Eighty percent see the size of their pension enough to buy food and 61 percent to pay for the rent and public services. Only 40 percent say their pension is enough to buy medicines. Another seven percent say they get enough pension to help their children and grandchildren. Only a few of the polled pension-earners can afford other things from today's pension (purchase of household appliances, maintenance repair, going to the theater or cinema, buying books and newspapers).
Only twelve percent of non-working pensioners have additional incomes, while 88 percent do not.
Over half of the polled (56 percent) are sure that materially they are almost in the same situation as most of the pensioners in their place of residence, 21 percent say they are worse-off and 14 percent better-off. Of course, working pensioners are more often of the latters' opinion than non-working pensioners (36 and 11 percent).
The poll was held by place-of-residence interviews on April 16 to 17. In all, 1,500 people in 100 populated places in 44 districts, regions and republics of Russia were involved. Only pensioners were polled. The statistical error does not exceed 3.6 percent.
