Alexander Bokov
Russia occupied first place ($695), followed by Kazakhstan ($558), which both boast big salaries connected to the mining industry. Azerbaijan lags slightly behind ($409) while Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova boast average incomes of just $307, $300 and $243 respectively. The lowest salaries are paid to employees of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who earn a mere $157 and $79 in US dollar equivalent.
Moreover, Belarus is one of the world’s few countries to have no significant income gap between the wealthiest 10 percent and the poorest 10 percent of the population: a fact which has been unchanged for over a decade. On average, the wealthiest are 5.6-5.9 times richer than the poorest: one of the lowest differentials in the world. In Russia, the income gap is 16.7-fold and, in the USA, stands at 16-fold. Even in Moldova it exceeds 12-fold. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have a 10-fold gap while Poland and France’s gap totals 9-fold, followed by Germany with 7-fold. In Norway — the country recognised by the UN’s recent Human Development Index report as offering the best quality of life — the income differential is 6-fold.
