 per 100,000 St. Petersburg Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area live-births in 1997 to 32 in 2003) is another Orenburg Region positive development. Despite all its social Irkutsk Region Samara Region problems, Russia now has a much lower 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 level of maternal mortality than at the end of incidence per 100,000 of population According to the Federal Research and Methodological Center for Prevention and Combating AIDS the Soviet period (47 in 1990), although that is partly due to the reduced birthrate. cessibility of medical care due to shortage of Regional differentiation is not easy to doctors or remote location. Additional invest- appraise due to sharp variance of the indi- ments in health care in less developed cator between years. However, there are con- regions will not be sufficient to solve this sistently high indicators in the Far East, espe- bundle of problems. cially its northern part, which has extreme natural and climatic conditions and underde- egional profile of another MDG indicator, veloped social infrastructure, and in the less Rchild mortality under five years of age, is developed republics of Siberia. In 2003 the close to infant mortality, but is more descrip- maternal mortality rate in the worse regions tive of the differences in availability and qual- was four times higher than the Russian aver- ity of medical care, and the level of child age (130 per 100,000 births in the Republic of immunization in regions. Child mortality rates Tyva and the Jewish Autonomous Region). in the one-to-four age range is twice higher European regions have lower indicators for among the rural population than among objective reasons: they have better natural urban population. This gap was widening and climatic conditions, and higher density until 2000 due to reduced access to health- of population and towns, which improves care for the rural population. A positive trend accessibility of health care. However, since 2000 is due to increased state alloca- Moscow has the highest level of health care tions and improved prevention, particularly in in Russia, but only slightly better-than-aver- rural areas. age maternal mortality because maternal health in the capital is damaged by pollution owever, the success of state intervention and psychological stresses. Hin reducing child mortality only emphasizes the failures in addressing the key socio- oal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and demographic problem of most regions, which Gother diseases. Growth of HIV/AIDS is extremely low life expectancy of males due infec-tion in Russia was already reviewed in to the super-high mortality rate among able- previous Human Development Reports. The

160 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 spread of HIV infection began from border Figure 8.7. TB morbidity and mortality by “contact zones” (Kaliningrad Region and the federal districts, per 100,000 people Black Sea coast), but since the late 1990s the biggest growth has been recorded in Moscow 2000 mortality 2003 mortality 2000 morbidity 2003 morbidity and St Petersburg, oil- and gas-producing 140 regions and other export regions, towns of 120 the Volga Area, Urals and Siberia with higher 100 household income, and adjacent regions 80 (Figure 8.6). AIDS has turned into a youth dis- 60 ease of “richer” regions due to increasing drug abuse, and although the infection rate 40 per 100.000 people has declined since 2002, its spread cannot 20 curbed by medical or punitive measures 0 alone. Combating the spread of AIDS, like st Volga South Urals Central Siberian Far-Ea combating male super-mortality, requires North-West positive change in people’s way of life – a long-term target, which is hard to attain. where living conditions are much worse and the concentration of penitentiary institutions he MDG uses another indicator – the is highest. The situation is worst in the Tnumber of children born to AIDS-infected Republic of Tyva, where the incidence rate is women. Systematic Russian regional data for 272 persons per 100,000 due to poverty and this indicator are unavailable, but in general degradation of the TB prevention system. the problem is still less acute than growth of HIV/AIDS infection, although in 2001 in ositive impact of economic growth has Moscow 0.4% of children were born of infect- Pmade the problem less acute and less ed mothers. Experience in Moscow shows widespread in European Russia. Overall mor- that the morbidity rate can be reduced: as bidity has declined (for new diagnoses) since part of the city’s AIDS prevention pro- 2003, but negative trends are continuing in gramme, personnel of all maternity homes are trained to make quick tests, and means of Figure 8.8. Most advanced regions in preventing perinatal pathophoresis of AIDS terms of cellular communications are available at every maternity home. State (coverage, %) and civil-society organizations are working to promote a healthy life-style, and more than 90 2002 10 programmes are underway in the fields of 80 2003 family planning, and combating drugs and 70 60 AIDS. 50 40 rowing incidence of the infectious form 30 of TB has become an acute social prob- G 20 lem in the transition period, due to lower 10 standards of living and deterioration of sani- 0 w RF tary and epidemiological control. As in the r Krai Mosco Region k Region sk Region Petersburg rad Region Soviet period, morbidity increases further rad Region bir Tomsk Region St. Krasnoda Samara Region eastward, peaking in Siberia and the Far East Moscow VolgogradYaroslavl Region Region Lening Kalining Murmans Novosi and and

161 Chapter 8

eastern regions due to worse living conditions mains water and sewerage to urban popula- and unfavorable climate (Figure 8.7). The TB tions is 2-3 times higher than to rural popula- mortality rate in 2000-2003 continued to grow tions. Regional variance depends on urbaniza- in all federal districts (Russia is divided into tion level and development: e.g. in the Evenki seven federal districts), except for the Central autonomous area, with territory larger than District. Tentative data for 2004 suggest that France and population of 18,000, there is no most districts managed to reverse the nega- sewerage at all, while in the Ust-Orda tive trend, with the exception of the Siberian autonomous area less than 5% of housing has Federal District. In some RF subjects (Tyva, sewerage. In other less developed areas Jewish Autonomous Region) TB mortality is (Tyva, Komi-Permyak and Nenets as high as 60-70 per 100,000 people. Autonomous Areas), less developed republics of the South (Adigeya, Ingushetia, Kalmykia), treatment is ineffective without and regions with perennial investment deficits TBimprovement of people’s living con- (Pskov and Chita Regions) running water and ditions and nutrition. The state is obviously sewerage provision is 2-7 times lower than in under-investing in the fight against TB, and the most “urbanized” regions of the Center medical institutions are short of resources for and the North. Usually, regions with weak medication and outpatient care. High mortal- infrastructure also display lower availability of ity is supported by spread of drug-resistant education, lower income and generally lower forms of the disease and late diagnosis. human development indices.

oal 7. Ensure environmental sustaina- nfit housing (slum or dangerous) does Gbility. Environmental conditions Unot exceed 2-4% of the housing stock in improved somewhat in Russia in the 1990s most regions, but there are black spots. The due to the slump of industrial production, but proportion of slum and dangerous housing is this effect was partly offset as many regional particularly high in less-developed regions: a economies saw growth of extractive indus- quarter of housing in Dagestan and Komi- tries and (particularly pollutant) processing Permyak Autonomous Area, and 10-14% in industries. The takeoff of economic growth at Tyva and autonomous areas of eastern the end of the 1990s triggered more pollution. Russia. There are also problems in resource- The MDG indicator of carbon dioxide emis- producing regions, which attracted tens of sion is not measured by regions, but indica- thousands of immigrants in Soviet times: in tors of atmospheric pollution identify the most Sakhalin, Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan ecologically unfavorable regions and cities. Regions 9-13% of housing is unfit, while in Those are the leading industrial regions of the autonomous areas of Tuymen Region the Siberia, the Urals, and the European North, figure is 8-10%. However, the oil and gas pro- and two thirds of the 13 most polluted are in ducing areas of Tyumen have resources to Siberia. Unfortunately, ecological problems address the problem. and attainment of sustainable development are still of little concern to regional authorities. oal 8. Develop a global partnership for Gdevelopment. Statistical reporting in vailability of clean water and sanitation Russian regions can give only partial infor- Acan be appraised on the basis of housing mation on three indicators of this Goal. The amenities, the provision of mains water and employment rate among young people in the sewerage. For Russia in general provision of 17-24 age group can be taken as a measure of

