What is included in the Ukrainian consumer basket. Composition of the consumer basket in Ukraine. What kind of wardrobe is included in the basket?

Consumer basket Ukrainians: What can you buy with your salary today?

Photos from open sources

Based on the consumer basket, the working population of Ukraine should go to work not only hungry, but also only partially clothed

Ukraine is one of the poorest countries in Europe. According to the UN, more than 60% of citizens live below the poverty line in the country. And if earlier, with a fixed exchange rate of 8 UAH per dollar, it was still somehow possible to manage your wallet, today this task is beyond the capabilities of even the most thrifty ordinary people. the site tried to compare what could be bought for the “minimum wage” last spring and what goods are available to Ukrainians now.

Let us remember that, according to officials, the composition of the consumer basket allows Ukrainians not to starve, to dress more or less decently, and even to use a certain set of services. Of course, if there are funds for it.

Old basket

The Ukrainian consumer basket was adopted in 2000. Since then, it has not been thoroughly revised. They supplemented it, seemed to recalculate the cost, increase the cost of living, but the picture is still sad to this day. In 2012, for example, the basket was once again supplemented, but at prices 10 years ago. All this time, people tried to draw attention to the problem, but officials increased the basket exactly as much as the budget funds were enough for.

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For example, the overall value of the consumer basket in 2013 was UAH 1,108. In December 2013 it was raised to UAH 1,176, today the minimum wage is UAH 1,218. By the way, the UN has determined the global limit for monthly income per person at $510. This means that if a person receives less, then he lives below the poverty line.

Today there are 300 services in the Ukrainian consumer basket. For comparison, it should be said that in Spain and Germany - about 480, in England - 350. At the end of 2013, Ukrainians spent 55% of their income on food, but today this share is 98%. And if utility bills were paid on time, then most of our compatriots would have to put their teeth on the shelf. Note that in Spain, France and Germany the share of expenses from total income does not exceed 15%. In general, Europeans spend less than 20% on food.

Life from hand to mouth

The Ukrainian consumer basket, the composition of which is more than modest, for an able-bodied person includes the following products:

According to our calculations, a little over a year ago a Ukrainian had to spend 151 UAH per month on food, subject to these ridiculous standards. For example, tea, spices and salt are not even listed. Not to mention cocoa, sugar, sweets, vegetables or coffee. For example, the ration of a German prisoner of war in 1941 included, among other things, 120 g of fish, 40 g of meat, 20 g of sweets and 55.5 g of spices and tea.

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In current realities, this set costs 275 UAH, that is, almost twice as expensive. But do any of us get by with such a basic set of products? Medical standards for both caloric content and energy value are many times higher. "Wherein healthy eating“implies the mandatory inclusion of vegetables, fruits, and vegetable fats in the diet, finally,” says nutritionist Natalya Simonenko. In short, neither then nor now these standards were standard. According to the nutritionist, the minimum balanced set of products for a month could be purchased last year for 600-700 UAH, but now this value reaches 2 thousand UAH.

Don't walk around naked

Based on the basket, the working population of Ukraine should go to work not only hungry, but also partially clothed. For example, for men there is 1 trousers for 4 years, a sweater for three years, 1 swimming trunks for 10 years, a pair of boots for five years. There are 5 pairs of underwear for two years and a year's supply of socks of as many as 7 pairs.

Women, according to the list, can get by with just one bra, three pairs of tights, and a pair of boots per year for two years, and not for five, like men. You are supposed to have one hat for four years.

Children, according to consumer basket standards, are deprived of diapers and toys. “Based on the basket, Ukrainian children, in principle, do not grow up. This conclusion can be drawn from the fact that the clothing standards for them are almost the same as for adults. They practically forgot about the need for school supplies. And they didn’t think about students at all. Judging by according to the consumer basket, there are no such people at all,” notes Alexandra Divchenko, an employee of a Kiev garment factory.

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If we talk about prices, then just a year ago you could get dressed from underwear to boots for a minimum of 2 thousand UAH. Today, market traders are constantly “dancing” with the dollar exchange rate. “If previously panties were available for 10 UAH, today their cost is twice as high, purchasing is becoming more expensive,” says Alina Yanenko, a seller at the Svyatoshinsky market in the capital. There has been a complete revolution with such goods as jeans, knitwear, and outerwear - their prices have at least doubled. Moreover, not only new arrivals have become more expensive, prices have also skyrocketed for last year’s leftovers.

