9. Russian population is fla gg ing Only in Sept 2009 did birth rate outpace death rate for the first time in 15 years (by 1000 people) Source: Rosstat 2009 Ministry of Public Health and Social Development 2009
16. Consumer Confidence Index has d ecreased by 18 points to its lowest in 3 years only in Nov 2008. Source: Nielsen report “Russia Through Crisis” Nov 2008.
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27. But only half of them work in the field they studied Source: www.expert.ru . Ipsos Beyond the fringe
28. “ Work is not worth all the time and effort. I want flexible hours and space for creativity.” Source: Это наша молодеЖЖь. www.expert.ru . Ipsos Beyond the fringe Young adults
33. They like to s how-off “ Most of my friends have professional photo cameras, and most girls pose as models for their friends in professional studios”. Olesya, 21 Source: Saatchi Xploring, 2009
36. Traditions still prevail in most couples Source: http://www.polit.ru/research/2006/11/02/demoscope261.html Average age of a Russian bride is 23 , groom - 26.
37. Then they rush to have children immediately, to meet social expectations What is the best age to have children? Source: http://www.polit.ru/research/2006/11/02/demoscope261.html
42. Majority of Russians are married… Source: RTGI, Russia n , 20 08 {100+ Population}
43. There are more working men than women Source: R - TGI, July-August 2007 Source: RTGI, Russia n , 20 08 {100+ Population}
44. Men contribute a bigger share to family budgets Source: RTGI, Russian, 2008 {100+ Population}
45. But men and women are equally educated Source: RTGI, Russia n , 200 8 {100+ Population}
46. Most of day-to-day purchase decisions are made by women Source: http://www.voxru.net/arc/society/fam07.html / March, 2008 Who decides about big purchases in families?
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49. “ S everal friends of mine got married and the husband is no good! The w ife and her family finance all the big purchases and so on …” Marina, 28 Man is not the key contributor anymore
Love means loyalty beyond reason. So do not be afraid if after these slides you will still not understand why would one love Russia. You will not grasp her with your mind Or cover with a common label, For Russia is one of a kind – Believe in her, if you are able... (Anatoly Liberman)
Russia is really huge. When you drive to a Moscow airport you could easily cross several small European countries.
You have to keep your world clock widget on the desktop all the time. The regional offices always complain that urgent requests from Moscow come when they are about to leave the office. But the good thing is we can celebrate New Years Eve several times a night – toast for all the relatives, for Vladivostok, for Novosibirsk, for Samara, for Moscow, for Kaliningrad.
Historically Russians have been pretty tolerant to other tribes, nations, religions. But nowadays Orhodoxy is dominating.
Rural life in the Russian Federation is distinct from many other nations. Villages close to larger cities are usually similar to American suburbs. However, villages far from towns are classified by poor living conditions. Relatively few Russian people live in villages, called derevnyas in Russian (rural population accounted for 27% according to the latest census). Some people rent/buy village houses and use them as dachas, summer houses. Most people in Russia live in the major urban areas.
Moscow is called the Rubberville. Everybody keeps coming to Moscow for career and other opportunities from other Russian cities, from CIS, China, Vietnam.
While the Russian birth rate is comparable to that of other European countries, its population is declining much faster due to a higher death rate, especially among working-age males.
Our men die early, plus the birthrate is falling down. Yet there are several schools of thought on why male population is going down.
By the mid-1990s, economic power was being concentrated in Moscow at an even faster rate than the federal government was losing political power in the rest of the country. Moscow is the largest city (population 10.4 million) and is the capital of the Federation. Moscow continues to be the centre of Russian Government and is increasingly important as an economic and business centre. Its cultural tradition is rich, and there are many museums devoted to art, literature, music, dance, history, and science. It has hundreds of churches and dozens of notable cathedrals; it has become Russia's principal magnet for foreign investment and business presence.
Russia is a unique emerging market, in the sense that being the nucleus of a former superpower shows more anomalies. On one hand, its exports are primarily resource based, and on the other, it has a pool of technical talent in aerospace, nuclear engineering, and basic sciences. How this peculiar emerging market integrates itself into the world economy over the coming decade is a story as significant in today's world as the reemergence of China, Brasil and India (see BRIC countries). There is a growing gap between rich and poor in Russia. The income differentiation ratio shows that the 10% of Russia's rich live increasingly better than the 10% of the poor, amongst whom are mostly pensioners and unskilled workers in depressive regions. Inflation remained a problem during the last years , as the government failed to contain the growth of prices.
We will see why these girls are so optimistic later. But first we will start with the age group who are past university age.
Behaviour in the 2008 recession was very telltale if you want to understand how it feels to be Russian. The rumors in Nov 2009 told that on the first banking day in 2009 everything will collapse. The exchange rate went crazy. The ATMs wouldn’t give Euros. The exchange points were out of currencies. The megastores with Ikea and such were crowded. People were getting rid of rubles. This is a habit from previous crises – buy stuff to get rid of cash.
To tell the truth the rumors of a crisis were surfacing from time to time for the last several of years. Nobody fully believed this oil-fueled prosperity will last long. That is why the Russians lived for these 15 years of growth in a binge of extravagant consumerism. They lost all their savings in previous crises – so it’s better to have fun while you can.