162 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 employability of most vulnerable groups. It is country, while the Republics of Dagestan and found that high demographic burden and low Tyva, and the Trans-Baikal Area have just 20- supply of jobs affect the North Caucasus and 50 telephones per 1000 people in rural areas. South Siberia: in Ingushetia youth unemploy- However, even in the most developed regions ment is almost total (93%), and it is at high no more than 80% of urban households have levels of 25-50% elsewhere in these two a stationary telephone, and no more than zones. Northern and eastern regions with rel- 30% outside towns. atively young age structure and labor-extensive resource-producing economies also per- ellular networks present a good example form badly by these measures: Khanty-Mansi Cof the trend towards growth of informa- Autonomous Area, Kemerovo and Irkutsk tion and communication networks in Russian Regions, and almost the whole of the Far East regions. Regional cellular coverage almost (20-30%). Unemployment among young doubled in 2003 alone, even accounting for women is higher, and it grew faster in the cri- overstated coverage estimates used in the sis period and is declining more slowly in applicable methodology (Figure 8.8). The conditions of economic growth compared spread of cellular communications is illustra- with young male employment. The problem tive of trends in innovation diffusion: innova- of youth unemployment has only been solved tion is led by Moscow and St Petersburg, and in Moscow and St Petersburg with their enor- by regions that have cities of over a million mous and dynamic labor markets: at 4% it is inhabitants, networks of higher education four times lower in these cities than the institutions, or maritime areas involved in national average. global trade. Residents of the largest and other major cities are quicker to join informa- nderdeveloped communications are an tional globalization due to their more Uinherited problem related to Russia’s advanced life style and higher incomes. Small enormous land expanse. However, progress and medium-sized towns are constrained by has been remarkable: supply of fixed tele- lower incomes, and the rural population, phone lines has dou-bled in towns and urban except in a few southern and suburban areas, areas. Nevertheless, major variance (2.5 remains excluded from the global informa- times) persists between town and country. tion space. Differences in urban telephonisation levels between regions depend on whether a regions consists of small and medium-sized 8.2. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: towns, which tend to have relatively few tele- POSITIVE TRENDS AND phone lines and generally underdeveloped PROBLEMS infrastructure. Hence, the worst situation with telephone communications is in the North review of the MDG indicators demon- Caucasus republics (50-90 telephones per Astrates the ambiguity of changes taking 1000 people in Ingushetia and Dagestan). place in the regions of Russia. The positive Supply is also lower in peripheral regions of developments undoubtedly include rapid the Central District and in most regions of growth of new communications and their cen- Southern Siberia and the Far East. In rural trifugal spread. Behavioral modernization and areas provision of telephone commu-nication greater state assistance has led to dramatic is crucial for remote regions, so rural indica- reduction of infant and maternal mortality. tors in the Far East are among the best in the Economic growth has brought about a sharp

163 Chapter 8

decline of the poverty index (relationship of problems of under-developed utilities infra- income deficit of the poor to total personal structure are still most acute in less developed incomes), and a better-off population makes it regions, which have no resources to address easier to find financial resources to fight them, while problems related to low quality of poverty, provided that measures to support housing are significant both in less developed low-income people are properly targeted. and in some newly developed regions which suffer from the legacy of Soviet industrial pri- owever, positive developments are orities. Besides, TB mortality continues to Huneven across territories and often grow in almost all federal districts. accompanied by intensification of interregional and intraregional MDG differentiation. uring the transition period Russia has Despite poverty decline, polarization in terms Ddeveloped several types of regions, with of income is increasing, particularly in “rich” different sets of social development prob- regions. Child mortality reduction is also more lems. Such break-down by types is only con- notable in relatively advanced regions, while ventional, but it can be carried out with the less developed republics and autonomous help of the MDG indicators. areas are lagging further behind. Decline in 1. The capital and, in part, Russia’s major incidence of infectious TB started in 2003, but cities - high rate of information ad-vance- only in regions with better conditions and ment, mitigated gender inequality in incomes lower morbidity, while the most troubled east- and better youth access to the labor market, ern regions still show a negative trend. relatively low infant and maternal mortality, best housing amenities, but considerable ertain MDG indicators for Russia suggest problems related to spread of HIV/AIDS and Centrenched disproportions: wage dispari- strong income po-larization. ty between the genders is showing almost no 2. More advanced exporting regions – change despite relative gender equality in medium poverty level, positive infant and employment (with women doing less demand- maternal mortality dynamics, accelerated ing jobs). The gender disparity in wages is development of information communica- especially strong in resource-producing tions, but acute ecological problems, strong regions, which have become the basis of the polarization of income, maximum gender national economy. Political representation of inequality, problems with access of young women also remains extremely low, and it is people to employment and AIDS. also minimal in more advanced regions, 3. “Middle-of-the-road zone” - a motley except for the capital. The problem is made group including half of the country’s regions worse by the fact that economically strong which are generally experiencing less rapid regions lead gender inequality, and women’s positive changes, have medium indicators of rising education level has not yet provided a poverty and income inequality, including gen- solution because the country is mainly der, less acute pollution problems, retarded dependent on raw-material production. information and communications growth, except for regions bordering on major egative dynamics relate to the nature of agglomerations and areas on the national Neconomic growth in Russia and acute border. By some MDG indicators this large investment deficit. Industrial growth has been group splits into eastern regions with higher accompanied by increased pollution, also led pollution and TB morbidity, southern regions by stronger resource-exporting regions. The with worse utilities and a more acute youth

164 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 employment problem, border port regions ocial strategies of the state in the crisis- with higher AIDS incidencea, and depressed Sstricken 1990s were weak and inadequate regions with higher poverty (Chita, Kurgan to counter growing regional disproportions. and Ivanovo). Economic growth has given the government 4. Less developed republics in the a chance to step up redistribution policies for European South - acutest labor problems, the benefit of the most disadvantaged espe-cially for young people, high statistical regions. Average growth rate of real mone- poverty mitigated by inter-household trans- tary income in less developed regions in fers and unaccountable income from labor 1999-2003 was higher than in better devel- migration and informal employment. oped export regions: 167% and 162%, respec- Housing amenities have improved due to tively. However, the alignment strategy was informal income and federal aid, while infant not accompanied by stimulation of internal and maternal mortality has reduced in most sources of development in less developed such regions to the level of “the middle-of- regions, encouraging growth of dependency. the-road zone”. The southern republics have Increased redistribution of tax proceeds for less problems with spread of HIV/AIDS and the benefit of the federal budget has made it the best ecological situation. However, this harder for stronger regions to address group is heterogeneous too, with the worst numerous social problems identified by the MDG indicators registered by Ingushetia, MDG indicators, while middle-of-the-road Dagestan and Kalmykia. regions have become more dependent on the 5. Less developed autonomous areas and federal budget. republics of Siberia and Far East, Komi- Permyak autonomous Area – a zone of hese negative outcomes are made worse entrenched problems with high poverty level Tby weaker feedback between the federal and poverty-based gender alignment, maxi- center and the regions in recent years. mum infant and maternal mortality, TB inci- Federal authorities tend to take decisions dence, acute youth employment problem, without consulting the regions, and analysis underdeveloped communications, poor of regional development usually relies on amenities and highly depreciated housing. economic indicators, which are insufficient These regions have more female representa- for decision-making. Management decisions tion in government and the legislature. cannot be taken without proper regard for the complexity and diversity of Russia’s social he ethnic factor is not decisive: republics space, and human development and MDG re- Tand autonomous areas are represented alization is being slowed down. in all of the above types of regions, and show major difference between their human development indices. Lack of social modern- 8.3. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ization in less developed regions is an obsta- INDEX cle to efficient use of increasing federal aid. The MDG indicators also show that the ontrasts in regional growth are social price of economic growth in export Cdescribed by the Human Development regions is consistently high, and only Index (HDI) (Table 8.1). Moscow was put into Moscow and St Petersburg are experiencing second place for the first time ever in 2002, dynamic and comprehensive improvement by Tyumen Region. That was not only due of MDG indicators. to population increase in Moscow, as

165 Chapter 8

reported by the 2002 census, with negative years continues to grow practically every- impact on per-capita income indicators, but where, with the exception of Ingushetia. also to economic growth in Tyumen’s Moscow and St Petersburg remain the leaders autonomous areas due to higher oil prices since their educational institutions also give and economic recovery. Russia has thus education to residents from other regions: started to resemble Kazakhstan, where oil educational coverage in these cities exceeds producing regions rank first. However, the 87% of the population aged 7-24. Lower levels oil and gas regions in both countries are of education in regions adjacent to Moscow open economic systems and a considerable and St. Petersburg are because many young part of oil- and gas-production income is people commute to the neighboring cities for redistributed, so real living standards in the their studies. capital are higher than in Tyumen. Standard HDI methodology does not take account of these peculiarities, since it is designed for 8.4. ACHIEVING THE MILLENNI- compari-son between countries. UM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: DEVELOPMENT VARIANTS oscow and Tyumen Region are current- Mly the only Russian regions, which n the past 15 years Russia has never meet HDI levels of developed countries (HDI Icome up with a regional development over 0.800). Another 12 regions have HDI strategy. In-stead, it has had numerous tar- above the national average. Half of these are geted federal programmes, which simply European Russian subjects with more bal- dispersed resources, were poorly financed anced income, education and longevity indi- and poorly executed. In recent years the cators, and the rest are resource-producing number of such programmes has been regions of the North and East, which have sharply reduced in order to focus efforts on benefited from growth of their gross regional the most troubled parts of Russia – the product.1 The “middle-of-the-road” zone has South, Far East and Kaliningrad Region. become even larger: the index is less than 5% However, quality of programme execution below the average Russian indicator in 50 shows little improvement. The regions. The gap of less developed regions Government is now tending to replace has decreased substantially: in 2001 five regional policy by mere redistribution of regions had indices below 0.700, while in financial resources. Reforms are dictated 2002 this was only true of the Republics of from the top, and experience of the most Ingushetia and Tyva (the latter has HDI close advanced regions attracts little attention. to that of Tajikistan). This strategy aggravates management risks and leads to misuse of federal and he position of regions in the rating was regional resources. The country is still in Tinfluenced by trends of some indicators, search of an optimal strategy combination, especially growth of regional product in oil- which would support weak territories and producing regions. Further decline of life sustain regions that are the engines of eco- expectancy has aggravated the situation in nomic growth. some regions of the North-West and the Center, with Kaliningrad and Vladimir Regions he range of possible future scenarios for suffering the biggest slump. Educational cov- Tregional development is not broad, and a erage of children and young people of 7-24 qualitative comparison can be made.