The site's correspondent conducted an experiment and tried to dress in the cheapest clothes at the market, regardless of fashion. So, the cheapest underwear cost 50 UAH, socks – 8 UAH, trousers – 180 UAH, T-shirt – 60 UAH, jumper – 200 UAH, a pair of boots – 350 UAH (there are simply no cheaper shoes or boots), a demi-season coat – 900 UAH, the hat intended for four-year wear remained unpurchased, it was replaced by a scarf-collar costing 170 UAH. Mittens, belt, and other accessories did not fit into the budget. The same 2 thousand UAH, but the view leaves much to be desired. “With this money you can dress quite stylishly and decently in a second-hand store,” says aspiring designer Margarita Slepko. According to suppliers of used clothing, their flow of customers increased last year, when Ukrainians felt that they would have to “tighten their belts” more than ever.

Medicine and care and self

Judging by the size of the “minimum wage”, Ukrainians in principle do not need to get their hair cut, shave, or have their clothes repaired. The first aid kit contains a bandage, iodine, validol and aspirin. Antiviral drugs, immunomodulators, elementary antispasmodics and antihistamines are not needed. “What is it, we have a healthy nation,” says pharmacy pharmacist Alexander Gunko, not without irony.

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Also, Ukrainians do not wear glasses, do not use deodorants... “Despite the fact that previously these items were not in the consumer basket, the average Ukrainian could afford basic hygiene products and skin care products. Today, prices are astronomical. Because everything depends on dollar,” laments the perfume company’s technologist Anna Vasilyeva.

Total - nothing

Based on the above, the realities of the country are such that the exchange rate continually “creeps” up. “The dynamics of this process are the most stable thing the country has. Naturally, gasoline follows the exchange rate, and as a result, fares and many other things,” states economic expert Alexander Zholud.

The real cost of the consumer basket in Ukraine, even as modest as it is today, is clearly no longer 1,218 UAH. However, pensions and social benefits continue to be paid in exactly this amount. “Of course, the majority of the working population does not receive the minimum wage. Even if they do, it is only on paper. However, if you subtract the costs of transport, which is becoming more expensive every day, you will have just enough money for 172 g of bread a day for breakfast, a glass milk for lunch, and for dinner you can “taste the moon and stars,” says Alexander Lengauer, director of the consulting company CEC Ukraine.

Director of the Association of Retail Chain Suppliers Alexey Doroshenko says that Ukrainians are increasingly willing to switch to domestically produced goods. “Many people are not bothered by the presence of discounted Russian products on the shelves. After all, you always want to eat,” the expert adds. According to experts, it is not yet possible to talk about the fact that food prices, and even more so for clothing and shoes, will decrease. “Over time, with the exchange rate stabilizing, fuel and imported components may become cheaper. But given the risks due to currency fluctuations, this will not happen soon - in a month and a half at best,” says Igor Ostapchuk, an expert on agricultural markets at the Ukrainian Agricultural Business Club association.

Therefore, while the government declares the groundlessness of price increases and promises to contain it through interventions of flour and sugar on the domestic market, Ukrainians are actively sweeping everything they can afford from supermarket shelves. And you can’t argue with the fact that there are enough food supplies. But there are no reserves of money.

Marina Murga, especially for 112.ua

Analytics

10.08.2018 13:41

Ukrinform

The vital needs of a Ukrainian in 2000 and 2018 are two big differences. This is clear to everyone, except for some reason the developers of social standards

Human rights activists proved in court that the consumer basket adopted in 2016 in Ukraine was updated with significant violations of the law and without any approximation to reality. This means that the cost of living, calculated on the basis of a basket (in fact, its valuation, the basic social standard in the country) is unfair. Even more - extremely humiliating. What is 1,700 hryvnia a month today for one physiologically normal person? Food set, non-food products and can she afford the services within 30 days, so that, excuse me, she doesn’t move her horses? It's hard to even imagine. Therefore, lawyers undertook to defend the constitutional right and the “subsistence” dignity of poor Ukrainians from the state, which in this case did not approach its responsibilities in good faith.

