Statistics

6%

Losses in Russian GDP in the five years that western sanctions have been in effect (2014-2017). Some 134 energy companies, 117 banks, 59 firms in the defense sector, and 113 other companies are on the sanctions blacklist. In addition, Russia’s “counter-sanctions” embargoing Western produce is costing Western exporting countries about $8 billion per year. Russia’s share in global arms exports also fell from 27% to 21% in the five year span. {RBK}

12

The number of dog breeds and mixes that Russia has added to a legal register as “potentially dangerous.” Under the new rules, if dogs on this list injure someone, it could trigger probe of the dog’s owner. Included on the register are the Pitbull Mastiff, the Brazilian bulldog, the Akbash guardian dog, and many others.

R2,400,000,000

The current estimated damage done by Russian wildfires in the first six months of 2019 ($36.8 million). This, however, does not include the July and August megafires – see page 6. {Russian Audit Chamber}

53%

Percent of Russians who say they are not content with the current state of affairs in their region. 40% said they were. People living in the Caucasus were the most content (51%, versus 40% not content), while people living in the Far East were extremely unhappy (24% content, versus 73% not content). In Siberia, only 27% were content, while 66% were not. Of the problems Russians were most unhappy about were high utility costs (46%), low salaries (42%), and increasing prices (41%). {FOM}

R6,800,000,000

Losses reported by Russian state TV Channel One for 2018. This is four times that of 2017. {RBK} Statistics show that viewer trust in television is also falling. The television audience has fallen from 94% to 72% in a decade, and trust in information on TV from 80% to 55%. Meanwhile the internet audience grew from 9% to 33% over the same period, and video blogs are becoming a new source of information: some 33% of Russians watch them weekly, and 7% on a daily basis. {Levada.ru}

25%

What a taxi ride in Russia costs, as a percentage of that in the US. Russia has one of the cheapest taxi services in the world. According to HSBC, people who travel less than 5,400 kilometers a year in Russia would save money by taking taxis instead of driving their own car. By comparison, the threshold in the US is 1,184 kilometers per year. Owning a car in Russia is only 30% cheaper than in the US. An average taxi ride in Russia is only 130 rubles ($2). {Kommersant}

48.8%

Russian landfills that operate without violations. Of 1155 total landfills, in Russia, 373 are not even legal, according to Russian environment watchdogs. {Vedomosti}

15.4%

Percent of products stolen from Russian stores that are cheese and sausage – the most stolen product type. Coffee came in a close second (15%), followed by sweets (13.4%) and alcohol (11.2%) {RBK}