What salary do you need to get now to live like in the USSR?

         Many Russians now recall with warmth life in the Soviet Union and believe that the standard of living in that era was much higher than now. Some try to argue with them. Is it possible to fairly compare the standard of living in the USSR and modern Russia? And how exactly to compare?
       Comparison of the standard of living can be done in different ways, taking for calculation the main world currency, the purchasing power of citizens or gold. We will focus on the last option - on gold. Because it was clearly written on Soviet bills that each of them is provided with gold, precious metals and other assets of the state bank.

     Soviet ruble and gold: how to count?

       It was believed that after 1961 one Soviet ruble was provided with one gram of gold. Imagine a simple worker who receives a monthly salary of about 150-200 grams of gold. Very good conditions.
       However, in fact, it was impossible to exchange rubles for the gold that provided them. Therefore, we cannot consider, based on the principle of 1 ruble of the USSR = 1 gram of gold, since the comparison will not be entirely correct, and it will not reflect the standard of living of citizens.
       In fact, about 7.5-10 grams of gold bullion could be bought for the average salary in the USSR, and even less in the form of jewelry. That is, 1 Soviet ruble was not worth 1 gram, but 0.05 grams of gold. And such a calculation will also not reflect the standard of living of a Soviet person.
       Therefore, we will take the value of gold on the London Stock Exchange, established for that period. The average price of gold in the 80s of the XX century was about 400 US dollars per Troy ounce (about 31.1 grams).
       When converted to rubles, this is about 8 rubles per gram of gold. It turns out that the average salary of 150-200 rubles was worth 18.75-20 grams of gold. The average pension was 80 rubles, or 10 grams of gold of its value on the London Stock Exchange.

Salary now in the USSR

        Today, 1 gram of gold for an individual in Sberbank will cost almost 3,000 rubles. If we take this figure, then the Soviet average salary of 200 rubles equals 75,000 rubles in modern currency. And the average pension is 30,000 rubles.
       But for an honest calculation, we, as in the first case, will turn to the London stock exchange. Now gold is worth about 1250 American dollars per ounce, or 2620 Russian rubles per 1 gram.
       It turns out that the standard of living as in the Soviet Union can be achieved with an average salary of 65,000 rubles and a pension of 26,000 rubles.
       However, one should not forget that in the USSR the overwhelming majority received this average wage, and the Russian average wage varies widely, many are on the verge of poverty and simply do not have the ability to reach the average level, while a small proportion of the population has excessively large incomes. allowing you to raise the average high enough.
       In addition, today citizens are faced with acute issues of housing and education, and citizens have to give a very large share of their income to resolve these issues. While in the USSR, citizens were provided with all this for free.


Lawyer Shvedov Sergey Alekseevich