They violated the regulations, but didn’t ask about physiology at all

The Kiev Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed the illegality of the “consumer basket” currently in force in Ukraine. The court came to the conclusion that when adopting Resolution No. 780 “On approval of sets of food products, sets of non-food products and sets of services for the main social and demographic groups of the population” (the so-called “consumer basket”), which for the first time in the last 16 years, consumption standards were revised, officials violated the law. Which in turn led “to the establishment of an unfair standard of living and became a condition for the establishment of an unfair living wage.”

From the reasoning part of the court decision it follows that the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Economy and other responsible departments violated the regulations of the expert commission and made a decision without proper social and scientific expertise. In particular, they created a set of food products without taking into account the standards of human physiological needs.

The head of the non-profit project “Open Court” Stanislav Batrin, who was the plaintiff in the case, insists that the government must immediately initiate a review of the “basket” - in accordance with the procedure established by law, public expertise and calculation methods. But there are standards that are embarrassing to voice.

The most modest consumers have nothing to look for!

Today, a decent life for a Ukrainian in the understanding of the state is, in particular, life... without mobile communications and the Internet. Subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, landline telephone, letters, a few more books, TV - yes. And the technologies that the whole world and all sane citizens of Ukraine use today are probably from the evil one.

It is noteworthy that instead of butter the list of food packages for the working-age population includes the item “margarine” (2 kg/year). It is also striking that the list provides for no more than 2 kg of lard per year for a Ukrainian, as well as 8 kg of pork and 9 kg of sausage.

On the issue of clothing, for example, it is proposed to approve for men a standard of 1 suit, tie, jumper, sweater, trousers per year. From underwear: 6 panties, 2 T-shirts, 1 swimming trunks and 10 socks - for a year. Women: 6 panties, 2 bras, 2 T-shirts, 1 swimsuit, 2 synthetic tights and 1 trousers.

No less interesting is the data on hygiene products: 2 toothbrushes, 1 cologne, 1 comb, toilet paper - 12 pcs. All this for a year. Among sanitary items and medicines, the following indicators stand out: 1 cotton wool (100 g), 2 bandages, 2 antipyretics, 7 plasters, 1 baby cream.

In terms of hairdressing services, the compilers of the “basket” left the offer of 4 haircuts per year. The commission “forgot” about long-distance or international trips altogether. Only suburban transportation (up to 50 km) is included. The apogee of this is the indicator of visiting cultural institutions (6 times a year) and purchasing books (no more than 6 pieces).

Dignity as the basic foundation of life

In 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers lost two court cases (in the first and appellate instances) on the need to review the cost of living and the content of the “consumer basket” based on Batrin’s claim. This time, human rights activists challenged the actual results of this review - the recognition of Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 780 as illegal and invalid.

“I believe that this time the government will go to cassation, although the appeal does not suspend the execution of the appeal decision (The decision enters into legal force from the date of adoption and can be appealed by filing a cassation appeal directly to the Supreme Court of Ukraine within thirty days from the date of drawing up the full court decision - Author). At the same time, we still hope that the Prime Minister can take personal responsibility for introducing new standards of living, especially on the eve of the election process. For my part, I personally sent appropriate appeals to the government calling for a solution to the problem, and not to aggravate it,” Stanislav Batrin said in a comment to Ukrinform.

He is deeply convinced that first the government and ministries must find out what needs citizens have, formulate an open list of them, and discuss them in society. Honestly recognize these real needs, and further act in the direction of carrying out reforms to achieve the intended targets, the human rights activist explained.

In defense of its position, “Open Court” gave several answers to standard questions.

In 2016, the government changed the “consumer basket” for the first time in 16 years. What didn't please the officials?

Not a single government of Ukraine after 2000 fulfilled the requirements of the Constitution to revise the “consumer basket” and the size of the subsistence minimum. And in 2016, the authorities were forced to do this - as a result of losing in court. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine then adopted Resolution No. 780 of October 11, 2016 “On the approval of food packages, sets of non-food products and sets of services for the main social and demographic groups of the population.” As explained, the government thereby revised the “consumer basket” of Ukrainians. The question remained, did the government actually conduct such a review or did it effectively duplicate the 2000 standard?

Now will the “consumer basket” of 2000 regain its strength?