166 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 arge-scale redistribution. This is conducive eliance on “growth centers” that emerge Lto better MDG indicators in less developed Rnaturally is the most effective long-term regions in the short-term, with most impact on regional policy pursued by all catch-up extreme poverty and income inequality. growth countries. In an initial phase it However, in the longer term it will lead to rising inevitably leads to growth of regional costs and declining impact, encourage depend- inequality, but later the spatial diffusion of ency culture in weak regions, and increase the positive socio-economic change into adjacent number of regions in need of support. This is a territories can be actively stimulated by dead-end course, because it does not help regional policy. Support for less developed backward regions to generate their own regions is preserved, but its dependence on growth mechanisms. Increased redistribution performance of regional government is is also sure to lead to accumulation of unre- increased. This can be done using a socio- solved social problems in more developed economic monitoring system, such as that regions, especially in the North and East. offered by the MDG indicators.

dministrative and territorial transforma- evelopments in recent years have Ation policies (enlargement, creating new Ddemonstrated that the country is gener- management levels) to achieve targets of ating several varied “growth centers”. These social and economic equality. This apparently are the Moscow and St Petersburg agglomer- simple mechanism will have artificial results. ations, other major agglomerations (Samara, The range of MDG regional indicator differ- Nizhny Novgorod and, in prospect, ences is sure to reduce, but socio-economic Novosibirsk), more advanced resource-pro- disproportions will merely be concealed inside ducing regions with high human potential the enlarged regions. A real alignment effect (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, Belgorod, will not be attained since center-periphery Perm, Tomsk regions and other RF subjects), inequality in Russia re-produces itself at vari- and “contact zones” for globalization (mar- ous levels, financial and human resources will itime transborder areas with substantial for- be attracted to a smaller number of centers, eign trade and growing investments, includ- and internal polarization will grow. ing Leningrad Region, Krasnodar Territory Reorganization of management of existing ter- and, in prospect Kaliningrad Region). These ritorial systems is sure to create additional regions could target accelerated attainment problems. This mechanism is only acceptable of the MDG indicators for Russia. for merger of less developed autonomous areas (usually ethnic), which have sparse population and no resources for independent 8.5. MONITORING MDG development, into the regions of which they PROGRESS AND REQUIRED are a part. However, even in these cases there CONDITIONS needs to be support for the indigenous population as regards employment, education, onitoring at the regional level requires healthcare and national culture, and the Msome changes to the MDG indicators regions, which merge the areas, may not be themselves and changes to Russian indica- able to afford that. Without financial support tors. As pointed out previously, only 17-18 of from the federal center, this amalgamation the 48 MDG indicators coincide or are close to policy could aggravate growth problems in the Russian regional statistical indicators and can enlarged regions. be applied with-out change. Adaptation of the

167 Chapter 8

Table 8.1. Human Development Index in 2002

Share of students IRP, USD Income Life expectancyy, Longevity Education Literacy in the age HDI Rating to PPP index years index index range of 7-24, %

Tyumenumen RegionRegion 38411 0,993 66,87 0,698 99,2 73,9 0,908 0,866 1

Republic of Tataatarstanstan 9707 0,764 67,55 0,709 99,0 78,2 0,921 0,798 3

Republic of Sakha 10002 0,769 64,81 0,664 99,0 78,0 0,920 0,784 5 (YYakutia)akutia)

Samara Region 8277 0,737 65,50 0,675 99,2 76,8 0,917 0,776 7

Tomsk Region 8898 0,74964,83 0,664 98,9 76,7 0,915 0,776 9

Chukotka 9770 0,765 65,43 0,674 99,4 65,9 0,882 0,774 11 Autonomous Area

Belgorod Region 6102 0,686 67,53 0,709 98,6 75,1 0,908 0,768 13

Vologda Region 8463 0,741 63,77 0,646 98,8 73,1 0,902 0,763 15

Republic of Kalmykia 6071 0,685 65,79 0,680 98,2 78,9 0,918 0,761 17

Krasnoyarsk Territoryerritory 8438 0,740 63,37 0,640 99,0 71,8 0,899 0,760 19

Omsk Region 5989 0,683 66,09 0,685 98,7 74,7 0,907 0,758 21

Orenburg Region 6461 0,696 65,10 0,668 98,9 75,1 0,910 0,758 23

Perm Region 7816 0,728 62,97 0,633 98,9 73,2 0,903 0,755 25

Voronezh Region 4933 0,651 66,07 0,685 98,3 79,2 0,919 0,752 27

Volgograd Region 5567 0,671 66,19 0,687 98,9 70,1 0,893 0,750 29

Saratoov RegionRegion 5112 0,657 65,80 0,680 99,2 75,1 0,912 0,74931

Svverdloerdlovskvsk RegionRegion 6437 0,695 64,10 0,652 99,2 71,8 0,901 0,74933

Arkhangelsk Region 6798 0,704 63,26 0,638 99,2 72,9 0,904 5

168 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Astrakhan Region 5758 0,676 65,16 0,669 98,6 71,6 0,896 0,74737

Republic of Karelia 6807 0,704 62,20 0,620 99,2 75,2 0,912

Rostoov RRegionegion 4572 0,638 66,23 0,687 99,1 72,0 0,901

Republic of North 3441 0,591 69,11 0,735 99,1 70,1 0,894 0,74043 Ossetia (Alania)

