Despite a recent fall in standards of living, the number of Ukrainians who do not have enough money for food (17.5%) is still three times less than in late 1990s (52%), the director of Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS),Volodymyr Paniotto, said in an interview with the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. Ukraine weekly newspaper.
"The poverty peak in Ukraine was in 1998. Then 52% of population said that they do not have enough money for food. During crisis, Ukrainians even did not reach the indicator: first they spent their deposits and in April 2009 they reached a certain level of poverty (20.8% of those who did not have money for food). In December 2010, 13.7% of respondents said that there was no enough money for food and by March 2011 their number grew to 17.5% [due to a recent increase in prices]," the sociologist said.
The KIIS said that in the past six months the number of those who can afford buying some expensive goods (such as a TV set or a refrigerator), but cannot buy everything they want fell from 7.1% to 4.9%. The number of those who can afford buying everything fell from 0.2% to 0.1%.
"In theory, the situation should have improved, as governments of many countries announced recovery from crisis and slight growth. However, the price growth in our country hit everyone," Paniotto said.
