Russian Middle Class to Number 74 Million by 2050, HSBC Predicts

File Photo of Cash, Coins, Line Graph

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas – October 15, 2012) Russia’s middle class will double to 60 percent of the population by 2050, benefiting hotels and restaurants, according to a report by HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBA)

By that time, about 74 million Russians will earn between $3,000 and $15,000 a year, making them part of the middle class, according to an HSBC report received by e-mail today. That compares with 42 million, or 30 percent of the population last year, when 14 million people made less than $1,000, it said. By 2050, 49 million people will earn more than $15,000, according to the London-based lender.

President Vladimir Putin, who returned to the Kremlin for a six-year term in May, wants to boost the size of the middle class to as much as 70 percent of the population, while reducing the country’s income gap. Russian real-income growth will be among the highest in emerging markets, according to HSBC. That will contribute to 6 percent annual growth in spending on hotels and restaurants through 2050, it said.

“Beyond Asia’s giants, Brazil and Russia will add the largest number of middle-class earners by 2030, but Egypt, the Philippines and Indonesia will pull ahead by 2050,” HSBC economists Karen Ward, based in London and Frederic Neumann, based in Hong Kong, wrote in today’s report.

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