Tambov Region4657 0,641 65,34 0,672 98,1 74,6 0,903 0,739 45

Ulyyanovskvsk RegionRegion 4621 0,640 65,29 0,672 98,6 74,1 0,904 0,739 47

Tula Region 5897 0,680 62,94 0,632 99,1 70,9 0,897 0,737 49

Smolensk Region 6121 0,687 61,96 0,616 98,9 72,7 0,902 0,735 51

Republic of 3980 0,615 68,31 0,722 98,8 62,2 0,866 0,734 53 Kabardino-Balkaria

erritory 4045 0,618 67,00 0,700 98,6 68,1 0,884 0,734 55

Kiroov RegioRegion4618 0,64064,38 0,656 98,4 74,2 0,903 0,733 57

Republic of Khakassia 5054 0,655 62,41 0,624 98,8 76,7 0,914 0,731 59

Amur Region 5397 0,666 62,20 0,620 99,3 72,7 0,904 0,730 61

Altai Territoryerritory 4135 0,621 65,66 0,678 98,2 69,9 0,888 0,729 63

Bryanskansk RegionRegion 4093 0,620 64,07 0,651 98,6 74,9 0,907 0,726 65

Kurgan Region 3952 0,614 64,47 0,658 98,4 73,5 0,901 0,724 67

Tverer RegionRegion 5056 0,655 61,52 0,609 99,1 73,5 0,906 0,723 69

Republic of Buryatia 4940 0,651 62,13 0,619 98,8 71,4 0,897 0,722 71

Pskoov RegioRegio 544 0,637 61,09 0,602 98,9 72,6 0,901 0,713 73

Ivanoovovo Region 3306 0,584 62,12 0,619 99,3 77,3 0,920 0,707 75

Jewish Autonomous 3731 0,604 61,60 0,610 99,1 69,5 0,892 0,702 77 Region

Republic of Tyvyva 2655 0,547 55,04 0,501 99,1 73,1 0,904 0,651 79

* Most young people study outside the Republic

169 Chapter 8

MDG indicators at the regional level and the past and which have been complemented expansion of state statis-tics are possible by development factors in the transition period: along the following lines: – the basic Russian inequality between the – development and regular measurement of center and the periphery most strongly the extreme poverty level in regions in accor- manifested in the processes of moderniza- dance with international methodologies; tion and income concentration; – publishing regional infant mortality data – differences, emerging in the transitional under five years of age, to gain a better idea period and aggravating the spatial eco- of differences in availability of medical care nomic inequality, between “open” and to supplement infant mortality indica- regions included in the global economy, tors, which have strong annual variance; and “closed” regions, excluded from the – supplementing MDG monitoring with an global economy; indicator of life expectancy (a key concern – the historic “West-East” differences for health and social development in between more developed and densely Russia), which would offer the most accu- populated European regions and newly- rate measure of adult health in regions; developed eastern regions with inferior – publishing maternal mortality statistics; living conditions; – annually publishing regional TB mortali- – the “North-South” urbanization differences ty data; most conspicuous in amenity provision, – annual surveys by relevant Government although this inequality has started to departments of children’s nutrition and decrease during the transition period; and health (weight deficit, immunization, etc.) – ethnic differences, which, however, are not in regions, making the statistics generally the leading factor in regional inequality. available; – setting up an open database on the global hese territorial differences are very sta- partnership goals (debt sustainability, Tble, and their combination gives a mosa- non-discriminatory access to markets, ic regional pattern in development of HDI and scope and trends of foreign aid) in collab- MDG indicators. Despite economic growth, oration with the Ministry of Economic the regional disproportions of most indica- Development and Trade and regional tors are not decreasing in the new century, authorities; since higher-paid jobs, new information tech- – collaboration of state statistical bodies nologies, quality education and medical with commercial organizations and agen- assistance are all more available in big cities cies measuring coverage of the regional and export-economy regions. population with modern communications, in-cluding Internet and cellular communi- nalysis of the MDG indicators makes it pos- cations, promoting improved measure- Asible to identify the acutest problems in dif- ment methods. ferent types of region and generate key tasks that must be fulfilled for attainment of the Millen- nium Development Goals. The social situation in 8.6. CONCLUSIONS AND regions differs, so quantitative indicators for the RECOMMENDATIONS entire country need be complemented with a choice of development priorities (social, gender, e can identify the key axes of spatial dif- ecological, etc.) and indicator forecasts for spe- Wferentiation, which Russia inherited from cific regions and types of region.

170 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 ssessment of the quality of public servic- ple’s value criteria and way of life. That can be Aes and governance should be based on achieved by support for strong regions and monitoring that includes various indicators export of their experience in managing social required for managerial decision-making. development to other less successful regions. First, there are the MDG indicators, which can This requires stronger horizontal ties be ranged based on different prioritization of between regions, and not just strong vertical problems in different regions. Second, to eval- power. uate the quality of management we need to make broader use of the key integral indica- he role of civil society in regions can only tors of regions’ socio-economic development, Tgrow if independence and responsibility including the Human Development Index. of regional governments increases and non- Third, the MDG indicators can be included commercial organizations are brought into among indicators that reflect on efficiency of the system of social services. Unless that hap- the budget planning system (its ability to pens, many MDG indicators are either hard to secure results). A paramount role belongs to attain or their attainment requires excessive quality, transparency and availability of infor- state expenditures to ensure sustainable mation about the MDG indicators, so more development. Equal opportunities in access open decision-making is required. to social amenities, more efficient disburse- ment of funds in regions and reduction of cor- ttainment of the MDG forecasts requires ruption can only be attained under joint con- Aa coherently structured regional policy, trol of regional and local legislatures and civil but it also requires action to influence peo- society.

1 The fact that the Chukotka Autonomous Area and Magadan Region have entered this group reflects clear un-derestimation of the price of living in the North-East of Russia by the Federal State Statistics Service, when calculating the indicator for a fixed set of goods and services; this indicator is used as the domestic ruble-purchasing-power-parity indicator in calculation of the income index.

Box 8.1. Programme of Economic and Social promoting socio-economic development was con- Development in the North Caucasus firmed during meetings between representatives of The history and present of the North Caucasus are several UN agencies and the Chechen Government in associated by many people with continuing instability, Grozny and the Government of Ingushetia in Magas in conflicts, numerous refugees and growing poverty. For April 2005, and in the course of further contacts at dif- more than 10 years the UN has carried out humanitar- ferent levels, from federal to local. ian operations in the region aimed at providing aid to This view of the problem was demonstrated during refugees, internally displaced persons and others. This the “High-level Dialogue on Human Security in the period has seen major food aid, housing reconstruc- North Caucasus” with participation of the RF tion, restoration of medical services, education, etc. Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. V. Lukin and the The events of the summer and autumn 2004, including Chairman of the UN Commission on Human Security an attack by militants in Ingushetia, destruction of two Ms. S. Ogata on April 27, 2005 in Moscow. civilian airliners and hostage taking at a school in Beslan In summer 2004, in order to assess the situation, a (North Ossetia-Alania) demonstrated the need for new mission to the North Caucasus was dispatched includ- approaches to regional problems and security provision. ing representatives of several agencies led by UNDP as The difficult economic situation, high unemployment well as the Swiss Agency for Development and rate, underdeveloped or destroyed social infra-struc- Cooperation (SDC), Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and ture are among key reasons of persisting instability, UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Based high level of criminal activity, recruitment of new mili- on the mission results it was concluded that consider- tants, decline of living standards and quality of life as able potential for recovery and growth exists in both well as ethnic conflicts. republics. UN agencies and NGOs operating in the Caucasus The policy of the Government of the Russian (mainly carrying out humanitarian missions in the Federation is aimed at fostering integration in North Chechen Republic, Ingushetia and North Ossetia- Ossetia and Ingushetia, and the integration process is Alania) are aware of the urgent needs for serious supported by the international community. Creating efforts to foster economic and social development and economic opportunities, hopes for a better future and a create new jobs in the region. social approach may improve conditions, which could The need for transition from humanitarian relief to otherwise degenerate into violence and terrorism.

171 Chapter 8

Based on recommendations of the UN mission, in - assisting employment agencies in training late 2004 the Programme for Sustainable Reintegration improvement; and Recovery in the North Caucasus was launched in - supporting all kinds of non-government business North Ossetia-Alania and Ingushetia as pilot regions to associations, small businesses, etc. develop methods and tools for implementation of sim- In late 2004 a new UNDP office opened in Vladikavkaz ilar programmes in other republics of the North and launched the Programme. Several small-scale Caucasus. The Programme activities should comple- projects (mainly humanitarian) have been implement- ment and facilitate implementation of federal and ed or are in the process of implementation in six select- regional programmes for socio-economic developed pilot areas – three in Ingushetia and three in North ment in the region. Ossetia-Alania. In parallel, Russian and foreign experts The key Programme activities should be focused on are carrying out an analysis of the current economic promoting entrepreneurship, small business develop- situation and preparing specific recommendations and ment, and creating new jobs. Economic well-being target projects to meet the Programme challenges. should become the key factor and the driving force of The key objective of the Programme is to prepare a economic recovery and poverty alleviation. The comprehensive three-year strategy of rehabilitation and Programme envisages implementing projects in the economic development tailored to local conditions. The area of local governance development, financial sys- strategy is to be implemented in the context of the tem, entrepreneurship, support of small and medium changing socio-economic and political situation in the enterprises, agricultural production and processing North Caucasus and Russia as a whole. This situation is industries. unlike those existing in other countries implementing In view of the complex political and economic situa- recovery programmes. Russia is a member of G8 hav- tion in the North Caucasus and unappealing conditions ing both human and financial resources to carry out and for private investments, development of entrepreneur- support the process of stabilization and development in ship seems to be the most promising and efficient tool the North Caucasus. On the other hand, there are cer- for socio-economic growth in the region. The following tain problems due to the current operational environ- activities are envisaged by the Programme: ment: constant rotation of officials responsible for - implementation of a “Start and Improve Your recovery programmes at federal and local government Business” training/education programme for be- levels in Ingushetia and North Ossetia; widespread cor- ginner entrepreneurs in cooperation with economy rupt practices (as pointed out in the recent report of the ministries and employment services of the Russian Government on corruption in Chechnya), republics; incessant instability and violence. - capacity building activities aimed at strengthening The UN and UNDP in particular should come up with capacity of local government and beneficiaries to a platform for developing a comprehensive and inte- assess, plan and address integration and poverty grated strategy of recovery and economic develop- reduction needs; ment in North Ossetia and Ingushetia, which would - supporting/preparing microfinancing and revolv- clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of all par- ing credits for businesses programmes; ticipants (donors, governments, UN, NGO and benefi- - supporting establishment/development of leasing ciaries). It should set out the input of each participant to and leasing companies; positive changes in terms of financial, administrative - supporting projects in agriculture and agribusi- and human resources. ness; K.B. Koulaev

172 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Appendix 8.1

Table. Differentiation of adjusted MDG indicators by RF subjects (2003 data)

173 Chapter 9 The role of civil society in achieving the MDGs in the context of the Russian Federation

9.1. CIVIL SOCIETY: WIDENING ITS rendering services to the poor at the level required ROLE IN DESIGN OF ANTI-POVERTY by the Development Goals set out in the POLICY Millennium Declaration, but can also promote activities inside countries, raising urgent issues in he Millennium Development Goals serve as a field development, carrying out mass mobilization Treference point in Russia and worldwide for a and pressing from below to force responsible ful- great variety of civil society organizations – social fillment of promises by political leaders.3 initiative groups and professional associations, women’s groups and alliances of non-governmen- global strategy on the scale of the MDG can tal organizations (NGO) – which are working hard Aonly be implemented at a national level if to achieve all of the eight goals and, most of all, favorable conditions and mechanisms are in place the overriding goal of reducing poverty.1 to ensure: – a better awareness of people about the MDG; ignificant growth of participation by civil soci- – dialogue and partnership between civil society Sety organizations at the international, national institutions and governments; and local levels in adoption and implementation – mobilization of public resources to cope with of global decisions makes the importance of such local problems in the MDG context.

