Income inequality in Russia to stop growing in 2025

In 2022, Russian statistics recorded the lowest income inequality for 20 years. However, in 2023 there was an increase in inequality in almost all regions, with the exception of Dagestan and Ingushetia, where the indicators remained unchanged, and in 2024 the Gini Index was back at the 2021 level. Such dynamic is consistent with previous crisis periods, when inequality first decreased and then returned to higher levels. Among the possible reasons for the observed changes, we can single out the recovery of regional economies after the 2022 crisis, the increase in public investment in the military-industrial complex, as well as a temporary decline in entrepreneurial income in 2022 with its subsequent growth in 2023–2024. Taking into account the forecasts of slowdown in the Russian economy, we can expect that in 2025 the growth of inequality will stop.