IANS/RIA Novosti | 22 Feb, 2012

Russia's poverty rate increased to 12.8 percent of the population in 2011 compared to the previous year, Alexander Surinov, head of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), said Tuesday in Moscow.

This is a rise of 0.2 percentage points.

"According to preliminary data, the number of people with incomes below subsistence level was 12.8 percent of the population in 2011," he said.

In 2010, 12.6 percent -- 17.9 million people -- lived below the poverty line in Russia.

The country' highest poverty rate was registered in 1992 and stood at over 33.5 percent, he said.

Russia's subsistence level, or the standard of living barely adequate to support life totalled 6,792 rubles ($226) for Russians of active working age, 4,961 rubles ($165) for retirees and 6,760 rubles for children ($225) in the third quarter of 2011.