Civil society organizations have a deci- uccess in achieving the Goals directly sive role to play in promoting the fight Sdepends on the degree of people’s involve- against poverty. ment in the process. Assuming responsibility for fulfillment of the MDG obligations, the govern- organizations in achieving the development goals ment has to make attainment of the goals a truly self-evident. The Millennium Declaration formulat- nationwide affair. At the same time, citizens, as ed basic conditions for achieving the development responsible members of their society, should take goals and emphasized the overwhelmingly impor- their civil duties seriously and do their best to help tant role, which the UN assigns to civil society as achieve the goals. a key partner of governments that assumed responsibility for MDG implementation. The he UN places main responsibility for imple- Declaration stresses control, based on wide partic- Tmenting measures to achieve obligations ipation and popular will, as the basic condition for under the first seven goals (primarily eradication achieving the Development Goals.2 of poverty) on countries with medium levels of development, i.e. such countries as Russia. This ivil society organizations have a decisive role confirms the essential importance of civil society Cto play in promoting the fight against poverty. organizations, because such countries will have to Civil society is not only an indispensable partner in finance MDG activities from their own resources,

174 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 which civil society organizations can help to gen- uman development is about people, about erate. The international partnership mechanism Hexpanding their choices to live full, creative (Goal 8) is only implemented on the assumption lives with freedom and dignity… Fundamental to of funding by countries from their own resources expanding human choices is building human capabilities: the range of things that people can cknowledging civil society as a key partner of be. The most basic capabilities for human devel- Agovernments at all levels of activity, the UN opment are living a long and healthy life, being recommends several basic functions of civil socie- educated, having a decent standard of living and ty organizations. Successful fulfillment of these enjoying political and civil freedoms to participate functions will help achievement of the develop- in the life of one’s community. Extract from “Human Development Report 2003”. ment goal, primarily as regards the fight against poverty. The functions include: he coordinated action system, proposed by – participation of NGOs in developing national Tthe UN, aims to cope simultaneously with a strategies for achievement of the develop- wide range of closely interrelated problems.5 What ment goals; this means in practice is that achievement of tar- – participation of NGOs and public organiza- gets within the framework of one MDG will also be tions in rendering services to people; and instrumental in achieving targets of other MDGs – monitoring fulfillment of commitments by and obtaining greater results. For example, meas- governments.4 ures to achieve the main development goal, i.e. reduction of poverty, help to cope with the AIDS n Russia, as the Human Development Report problem (Goal 6), reduce child mortality (Goal 4), I2003 points out, these roles, which are charac- and improve maternal health (Goal 5), etc. teristic of civil society, “are taking root only gradually, with governments continuing to dominate he unique nature of civil society organiza- decision-making and implementation”. In a gener- Ttions, most of which are based, by definition, al sense, the state, undoubtedly, bears responsi- on voluntary efforts of people, allows them to bility for ensuring implementation of its obliga- use the coordinated action system for increment tions. However, non-governmental non-commer- of social capital via synergy effects, which arise cial organizations (NGOs), representing a wide from use of information networks and communi- cross-section of society, have powerful resource cation channels. potential and can render significant assistance in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and owever, social capital is often hard to meas- in implementation of social and economic Hure, so the system of indicators reflecting real processes and of democratic reforms. participation and contribution of NGOs in achieving the MDGs should include indicators that make evelopment of any modern society, including DRussia, will be increasingly determined by Use of the Goals as a uniting idea should the action of people. Man is becoming the main serve as a catalyst to build strong partner subject and object of social development. In relationships between civil society, state developed countries civil-society organizations authorities and business, and to promote (voluntary organizations) have been a potent fac- fullest possible realization of NGO poten- tor for improving people’s quality of life and cop- tial, ultimately enhancing human devel- ing with acute problems. Greater involvement of opment and the results of social and eco- ordinary people in implementation of social policy nomic reforms, as well as strengthening makes society stronger and better consolidated. trust between government and society.

175 Chapter 9

Human development is about people, idation and public support for the Government’s about expanding their choices to live full, goals and actions.” In order to achieve these creative lives with freedom and dignity… objectives and support civil society development Fundamental to expanding human choices in the framework of targets set out by the is building human capabilities: the range of President of Russia, the Government plans to things that people can be. The most basic implement a package of target-oriented legislative capabilities for human development are and organizational initiatives in the period from living a long and healthy life, being educa- 2005 to 20086 to enhance NGO efficiency. ted, having a decent standard of living and enjoying political and civil freedoms to par- new model for management of state social ticipate in the life of one’s community. Apolicy depends on promoting self-organiza- Extract from “Human Development Report 2003” tion of society, and on diversification of social it possible to ascertain social capital increment. services with assistance from a developing non- Trends in NGO involvement and the degree of state sector. For the first time, it has been officially social participation in NGO activity (both paid and acknowledged that the outcome of structural voluntary) are obvious examples of such indica- socio-economic changes depends directly on the tors. It is reasonable to suggest that the level of level of society’s participation and support for development of civil society depends directly on actions by Government. Raising welfare and cre- the degree of people’s involvement in socially- ating decent living standards in Russia depend useful activity on a voluntary basis, so the indica- directly on consolidation of society for achieve- tors will serve to reflect trends in development of ment of national goals. Internal resource mobiliza- civil society. tion and enhancement of society’s potential acquire special social and political importance. se of the Goals as a uniting idea should serve Uas a catalyst to build strong partner relation- DG+ strategy in the Russian context. A com- ships between civil society, state authorities and Mparison of the Development Goals and the business, and to promote fullest possible realiza- national objectives of the Russian Federation, which tion of NGO potential, ultimately enhancing have been promulgated in policy statements and human development and the results of social and addresses by the President of Russia (poverty reduc- economic reforms, as well as strengthening trust tion, doubling of GDP)7 and in Russian Government between government and society. This creates a action plans, show that the Goals and Russia’s own new mechanism where state social policy is objectives are alike in many ways,8 as confirmed by implemented with participation of society itself, the authors’ analysis in previous Chapters of this creating a framework for contractual relations Report. According to UN recommendations for between public authorities and civil society organ- countries with medium development levels, a izations with definite obligations for both sides. preferable development policy for Russia is implementation of the MDG+ strategy, by which MDG 9.2. RUSSIA AT A NEW STAGE OF implementation targets should be integrated into REFORMS AND BUILDING CIVIL implementation of nationwide targets, with due SOCIETY linkage to budget planning for medium- and long- term socio-economic development strategies. ussia’s “Medium-term Socio-economic RDevelopment Programme up to 2004”, which nvolvement of citizens in achieving socio-eco- preceded the latest programme up to 2008, refers Inomic goals in the MDG context is crucial for to “unlocking of society’s potential; social consol- Russia as one of the 189 countries, which declared

