Quarter of Russian families in debt, poll says

A survey conducted earlier this month by the authoritative All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion has found that 26% of Russian families have outstanding debt, Prime-TASS reports.

The most popular item to buy on credit in Russia is a car, accounting for 22 percent of all credit taken out in the country. Cars are closely followed by everyday expenses (21%). 18% of credit in Russia goes on home electronics, 14% on home improvement, 12% on real estate, 10% on furniture, 5% education and medical treatment and 4% on computer equipment.

Most Russians (61%) consider themselves creditworthy, although only 20% said that it would be easy for them to make loan payments. 21% of debtors said that loan payments consume half or more of their families’ income, but 24% use 10-20% of the family income for loan payment. 18%  spend still less of their family's income on loan maintenance.

Just over half of Russians with outstanding loans (52%) said that the economic crisis has made repayment on their credit harder. 41% said the crisis did not affect their ability to pay.

The poll was conducted on June 6 and 7 in 140 towns throughout Russia and was answered by 1,600 people.