There is no reason to worry. We consistently prove in court that the “consumer basket” approved in 2016 is a fraud. The government and the relevant ministries were unable to prove in court that the approved “consumer basket” meets the needs of citizens: neither in terms of quantitative nor qualitative indicators. In fact, in 2016, the 2000 “basket” was only “updated” (a word coined by the defendants). It is on the basis of such an “honest” “consumer basket” that from January 1, 2018, the government established the subsistence minimum per person per month - 1,700 UAH. That is, the government believes that these funds are enough for people to meet their needs for a decent life. We don't think so.

This is the responsibility of the authorities state power review and set living standards. The living wage should be established by regularly reviewing the contents of the “consumer basket”. We will ensure wide public discussion of this process. We will see how, for example, ministers will be able to explain the inclusion or non-inclusion of diapers for newborns and mobile communications into the contents of the “consumer basket”.

The “consumer basket” is a Soviet tradition, why preserve it?

The leading countries of the world are also forming “consumer baskets” to further ensure minimal human needs. The difference is that in countries where the law prevails, such standards differ in quality and quantity tenfold in comparison with domestic ones. For example, for citizens of Ukraine, long-distance and international travel (by one mode of transport) is not provided; 4 visits to the hairdresser/year are expected, purchase of 6 books/year (by the way, children in schools need more), visits to only 6 (!) cultural institutions per year. year (cinema, theater, etc.). The problem is that Ukraine recognizes at the legislative level that these are the real human needs.

If a country does not have the means to raise social standards, then what is the point of revising them?

This statement is manipulative. Firstly, we all know very well that there is money in the country. Secondly: this is not about money now. We insist that the government must approve an objective set of food, non-food goods and services that is the minimum necessary for everyone to ensure a decent life. Based on such a list, the government must determine the real living wage. Let's say 5000 hryvnia. If such a benchmark is established, then the government must present a road map to the public on how to achieve it. Otherwise, the authorities will not strive for something more. By suing her, we hope that there is still room for compromise between the government and society.

The press service of the Ministry of Economic Development, in turn, confirmed to Ukrinform the information that the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine are now processing cassation appeals against the decisions of judges of the first and appellate instances. That is, in the legal dispute with the public, the authorities decided to go all the way.

Lawyers for the Ministry of Economic Development also noted that since, according to the decision of the appeal court, the controversial resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 780 has lost force, the effect of the previous resolution - No. 656, which regulated the selection of the “consumer basket” in 2000, is restored in full. This means returning to the practice of monthly monitoring of prices for goods and services included in the consumer basket, and submitting statistical data to the Ministry of Economic Development for monthly calculation of the actual cost of living. (Price monitoring is carried out by relevant ministries and departments).

In addition, the Ministry of Social Policy will conduct a new scientific and public examination of the sets of goods and services in the basket. We hope that this time officials will formulate a more adequate version of it.

Marina Nechiporenko, Kyiv

In most developed countries of the world, the standard of living of citizens has long been determined by the cost of their “consumer basket”. This has been done in Ukraine since 1991, and the project is funded by the EU under the TACIS program. The consumer basket is something that a person, in principle, cannot do without. In other words, a set of goods and services necessary to satisfy our primary needs on average per year. The consumer basket is used to calculate the cost of living, as well as to establish the level of minimum pensions and wages, and calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Thus, the consumer basket in the USA consists of 300 items of goods and services, in France - 250, England - 350, Germany - 475, Ukraine - 300 (more precisely, 296).

So that no one accuses me of bias, I will say that all the figures given below (and the names of the documents) are taken from the official statistical information of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, and anyone can check them on the State Statistics Committee website.

So, in the consumer basket of the average Ukrainian there are 296 goods and services (State Statistics Committee report “Consumer set of goods (services) - representatives for calculating the CPI”). The income of the average Ukrainian is distributed between these goods and services in accordance with the State Statistics Committee report “Weight structure for calculating the CPI”.

In accordance with the Report of the State Statistics Committee "Expenditures and resources of households in Ukraine in 2009", the average income of one resident of Ukraine is 1071 UAH. per month. According to the same report, 20% of the population receives 37.2% of all income, and the remaining 80% of the population receives 62.8%, respectively.

The population of Ukraine is 46 million 63 thousand people (State Statistics Committee report “Population in 2009”). By simple arithmetic calculation we find that 80% of the population of Ukraine receive an income of 10,092 UAH. per year, or 841 UAH. per month. By multiplying income by the coefficients from the “Weight structure for calculating the CPI” we obtain how much an ordinary Ukrainian can spend on certain goods and services.

