North Caucasus Regions Rank Worst in Russia for Salary Trends
On May 12, the RIA Rating agency published a ranking of Russian regions based on salary trends. Using statistical data, researchers calculated how many years it would take for each region to earn half its workers 100,000 rubles per month. Seven regions of the North Caucasus were in the bottom ten.
Ingushetia ranks last, 85th. In the republic, it would take 15.4 years to reach a median salary of over 100,000 rubles. (Unlike the average salary, which is calculated taking into account the extremes, i.e., the highest and lowest incomes, the median salary is based on data more closely representative of the income of the majority of the population.)
Chechnya ranked 84th. Here, half of the workforce would reach a salary of 100,000 rubles in 13.9 years.
Dagestan ranks third from the bottom (10.8 years). It is followed by Kabardino-Balkaria (10 years), North Ossetia (9.5), Crimea (9), Karachay-Cherkessia (8.9), Ivanovo Oblast (8.2), Kalmykia (7.9), and Sevastopol and Stavropol Krai (7.8 years each).
The best wage dynamics are traditionally observed in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where half of the workforce already earns over 100,000 rubles per month. It will take 3.7 years for 75% of the working-age population to reach this level.
The Chukotka, Khanty-Mansi, and Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, as well as Magadan Oblast, are also among the top five by median wage. In all these mining regions, it will take less than two years for half of the workforce to reach 100,000 rubles in wages.
Moscow is in 14th place (4 years). The Ukrainian territories, the LPR, and the DPR are not included in the ranking. As Novy Dosh reported, last year RIA Rating recorded the Caucasus's negative leadership in two other indicators: the lowest wages and the highest unemployment rate in the country. Thus, in 2024, the average salary in small and medium-sized towns in Chechnya was 29,800 rubles, in Ingushetia – 32,700, in Dagestan – 34,700, in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic – 37,300, and in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic – 40,600 rubles. In large cities, salaries are, on average, 13% higher than in the provinces.