People (over 30 y.o.) consider themselves prepared “for anything” because they were seasoned by the 1998 crisis and previous instability years. Most people haven’t yet been touched by crisis consequences. This is one of the reasons why, despite the growing pessimism, the prevalent mood in the society is cautious, passive observation, wait-and-see attitude. Comcon Crisis Poll , 1-7 Nov : Russians - who used to eat out at least once in a while - began to save on cafes and restaurants: 10% decreased the frequency or stopped eating out altogether; 38% of the polled try to save by choosing cheaper places and dishes .
57% people are ready to fight for their country in Germany for example. Landlords rarely pay taxes. Young people rarely do the compulsory military service. The skill to cheat the systems in every possible way is innate for Russians. People are not willing to take the responsibility, make a small but significant contribution. Like stop littering and start paying taxes.
First generation that never read stories about Lenin’s childhood. They might think he is a cool icon to put on their bag. They think that Russia is the land of opportunities: from Zero to Hero. They saw people get unexpectedly rich. They do not dream of going to America. They say it’s boring and you will be limited by the average life level there. In Moscow they saw that you can double your salary every year. Eg, HR managers, marketing specialists were so rare that companies kept luring them with high salaries unrelated to their qualification.
This was true up to June 2008. Now with the global recession, this attitude is sure to change. Eg some graduates may have already seen how hard it is to find a job without experience. But the last 15 years of economic growth in Russia has brought a level of confidence that wasn’t affected yet.
Despite the crisis there is still a belief in their heads that in Russia you can somehow become very rich.
The new generation has seen all the new professions that showed up. New possibilities. They believe that luck is on their side.
If you are a journalist and you started working during the 2 nd year of your university, by the time you graduate you are a highly paid professional.
But they see it as only one of the sources of opportunities. Their parents were actually told upon the graduation were they will work. Soviet Union had a rigorous system of distribution of graduates. Nowadays you graduate and you have a plenty of professions to choose from. No strings attached.
That is why only half the graduates work in the field they studies. Eg we have a designer in the agency who studied nuclear physics. If you study Teaching English you can become a translator, an personal assistant, a realty agent. If you study journalism you can become a copyrighter or a PR manager.
Many youngsters now use professional cameras. As a proper MTV generation should. They grew up with vivid imagery around them. So this medium is in their DNA. They like music too so everybody is a DJ now. And DJs work by night. Or they work in MacDonald's at irregular hours.
They are always surr ounded by gadgets and appliances. When they do their homework by email, they talk on Skype, they download movies, they listen to music. And TV is in the background. Their life is like a kaleidoscope and they have lots of colorful pieces to combine in different ways to figure out which combination works best.
Self-expression is again a mix of everything. My fancy phone, my ipod, my car keys, coins I brought from Europe.
Self-expression is part of the name of most of the social network sites. You start with making friends by advertising your look. Your friend is a photographer, a DJ, a stylist, a PR director. And now you can organize a party or any other event with those friends. You can promote it through social networks. Your activity can be rated by the site visitors. You can become famous through your activity. And you can even get paid for that.
Even at the universities they come with their cameras. They pose, they show off their gadgets, clothes. They share pictures via the internet. If your pictures are good you will make more friends. And it’s all to create another cause for show-off and attracting attention.
How do they get along?
This is a traditional model. It is like a pastime for kids especially in the regions. They just follow the traditional path.
Because parents are waiting.
60% – of the second 74% – of the third Because suddenly they realize that marriage is not a permanent honeymoon.
The next significant model can be called kidults. This is closer to standard European model. They can take a year off in the middle of their career and go to India. They will wear Converse, frequent nightclubs and do skateboarding till they are 30. “I am 29 next year and my parents keep telling me stories about how all of my classmates have 2 or 3 children. But I want to have some time to enjoy myself. This is the model where both usually have equal income and thei r careers develop at similar rates. They maybe married but not planning kids yet.
Despite all the fake online identities (when a 50 year old truck driver pretends he is a blonde with long legs), matchmaking websites are still the best place to find somebody. You can filter out the unwanted contacts. You can do it in the office and arrange a date to meet right after work.
Most of the Russians are very traditional in every human way.
I read an article somewhere that the husband income is the ceiling benchmark for the wife. She figures that her salary should be somewhat lower. And everything above the husband’s salary is out of their tier, above their capabilities. So there is no reason to worry about richer people.
They go to the same university but then according to the traditional model she goes on a maternity leave and her career is slowed down right at the beginning.
This is also very much in the traditional vein.
Classic is classic. But new models appear and grow.
This story shows us that several generations of men have been raised without a strong father figure. Little boys never had a male role model to look up to. And when the time comes neither them nor their family act like the role requires.
Men forget their role of a strong family monarch, uninvolved in upbringing and emotional exchange. Now they want to do what mothers used to do. They want to work less to be able to come home to see their kids before they go to bed.
The cycle is completed and repeated. We have a lot of cases of kids growing up without a father. Lots of divorces, lots of stepfathers, cases when fatherhood is doubted. This blurs the father identity for the father, for kids. Women suffer from this as well.
Yogurts, juices from powdered – this is not really healthy but most Moms think it is.
Restaurants are mostly for showing off your bag or watch. Michelin star restaurant closed recently
But everybody hails the opening of a burger place.