Food products “eat up” 53.5% of the income of an ordinary citizen of Ukraine, another 11.2% comes from paying for housing and utilities. What benefits of civilization can a low-income Ukrainian get with the remaining 35.3%, or 297 UAH? per month. It is difficult to comment on this without irony or even sarcasm.

To begin with, let's take clothes, because you can’t go anywhere without it. A man can buy one jacket in ten years and one suit. He can also buy trousers for ten years, but why does he need trousers if he also has jeans (one for five years). The man is completely unlucky with shirts (one for 12 years), but he has a T-shirt (one for 6 years) and a sweater for 4 years. But things are going well with socks; a man can wear new ones every year. It’s worse with panties - only one for five years (and only if they are calico family panties for 5 UAH), but swimming trunks are generally the same for life... Well, that’s right, you can go to the beach in family panties. At worst, you can sunbathe “nude” on the shore of our headquarters, lushly overgrown with reeds in the endless Ukrainian steppe. Well, why are we worse than the hedonists of pampered Nice?

For women, shopping for clothes is the same as for men, but there is one caveat! There will never be a demographic explosion in Ukraine if women wear the same, pardon the piquant details, underwear for five years in a row...

Children do better with clothes than adults. You can buy any item for a child for a year or two. True, they grow so quickly... and babies also often need to change diapers and onesies for natural reasons! Well, it’s okay, firstly, there are older children, you can carry their things, in extreme cases, dad’s shirt, which is 13 years old, can be cut into rompers and a cap.

Shoes- a special article of our conversation. Men's winter boots - some for 12 years (well, that's right - winters are no longer harsh these days!). But the breadwinner husband can afford to buy shoes plus sneakers every year. House slippers - one for 20 years. True, they are not expensive and instead of winter boots you can buy 20 pairs of them and change them like gloves. No, with gloves - an obvious excess. This is in England and also in early XIX centuries, rules for the “ideal gentleman” were formulated. According to these rules, gloves had to be changed six times a day! And for us, God willing, six times in our entire lives, counting childhood, adolescence and youth.

But let's get back to the shoes.. Regarding the purchase of children's and women's shoes by the average Ukrainian buyer, read again the information about men's shoes.

But with detergents things are going great. Every month a person, be it a man, a woman or a teenager, can afford 2-3 pieces of laundry soap. And this is no coincidence. Underwear that you wear for five years, practically without taking it off, needs to be washed often, which improves hygiene, however, inexorably spoils its appearance.

Now, as for the big one household utensils(please do not confuse it with large domestic animals, which are not included in the consumer basket by the State Statistics Committee). Furniture, TV, refrigerator, washing machine and so on. can be purchased once every 30 years. And it is not surprising that when entering most apartments and houses you can see “Electrons”, “Photons”, “Synchrophasotrons” and other similar televisions the size and weight of a good fireproof safe and furniture sets “made in the USSR” from the time of Leonid Brezhnev. But there are huge reserves here. After all, the calculations were made for one person, but the whole family uses household utensils. Therefore, it is necessary to start a family, and no matter how many times it is larger, so many times higher will be the circulation of large household utensils in the nature of a single family. If you want to watch a plasma TV, get married, give birth to five children, take your mother-in-law with you, and in 4 years you will be watching the battles in the Verkhovna Rada in front of the new TV.

Purchasing personal vehicles- in the same order as large household utensils. True, except here big family There is another way to speed up the process - buy, for example, a “Zaporozhets” “soap box” that has been rusting for twenty years in someone’s garage. At the same time, the entire large family can be squeezed into it (except for the mother-in-law). Don't believe me? Verified by the author! True, you can only drive like this to drop agricultural troops into the garden - to weed potatoes. It looks very wrinkled, so it’s better to go to the concert by tram.

Culture. For the allocated funds you can go to a concert once a year. True, not a pop star, but, to put it mildly, a touring artist or a mediocre band with a ticket to the last row. Instead of one concert, you can attend five, but of a local ensemble or a regional star. But it’s better to save this money and use it on more useful things, for example, buy yourself extra socks or a T-shirt. You can buy a book once every 5 years, and three newspapers and magazines per year. But, firstly, you can borrow books to read from friends and relatives, and as for newspapers and magazines, rummage through the barn. Surely you have a copy of “Techniques of Youth” for 1972 and the newspaper “Trud” for 1983 lying around. And believe me, they are much more pleasant to read than modern ones. And with the money saved it is better to buy something the children need.

