Measuring the Poverty Rate: the Analysis of Existing Approaches

The paper analyzes the current approaches to poverty measurement. The subject of the research is the poverty rate in Russia. The purpose of the research was to assess the impact of income differences on three levels of poverty (absolute, relative and subjective). The research was based on publicly available data on the Russian living standards provided by the Russian Statistics Agency (Rosstat) and the Institute for Social Policy of the Higher School of Economics (HSE). The plotted Lorenz curve characterizes the social stratification of household incomes in Russia. It is concluded that the use of different methods (both monetary and non-monetary) in assessing the poverty leads to different interpretations of the results. Each poverty measurement approach has both positive and negative aspects. Therefore, it is suggested that a consolidated (integrated) poverty index should be developed.