176 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 its commitment to the Development Goals and – promote awareness among individuals and declared social consolidation as the imperative for the general public; sustainable social and economic development. But – raise professional skill levels and widen capa- mobilization of vast resources and of society may bilities for efficient rendering of services; require non-standard solutions and innovative – improve transparency and accountability in approaches in Russia, with its limited democratic the state sector. traditions. Such solutions should take account of both domestic and international experience. he Constitution of the Russian Federation, TCivil Code of the Russian Federation and a ssessment of civil participation. Participation number of legislative acts (including Federal Laws Aof citizens in management of state affairs and “On Non-commercial Organizations”, “On Public the decision-making process at different levels of Associations”, “On Political Parties”, “On authority is fundamental to the constitution of the Charitable Activity and Charitable Organizations” Russian Federation. The sector consisting of non- and others) provide a legal basis for NGO activity governmental non-commercial organizations9 in the Russian Federation. Creation of Russian leg- (NGOs), which is the essence and core of civil soci- islation concerning NGOs encouraged growth in ety, has crystallized in Russia over the last 15 years numbers of registered non-commercial organiza- as a manifestation of increasing activity by its citi- tions (state and non-state), and by early 2005 their zens and their adherence to democratic values. total number exceeded 320,000. About 22% of Non-governmental non-commercial organizations them were engaged in socially-oriented activity.10 are now active in practically all areas of Russian Figure 9.1 and Table 9.1 show data on number, society, helping the Russian state to solve acute structure and dynamics of NGOs not including social problems (assistance to the poor, refugees, state non-commercial organizations and con- forced migrants, employment, alcoholism and drug sumer co-operatives, which are not strictly the addiction, crime, HIV, homelessness, disability, same as NGOs.11 ecology, etc.), and working to uphold interests and defend rights of socially vulnerable groups. Citizens ome of the most important indicators (for are uniting in professional organizations, creative Sexample, share of NGOs in GDP and in unions, social initiative groups, associations, craft employment) are only accounted by individual unions, clubs and other types of NGO in order to segments, which leads to gross underestimation implement their common interests. NGO activities, of NGO input in Russia. According to state statis- which are determined “from below”, usually based tics data12 and investigations based on such data on voluntary civil initiatives, are an important indi- carried out by the Institute of Urban Economy,13 cator of society’s increasing potential. employment in the non-commercial sector in 2002 was about 500,000 (0.8% of the total number of ajor Russian NGOs have been keen to coop- Russian employed). The estimate included only Merate with international organizations, foun- public and religious organizations (associations), dations and structures in various UN programmes. which were about 65% of the total number of They are equal partners in large-scale international NGOs in 2002, so a significant number of NGOs, projects, actions and debates, helping to use and and volunteers who work for them, were not develop new methods in Russia. In the framework of the eight Millenium Goals, Russian NGOs: NGO activities, which are determined – influence adoption of political decisions; “from below”, usually based on volun- – implement innovative technologies to help tary civil initiatives, are an important indi- achieve nationwide targets; cator of society’s increasing potential.

177 Chapter 9

counted. A similar situation is observed in assess- take part in socially useful activity on a voluntary ment of NGO contribution to GDP. According to basis, but that more than 90% cannot find forms data of the Institute of Urban Economy, calculated of participation, which are acceptable to them. as part of the research, which was just mentioned, non-commercial organizations servicing the pparently, further active development and household sector contributed about 1% to GDP. Aresilience of the third sector will depend to a However, other estimates put contribution of the great extent on solution of problems associated Russian third sector at no less than 4% of GDP.14 with involvement of people and other resources in non-commercial organizations, and creating effi- nvolvement in the life of society. Despite posi- cient mechanisms for partnership between third Itive trends in evolution of the third sector, levels sector organizations, state authorities and local of people’s involvement in non-governmental governments. In practical terms, this means that organizations in Russia remain quite low. The more people involved on a voluntary basis in number of people involved in activities of third- activities of civil society organizations increase sector organizations, both on a voluntary and Russia’s overall sustainable development, and paid basis, is about 1.6% of the population.17 NGO assist reform success and MDG achievement. experts themselves estimate that involvement remains low (about 1.5-2% of the entire popula- ther obstacles to more efficient activity by tion). Investigations by the All-Russia Center for Onon-governmental non-commercial organi- Public Opinion Study (VTsIOM) show that partici- zations include: pation by individuals in social institutions (politi- – lack of institutional forms and mechanisms for cal parties, trade unions, social and religious consulting state and public structures in organizations, local self-government agencies) is preparation and adoption of bills; no higher than 2-4% of the Russian population. – inconsistency and contradictoriness between VTsIOM public opinion polls (in 1999 and 2004)18 norms in some legislative acts relating to sta- show that over 40%19 of Russians would like to tus of non-commercial organizations and

Table. 9.1. Structure of the non-governmental sector in the Russian Federation (data as of January 1 of the year indicated in the Table)15

178 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 inconsistency between Russian norms and Figure 9.1. Numerical growth of NGOs in international standards and legal norms; 1994-2004 – underdevelopment of mechanisms for interac- 350000 Rise in total tion between NGOs and self-regulation within number of NGO 300000 the sector, NGO problems in promoting common interests within one region or in Russia; and 250000 – non-integration of efforts by the general public Numerical growth 200000 of public and religious and non-commercial organizations in the organizations country’s social development. 150000 100000 9.3. PROMOTING INTER-SECTORAL INTERACTION AND PARTNERSHIP 50000 Numerical growth 0 of other kinds of NGO specific feature of the current stage of 1995 1998 2001 2004 ARussia’s development is increasing momen- nizational nor legislative mechanisms of intersec- tum in construction of relationships between state toral partnership had been created to facilitate authorities, local self-government organs and civil cooperation between state authorities and non- society institutions. Russian law contains many commercial organizations (NCOs), NCO activities provisions that regulate forms of governmental could not develop successfully and the public support, cooperation and social partnership with administration system remained unchanged. local government. Laws explicitly permit “signing of any types of contracts, including those for exe- he Civil Forum which was held in November cution and provision of socially ordered services… T2001 showed readiness for cooperation on competitive grounds”, and offer a basis for par- between top levels of Government and civil society ticipation by civil society in formulating national organization and formally launched a wider dia- policy and in local self-governance. A wealth of logue and promotion of partnership on an institu- practice and experience in interaction between tional basis. The Federal Law “On the Social state authorities and noncommercial organiza- Chamber of the Russian Federation”21 was a new tions has been accumulated. Operating mecha- step in building partnership relations between state nisms and institutions for inter-sectoral interaction authorities and citizens/civil society institutions. The and partnership have been set up. Forms of coop- main purpose of the Social Chamber is to reconcile eration are divided into economic and non-eco- interests of citizens, public associations and state nomic, in accordance with international stan- agencies in order to address economic and social dards.20 Non-economic forms of cooperation development issues of vital importance for Russia. include: consulting; joint discussions; public hear- Formally, adoption of the Law makes it possible to ings; joint activities; social councils, coordinating carry out comprehensive public expert appraisal of councils, and consulting councils; standing round draft laws of national importance concerning devel- tables; conferences; negotiating forums; and opment and to carry out public control over working and expert teams at interdepartmental Government activity, using expert resources. and intersectoral levels. Economic forms of cooperation are generally implemented through com- t is still too early to assess the new legislation, petitions, grants, social orders, establishment of Isince there is no experience of its application, relevant taxation conditions, etc. However, for a but the new Law does give new impetus to the number of years this important positive process creation of conditions and mechanisms for citi- did not develop systematically. Since neither orga- zens to implement their rights to active participa-

179 Chapter 9

tion in social life and promotes a partner relation- 2002-2004 (the predecessor of the current pro- ship between state authorities and civil society. grame). The earlier document also referred to social consolidation, support of society for Government 9.4. SCENARIOS action, diversification of social services through involvement and development of the non-govern- he degree of people’s involvement in furthering mental non-commercial sector as key conditions Tachievement of the Millennium Development for programme fulfillment. However, lack of specif- Goals adapted to Russia and scope for enhancing ic measures, mechanisms and resources, including civil society potential in the field will depend on design of a nationwide strategy for involving the steps taken by Government as regards interaction general public in implementation of the pro- with the civil-society sector. Three alternative devel- gramme, and absence of mechanisms for monitor- opment scenarios are worth considering. ing programme fulfillment have undermined civil- society involvement. The draft programme for he first scenario assumes implementation by 2005-2008 fails to specify target results, which rec- Tthe Russian Government of a package of ommended measures are aiming at, and assumes measures associated with civil society develop- a rigidly centralized sphere of responsibility for pro- ment within the framework of the Medium-term gramme fulfillment.22 The document also offers no Socio-economic Development Programme for guarantees that necessary budgetary assignments 2005-2008. The draft programme calls for: will be made for its implementation. – updating of legislation regulating NGO activities and charity; he second development scenario is also – equal conditions of access for non-govern- Tbased on implementation of the package of mental and governmental non-commercial measures stipulated by the Medium-term Socio- organizations to the social services market; economic Development Programme, but it – ensuring transparency of central and local includes several specific conceptual approaches government for society; and mechanisms for programme implementation. – promoting mechanisms for independent public expert appraisal and consultations between the he scenario is based on joint implementation by Government and society at early stages in prepa- Tthe Russian Federal Government, civil society ration and adoption of important decisions; institutions and interested international and busi- developing social monitoring mechanisms; ness organizations of a package of organizational, – creating mechanisms conducive to sustainable financial and legislative measures, which would interaction between civil society and business, help efficient pooling of Government and social widening social responsibility of business, etc. resources for achieving nationwide social goals in Russia. Creation of institutional relations between evelopment according to this scenario should the general public and the state will be conducive to Dlead to significant growth of civil society participation by citizens and NGOs in preparation, potential and capacities for achieving the Millenium approval and implementation of decisions at all lev- Goals. However, probability of the scenario must be els (local, regional and federal) and will support sus- rated as low, based on analysis of the degree to tainable socio-economic development in Russia and which goals, declared in previous Government pro- achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. grammes, were actually achieved. For example, the goal of fighting poverty in Russia was already mplementation of the scenario requires mecha- placed among top priorities in the Medium-term Inisms for wider participation by citizens of all Socio-economic Development Programme for ages and united efforts by civil society and state