Science, education. 20 UAH are allocated for kindergarten. in year. Yes, today for 20 hryvnia you get the same kindergarten They won’t even refuse in words, so as not to bother themselves with empty talk, they just won’t let you in! Things are no better with the average and higher education. Firstly, you will have to educate yourself only on a “budget”, and secondly, for the rest of your life. Moreover, with five notebooks and two pens a year you won’t learn much.

Toilet paper deserves special attention. Every citizen can purchase a whole roll of it for a month. Is it a lot or a little? Considering that 53.5% of income is spent on food, which is 15 UAH. per day, you won’t get around much. Therefore, a roll should be enough. Although, on the other hand, a Ukrainian citizen is “allowed” to eat about 3 kg of fat per month, of which almost 1 kg of lard. If you eat lard at once, then the roll will not be enough for one day. And if there are still excesses left, it doesn’t matter. They can be invested in science and education, covering the shortage of student notebooks.

Medicine- it’s a personal matter, therefore, you can’t save money on increasing your family in this particular case. Therefore, ordinary citizens of Ukraine are not allowed to get sick. What you can do is take a cheap blood pressure pill three times a day. And in general the list of designated drugs is small. It consists of antibiotics, vitamins, painkillers, antipyretics, vasodilators and hormonal drugs, as well as ointments. And that's it, period. Among the “other” medications, only adhesive plaster is offered. Probably seal your mouth so that there is nowhere to put other medications.

And the situation with funeral services is absolutely sad. To ensure a decent funeral, you need to live for about two hundred years. So, gentlemen and comrades, ordinary citizens of Ukraine, don’t get sick, live long, and then your departure to another world will be much more impressive than your current life with such a wonderful consumer basket for 841 UAH. per month.

P.S. Information for those who know how to use Microsoft Excel. The document “Weight structure for calculating the CPI” on the Goskomstat website is posted in this program, so by substituting the amount of income, it is easy to calculate the cost, for example, of your own consumer basket. Try it, it turns out to be a most interesting thing!

Igor Nechaev

The required minimum composition of the consumer basket in Ukraine has remained unchanged since 2000, although the law requires it to be updated every five years. The Cabinet of Ministers returned to the issue of revising the consumer basket in 2015. Starting from this time, the consumer basket for Ukrainians should be revised annually. But this does not always happen in practice.

Changes made to the shopping cart

In 2016, the government reviewed the composition of the consumer basket for the last time and made changes to almost all sets: consumption standards for some food products were increased, the list of necessary medicines and hygiene products was updated, the number of footwear and clothing items was increased, etc. However, looking carefully at the food standards, which are indicated mainly in kilograms, and dividing these values ​​by 365, you get daily values ​​that are not at all encouraging. It seems that the cost of living is formed not on the basis of the composition of the consumer basket, but on the contrary - the values ​​of the norms in the consumer basket are selected according to the already accepted amount of the cost of living. However, you can draw your own conclusions.

In 2018, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated October 11, 2016 “On approval of sets of food products, sets of non-food products and sets of services for main social and demographic groups of the population” was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. The reason was the basket’s non-compliance with the norms of the Law of Ukraine “On the Minimum Consumer Budget”, which states: “The consumer basket for each of the socio-demographic groups should include “scientifically based, needs-balanced standards of sets of goods and services based on minimum norms and standards of consumption, which are developed by scientific institutions and organizations of the relevant profile.”

In this case, such a list of services and goods that are included in this basket cannot be called “scientifically based” and “balanced”. The fundamental norm of the law was also violated - that every five years it is necessary to review the cost of living and the consumer basket. In Ukraine, this basket existed since 2000, and was in no way suitable for 2016.

In 2019, the government did not revise the consumer basket for Ukrainians, despite the decision of the Supreme Court.

Below are the most interesting sets and norms of the consumer basket in Ukraine.

Food products of the consumer basket in Ukraine

The table below shows food sets for children in kilograms based on 1 child for 1 year.

The table below presents food packages for the working population and people who have lost their ability to work. The norms are indicated in kilograms per 1 person for 1 year.

Basic necessities, sanitation and medicines

The table below shows the minimum sets of basic necessities, sanitation and medicines for 1 year.

