a doubling of living standards

the World Bank estimates the Gross National Income per capita at $5,780 in 2006 with a GNI of $823 billion

a 70% increase in GDP

in the 1990s Russia’s GDP fell by 40%

it eventually regained the 1990 level in 2002

since 2000, GDP growth has averaged just under 7% a year

in current dollar prices, GDP went from $200 billion in 1999 to $1.26 trillion in 2007

Russia moved up from being the twentieth largest economy in the world to the seventh

the settling of nearly all Russia’s foreign sovereign debts

the accumulation of a war chest of $402 billion foreign currency reserves as of March 2008

real wages have grown at double that rate

investment has risen by 12% annually

Russia’s real income per capita rose from $5,964 in 1998 to $9,650 in 2005

the government has been running a substantial surplus

unemployment has fallen below 7%

labour productivity grew 49% between 1995 and 2005, ranging from a 23% improvement in retailing to a 73% rise in construction

stock market capitalisation rose to 44% of GDP by 2005

the RTS index went from 300 in 2000 to 2,360 in December 2007

in September 2006 the market capitalisation of the 200 biggest firms was $833 billion (one third of which was Gazprom)

a reform of the tax system, under which a progressive income tax from 12% to 30% was replaced with a flat tax of 13% in 2001

Russia introduced full convertibility of its currency in July 2006

the percentage of the population living in poverty fell from 38% in 1998 to 9.5% in 2004

the share of family budgets spent on food fell from 73% in 1992 to 54% in 2004

a total of 70% of economic activity now takes place in legally independent corporations, and a similar proportion of economic transactions occur through market-clearing prices

the centralised, command economy was smashed, although elements of such a model persist at the local level in some regions such as Tatarstan or Kalmykiya