180 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 institutions for joint solution of social and eco- It is acknowledged all over the world that nomic problems. Such mechanisms include: “the volunteer movement is one of the – raising people’s awareness of the Millennium basic means, by which people can be Development Goals, promoting public partici- active subjects of the social development pation through MDG exposure and informa- process”. Based on general recognition of tion about how people can be useful to their the vital role of volunteers in improving country (in cooperation with mass media); the quality of life, the UN strongly recom- – promoting a system of support for voluntary mends all countries to consider volun- civil initiatives in the Russian Federation; and teers as a component in national plans – building stable partnership relations between and goal-targeted strategies within the Government and civil society organizations by MDG framework. developing and signing an agreement (which ic development. In the long run, the poverty problem should include mutual responsibility of the will be dealt with more efficiently, living standards and sides for joint planning, implementation and human development will improve. monitoring of results). 9.5. SETTING UP A SUPPORT SYS- n important element of this scenario would TEM FOR VOLUNTARY CIVIL INITIA- Abe adoption of a nationwide strategy for TIVES IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION combating poverty and development within the strategy framework of a nationwide programme, he issue of the volunteer movement has been which could be entitled “Strategic Partnership Tdiscussed by the United Nations General between the State and Voluntary Sectors for Assembly on several occasions over the past Poverty Elimination in the Russian Federation”. decade. It is acknowledged all over the world that The programme would design a platform for “the volunteer movement is one of the basic strategic partnership and a plan of common means, by which people can be active subjects of actions for achieving the Millennium Goals and the social development process”. Based on gener- other socio-economic reform targets. The basic al recognition of the vital role of volunteers in conceptual idea is to reduce poverty scopes, and improving the quality of life, the UN strongly rec- improve living standards and quality – a national ommends all countries to consider volunteers as a idea, which could only be implemented by joint component in national plans and goal-targeted efforts of society and the state. This could rally cit- strategies for poverty reduction, sustainable izens and create a basis for promotion of a posi- development, health, disaster prevention and tive social dialogue and open social agreement, in relief, social integration and, in particular, over- which all interested organizations can take part. coming social exclusion and discrimination within the MDG framework.23 t is also very important that Medium-term IProgrammes of Socio-economic Development up to oluntary action has a special role in youth pol- 2008, 2012 and 2015 should treat the national strategy Vicy and promotion of education (in the con- and programme as components. Development text of Goal 2). Youth volunteers represent an effi- according to this scenario, including new mechanisms cient method for involving youth in socially useful of social self-organization, will create additional condi- activity. Free access for children and young people tions for sustainable growth in scope and efficiency of to voluntary social activity helps to instill and social activity, allowing greater job creation, growth in propagate knowledge and skills, and to raise and the volume and quality of social services and, hence, train young people to be intelligent, honest, high- increased contribution to Russia’s social and econom- ly-educated and socially-responsible individuals.

181 Chapter 9

Integration of youth volunteers in the education of voluntary civil initiative remain untapped. A sig- process (“learning by doing”) can be achieved by nificant gap between the desire of people to take combining classroom education with practical part in socially useful activities (over 40%) and their participation in socially important activities and actual involvement (2-4%), points to absence of a projects that address local community problems.24 systematic approach to stimulating and supporting voluntary civil initiatives, not to social apathy of a ussia took an extremely important step considerable part of Russians. In other words, Rtowards promoting and establishing voluntary Russia lacks infrastructure for encouraging and action as an institution in Russia when it officially supporting volunteer activity. Most of all it lacks supported the UN General Assembly Resolution volunteer centers. Experience gained in Russia A/57/L8 (2002), which acknowledges that work on a over the last decade in setting up volunteer centers voluntary basis is an important component of any has unfortunately not yet been developed and sup- strategy aimed at solving problems in such fields as ported at the federal level and has remained as a poverty reduction, sustainable development, health social experiment. Volunteering is not viewed as a protection, etc. It is important that the national pro- strategic resource for state policy and is almost dis- gramme, considered above as the second develop- regarded in national development strategies. ment scenario, should draw on experience gained Another problem is inadequate study of the volun- by Russia in promoting its voluntary movements teer phenomenon and resulting underestimation within the framework of UN resolutions. in Government and in social consciousness of the role and place of volunteering in social develop- ome estimates of volunteers’ contribution to ment, and in building democracy and civil society. Ssocial and economic development in Russia. Calculations made in 199725 showed that, if 10% of targeted state policy of supporting and Russia’s population took part in voluntary activity Aencouraging voluntary initiative will enable for average five hours a week, they would create people to realize their socially-responsible civil investments in the social sphere worth about USD functions, and be active participants in preparing, 3 billion annually. As mentioned above, according adopting and implementing efficient state deci- to VTsIOM, over 40%26 of Russians say that they sions. Creation of proper volunteer centers will would take part in socially useful activity on a vol- help to obtain a true picture of people’s participa- untary basis. Clearly, therefore, the level of devel- tion in the decision-making process and trigger a opment and support for volunteering in Russia is “snowball” effect to give a critical mass of positive lagging social demand, preventing volunteer results. Numerical growth and increasing efficien- potential from being realized. Enormous reserves cy of Russian volunteer activity through promotion of the national voluntary movement and active A targeted state policy of supporting and position by volunteer organizations when they encouraging voluntary initiative will have confidence that their voice will be heard in enable people to realize their socially- political decision-making should overcome specif- responsible civil functions, and be active ic obstacles relating to the Russian “third sector”: participants in preparing, adopting and negative public perception of NGOs; low capability implementing efficient state decisions. of local donorship; inadequate legislative founda- Creation of proper volunteer centers will tions; low levels of managerial personnel training; help to obtain a true picture of people’s and absence of mechanisms for self-organization participation in the decision-making and mutual training. By and large, promoting vol- process and trigger a “snowball” effect to unteerism will do much for creation of a dynamic give a critical mass of positive results. and diversified NGO community in Russia.

182 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 t should be noted that creation of legislative con- Creation of legal, organizational and eco- Iditions is important for furthering civil society nomic conditions for citizens and social institutions, volunteering included. A new law “On institutions to participate actively in social Socially Useful Organizations” would need to be development processes and be fully-fledged drafted in addition to or instead of the existing partners of the state should be a central link Federal Law “On Charity Activity and Charity in the national strategy to achieve the Organizations”. New laws “On Government MDGs. It is no less important to promote Guarantees and Support of Voluntary Activity in self-regulation in the non-commercial sec- the Russian Federation,” and “On Interaction and tor, which will lead to NGO consolidation, Partnership between State and Civil Society enhance transparency and professionalism Institutions” are also needed and consolidated efforts for upholding common interests of civil society. 9.6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS cators reflecting the degree of social involvement in achievement of the Goals. They would monitor ocial initiative and activity by civil society the number of civil society organizations, the Sinstitutions would help to achieve the MDG+ number of citizens taking part in their activity, the goals for eradication of poverty in Russia, and contribution of these organizations to the national they are particularly important since Russia is economy, etc. In order to assess the actual NGO expected to achieve these goals using its own contribution to achieving the MDG, the system of resources. Moreover, promotion of civil society is statistical indicators system should also track the most important factor for democratic develop- numbers of NGOs rendering social services to ment and efficient structural reform in the Russian people and other NGO activities directed to Federation. The process of social, economic and achieving the MDGs. democratic reform needs to be seen as a common course of positive change with equal relevance for reation of legal, organizational and economic the state and its citizens. This can be achieved by Cconditions for citizens and social institutions putting the MDG and, primarily, the goal of fight- to participate actively in social development ing poverty in the focus of joint efforts by the state processes and be fully-fledged partners of the and society. state should be a central link in the national strategy to achieve the MDGs. It is no less important to uilding efficient mechanisms to mobilize soci- promote self-regulation in the non-commercial Bety’s potential should become a basic element sector, which will lead to NGO consolidation, of state social policy. In that case the policy will enhance transparency and professionalism and meet the aspirations of millions of Russians who consolidated efforts for upholding common inter- are ready and willing to help solve social prob- ests of civil society. lems and be active subjects of social development. Large-scale involvement of the general pub- he best way to promote civil society in Russia lic should be seen as an essential condition for Tis to overcome the situation where recipients MDG achievement. of state aid (the poor and vulnerable groups) are the only part of the general public with experience revious Chapters in this Report have of social action. This can be done by helping the Pdescribed a system of indicators derived from many citizens who are ready to take part in social- the MDG indicators, but adapted to Russia. It is ly important initiatives (at the national, regional also important to design and apply statistical indi- and local community levels) to fulfill their aspira-

