Over half of Russians live without financial cushion — survey

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. The Russian Field research center has recorded a decline in the share of Russians with savings, with 38% of respondents reporting accumulations in late May-early June 2026, down from 57% in September 2025.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Russians without savings has risen from 42% to 60%, according to the company's research obtained by TASS.

According to the poll, savings are most frequently held by young people aged 18-29 (49%), residents of Moscow (50%) and St. Petersburg (47%), inhabitants of large and medium-sized cities (43%), Russians with higher education (48%), and affluent respondents (56%). Among those with savings, 43% could maintain their customary standard of living for one to six months, while another 39% could do so for over six months. Additionally, 8% reported that their savings would last a month at most, while 0.5% said they would last less than a week.

On average, savers could live on their accumulations for 5.7 months, though the median value stands at 3.5 months.

"This means that for half of Russians with savings, their financial cushion lasts less than three and a half months," the report says.

The survey also revealed that while younger people more frequently report having savings, older generations tend to possess a longer margin of financial stability. Among Russians aged 45-59, 45% of savings holders could live on them for more than six months, compared to 41% for those aged 60 and older, and 32% for youth aged 18-29. A similar trend is observed across income levels: 45% of wealthy Russians have savings for more than six months, compared to 28% of low-income citizens. For residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg, this figure reaches 48-49%.

About survey

The nationwide telephone survey was conducted from May 26 to June 2, 2026, polling 1,600 respondents. The sample is representative by gender, age, federal district, and settlement type. The margin of error with a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.44%.