Housing and communal services

The table below presents a set of housing and communal services.

In addition to the above sets, the Ukrainian consumer basket also includes nutritional standards for adults and children, a minimum wardrobe set for men, women and children, textiles, household and household goods, services from cultural institutions, information and communications, household and transport services.

What is included in the consumer baskets of European countries?

A large number of points indicates a high level of the country’s economy. But some products are usually missing from any lists:

• drinks containing alcohol;
• delicacies;
• luxuries.

Although, according to France, the required minimum of things includes:

• wine;
• food for cats and dogs;
• liquid soap;
• visiting a hairdresser;
• hair styling products.

Germany considers drinking beer vital. And in the UK they removed from the basket:

• visiting nightclubs;
• contact lenses;
• organic products.

But they allowed:

• play computer games;
• drink expensive liquors;
• buy chocolate;
• lemons;
• semi-finished poultry products.

The total number of items in the English basket reaches 704.

The USA especially distinguished itself. They update the composition of the basket every year and make calculations based on real prices for goods and services. In this case, the average family of four is taken as a basis. They consider the necessary minimum:

• payment of utilities;
• Internet use;
• Cell phones;
• education;
• medical service;
• alcoholic drinks;
• cigarettes.

Bookmarked: 0

According to estimates, today the cost of the consumer basket is 600 UAH. above the subsistence level.

It's no secret what Last year prices for food, equipment and everything else have almost doubled. Whereas wage Ukrainians remained the same as before, and in some areas decreased.

According to the Main Department of Statistics in the Chernivtsi region, in January 2014 the average salary of a Bukovinian was 2,320 UAH. In the fall, the average monthly salary changed to 2530. Which is significantly less than in other areas. And in fact, for many, even these numbers seem unattainable. In turn, the State Statistics Service reports that at present, compared to the same period in 2013, Ukrainians have begun to save significantly, including buying almost 20% less food and spending 30% less on transport. They save on everything else too.

In December in Ukraine, according to experts, food prices will continue to rise, and inflation at the end of the year may exceed the 25% promised by the authorities.

President of the Center for Market Reforms Vladimir Lanovoy believes that the real inflation rate is 26-27%.

– In December, the price increase, according to my calculations, will be at least 4.5%, and by the end of the year, we will reach 26-27% inflation. There will be a new price surge in December and January 2015,” he said.

Therefore, pretty soon Ukrainians will not have enough money even to fill the consumer basket, which, according to the list of products, is far from the minimum necessary for survival. In 2013, the then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych calculated that 1,176 hryvnia should be spent on the consumer basket.

We calculated that in December 2014, the consumer basket of an adult Ukrainian would cost at least 1,800 hryvnia, this with his meager set. Of this, 1,050 hryvnia will be spent on food alone, as well as expenses on clothing, medicine, services and utilities. And this despite the fact that the cost of living for an adult continues to be 1,254 hryvnia. For comparison, at the beginning of 2014, maintaining a consumer basket would cost about 1,200 UAH.

It is worth noting that Ukrainians spend 53.5% of the subsistence level on food. For example, in Spain, France and Germany this figure does not exceed 13%.

By the way, the UN has determined the global limit for monthly income per person at $510. This means that if a person receives less, then he lives below the poverty line.

Ukrainian consumer basket

Products: White and black bread – 260 g/day, meat – 115 g/day, sausage – 25 g/day, lard – 5 g/day, fish – 30 g/day, milk – 340 g/day, hard cheese – 9 g/day, eggs 0.6 pcs/day, potatoes – 260 g/day, buckwheat – 5 g/day, rice – 7 g/day, pasta – 11 g/day, tomatoes or cucumbers – 50 g/day, fruits and berries – 175 g/day.

Obviously, with such a set it is easy to die of hunger, some necessary products there is nothing in it at all. Back in 2013, the contents of the basket should have been increased by 25%, but this was never done.

Clothes for men:

1 pants for 4 years; 1 sweater for 3 years; 5 pairs of underwear for 2 years; 2 T-shirts for a year; 1 swimming trunks for 10 years; 7 pairs of socks per year; 1 pair of boots for 5 years.

Clothes for women:

1 bra per year; 3 pairs of stockings per year; 1 pair of boots for 2 years; 1 hat for 4 years.