183 Chapter 9

tions. Such an approach will create conditions, in circumspect and well-designed state policy which each person can be both a subject of social Aof partnership and state support for civil ini- development and retain his or her personal free- tiatives (including voluntary initiatives) will be an dom and freedom of action and choice. Part of the efficient tool for implementing state social policy new mission of state social policy is to ensure vol- in employment, social security, youth and other untary participation of citizens in policy molding key aspects of social life. Tapping third-sector and implementation. resources for social and economic development and for achieving development goals will his task of much wider social involvement in encourage drastic expansion of the scope and Taddressing national problems calls for cre- quality of services, which NGOs provide. New ation of suitable legal and organizational mecha- employment markets will arise, based on the nisms. Practical realization of partnership and joint third sector, and self-organizing processes of civil solution of the problems facing society and the participation at a local level will appear. state will help to restore society’s confidence in Sustainable development and growth of third- the state’s commitment to social guarantees, sector potential will make an important contribu- enhance mutual obligations and shape civil tion to social and economic reforms in the con- responsibility. text of the development goals.

1 “Human Development Report 2003”. Published for the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), New York Oxford University Press, 2003. 2 Millennium Declaration. UN Public relations Department. UN Information Centre in Moscow, October 2001. 3 United Nations General Assembly 59th Session. Items 45 and 55 of the agenda. ”Comprehensive and coordinated implementation of decision of major conferences and summits“ of the United Nations Organizations in economic, social and related fields and subsequent activity in connection with them. Subsequent measures on the Millennium Summit results. Report of the Secretary-General “In larger freedom towards development, security and human rights for all” Source: www.un.org. 4 “Human Development Report 2003”. Published for the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), New York Oxford University Press, 2003. 5 Source: United Nations Organization, Fifty Sixth Session, Item 40 of its tentative agenda* 6 September 2001, Follow-up on the Millennium Summit. Plan for the Millennium Declaration Implementation, Report of the Secretary-General. 6 Draft of the Medium-term Programme of Socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation for 2005-2008. UNDP Materials. 7 Address of the President of the Russian Federation, 2003. An action programme stipulating doubling of GDP and fighting against poverty was presented. 8 Report of the Working Group of the UN Mission in Russia. Source: The Millennium Development Goals in the Russia context: “From economic growth to sustainable development based on human rights”. United Nations Mission in the Russian Federation. 2005. 9 Nowadays the term “non-governmental non-commercial organizations” is legally defined in only one Russian legislative act, i.e. the Federal Law “On Charitable Activity and Charitable Organizations”. 10 The researches were conducted within the framework of the project “Sodeistviye v sovershenstvovanii i razvitii zakonodatel’stva, reg- uliruyuschego deyatel’nost’ nepravitel’stvennykh nekommercheskikh organizatsiy” conducted in 2003 by the State Duma Committee on Social Associations and Religious Organizations and by the UNDP Office in the Russian Federation. 11 Consumer cooperatives are excluded from the NGOs analyzed in this research because they differ from NGOs, which are regulated by the Federal Law “O nekommercheskikh organizatsiyakh”. Consumer cooperatives are mainly oriented to meeting material needs of citizens, whereas the key feature of an NGO is meeting non-material needs (spiritual needs, self-fulfillment, etc.). Therefore consumer cooperatives are not covered by the Federal Law. 12 Federal Service for the State Statistics. “Russia in Figures – 2003”. 13 Project “Obyedineniye grazhdanskogo obschestva dlya reformirovaniya sistemy nalogooblozheniya nekommercheskogo sektora”. 14 Materials of the workshop-conference to present results of the research project “Sodeistviye v sovershenstvovanii i razvitii zakonodatel’stva, reg- uliruyuschego deyatel’nost’ nepravitel’stvennykh nekommercheskikh organizatsiy”, which was held in the State Duma on December 4, 2003. 15 The Table was compiled using data of the Federal State Statistic Service and does not include non-commercial state organizations (enterprises) and consumer cooperatives. 16 Until 2000 the section “Other non-commercial organizations” included associations, unions, non-commercial partnerships and independent non- commercial organizations. From 2000 the section includes entities whose organizational and legal form is not stipulated by the All-Russian Classifier of Organizational and Legal Norms. 17 S.V. Shishkin. Ekonomika sotsial’noy sfery: Textbook. 2001 NHDR for the RF / Ed. Prof. S.N. Bobylev. M.: Interdialekt+ Publisher, 2002, series "UN Development Programme". – Moscow: GU-VShE, 2003. 18 VTsIOM Press-release No. 120 Moscow, September 29, 2004. «Kak razbudit’ grazhdanskoye obschestvo?». 19 Newspaper «Izvestiya», 22.05 1999. 20 Source: “Public Administration Reform”, 2002, UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS, New York, USA. 21 The Federal Law “Ob obschestvennoy palate Rossiyskoy Federatsii” came into force on July 1, 2005. 22 Draft summary report “Tseli, zadachi i pokazateli deyatel’nosti subyektov budzhetnogo planirovaniya (federal’nykh ministerstv, federal’nykh sluzhb i federal’nykh agenstv, rukovodstvo kotorymi osuschestvlyaet Pravitel’stvo Rossiyskoi Federatsii)”, source: extracts from UNDP materials. 23 UN General Assembly Resolutions, A/RES/56/38, January 10, 2002. 24 Global Youth Service Day. “Service learning” Planning Toolkit. Global Youth Action network, Youth Service America, 2001. 1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 200 Washington , DC 2005. 25 Sotsial’noye partnyorstvo gosudarstvennykh organov vlasti i nepravitelstvennykh organizatsyi kak fundamental’nyi printsip grazhdanskogo obschestva. - TACIS, 2000, p.150. 26 Newspaper «Izvestiya», May 22, 1999.

184 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation 2005 Russia in 2015: Development Goals and Policy Priorities MDGs adapted for Russia

Goal 1. REDUCE POVERTY AND ERADICATE HUNGER 1. Halve by 2015 the general poverty level and eradicate extreme poverty among non-marginal groups of the population 2. Provide access to food for the poor

Goal 2. INCREASE ACCESS TO EDUCATION 3. Involve vulnerable groups of the population in education and socialization 4. Ensure participation in pre-school education of children from low-income families and children residing in rural areas 5. Reduce the gap in funding and access to general secondary and primary vocational education between “The Dandelion on the cover represents the complexity of the tasks ahead and the vul- and within regions nerability of a society in transition, whilst at the same symbolizing that the MDGs are 6. Update the content of general secondary education towards developing practical skills and application our vision of a better world. As the seeds of a dandelion are unstoppable in their of knowledge spread, so hopefully would the seeds of our message grow and multiply finding fruit- 7. Improve compliance of vocational education with the modern economic environment and labor market ful ground in the minds of the people once the time is ripe.” requirements

Goal 3. ENSURE GENDER EQUALITY AND IMPROVE THE SITUATION OF WOMEN 8. Eliminate gender inequality in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and at all levels of education by 2015. 9. Ensure equal access to political institutions for women and men 10. Eliminate discriminatory practices in labor and employment 11. Create effective mechanisms for preventing violence against women 12. Reduce the impact of unfavorable socio-economic factors on health and life expectancy, especially male

Goals 4 and 5. REDUCE MATERNAL MORTALITY AND MORTALITY AMONG CHILDREN UNDER FIVE 13. Increase life expectancy and reduce mortality from major causes 14. Promote changeover in society to a healthier life style 15 Reduce the mortality rate of children under five by at least 50% by 2015, as compared with 1990 (from 21.5 to 11 per 1000) 16. Reduce maternal mortality by at least 50% in the period 1990-2015

Goal 6. COMBAT HIV/AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND OTHER DISEASES 17. Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS 18. Halt the spread and significantly reduce incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) and other socially-based infectious diseases

Goal 7. ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 19. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and prevent losses of natural resources 20. Provide the population with sustainable access to safe drinking water 21. Improve people’s living conditions

Goal 8. PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP ADEQUATE TO RUSSIAN NATIONAL INTERESTS 22. Creation of favorable international conditions for elimination of internal obstacles to human capital development and achievement of the MDGs in Russia 23. Priority assistance by Russia to solution of global problems, whose manifestations inside Russia are particularly acute and damaging 24. Gradual build-up of Russia’s contribution to international development programmes as a donor country The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network, advocating change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.