MOSCOW, 22 April 2025. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a monitoring study describing the financial literacy in Russia.
Financial literacy self-assessment
According to a recent VCIOM survey, an average self-assessment score for financial literacy is three and a half, whereas the score describing satisfaction with managing personal finances is just shy of four. Over the recent 15 years both indicators have improved; this might be due to higher availability of financial services (for example, loans), information related to financial management, development of programs to improve financial literacy and government initiatives to promote financial culture.
Self-assessment of financial literacy fluctuates depending on generations. Older millennials tend to rate their ability to manage finances higher than others. Perhaps, this is due to their digital experience and an ability to quickly master modern banking services to be more confident in making financial decisions. As to financial situation, there is an obvious pattern: the higher the household income, the higher the confidence of Russians about doing everything right.
Spend, save or invest?
The findings also reveal that Russians have made real progress in their ability to manage personal finances: this conclusion is derived from respondents’ answers to the question about how they would manage a large lottery win ($1 million). There is a shift toward a more rational and socially oriented approach. In 2006, on average Russians could spend half of their hypothetical win (about $500 thousand) on personal needs (property, car, traveling, etc.); but today only one-third of them would do the same. Today an emergency fund (bank deposit) would take half the win, which proves that financial security, long-term planning, trust in bank deposits have become more important for Russians. Plans about the rest of the win have undergone changes; instead of personal needs more Russians prefer to invest in high-yield but risky projects and charities (the share has doubled compared with 2006).
We can’t do without smartphones anymore
A positive shift in personal finance management can be resulted from mobile banking getting increasingly popular, among other things. Apps enable users to manage their finances, make payments, transactions, and maintain control of the household budget at any time and in any place.
Over the last 14 years the share of Russians using mobile phones to manage and take control of finances has increased almost fourfold: in 2011 only every fifth Russian used mobile phones (mainly to get notifications), but now there are three-quarters of them. The most in-demand services are paying utility bills and making money transfers; getting notifications and managing bank accounts are less popular.
All-Russian VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted April 13, 2025. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interview, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of March 28, 2025: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7957; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0212; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1165. Calculations are based on corporate standard https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
Do you consider yourself a financially literate person? Please assess your financial knowledge and skills using a five-point scale, with 1 being “no knowledge and skills to manage finances” and 5 being “excellent knowledge and skills to manage finances” (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2010* | 2025 |
Average score | 2.91 | 3.43 |
Do you consider yourself a financially literate person? Please assess your financial knowledge and skills using a five-point scale with 1 being “no knowledge and skills to manage finances” and 5 being “excellent knowledge and skills to manage finances” (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Digital generation (2001 and later) | Younger Millennials (1992—2000) | Older Millennials (1982—1991) | Reform generation (1968—1981) | Stagnation generation (1948—1967) | Thaw generation (before 1947) |
Average score | 3.43 | 3.44 | 3.38 | 3.62 | 3.39 | 3.30 | 3.42 |
Do you consider yourself a financially literate person? Please assess your financial knowledge and skills using a five-point scale with 1 being “no knowledge and skills to manage finances” and 5 being “excellent knowledge and skills to manage finances” (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
| Total respondents | How would you assess the current financial situation in your family? | ||
Very good, good | Average | Very bad, bad | ||
Average score | 3.43 | 3.71 | 3.42 | 3.15 |
How do you assess how your (your family) manages finances you possess? Please assess using a 5-point scale, with 1 being very bad, and 5 being very good. (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2010* | 2025 |
Average score | 3.38 | 3.74 |
How do you assess how your (your family) manages finances you possess? Please assess using a 5-point scale, with 1 being very bad, and 5 being very good. (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
| Total respondents | How would you assess the current financial situation | ||
Very good, good | Average | Very bad, bad | ||
Average score | 3.74 | 4.23 | 3.72 | 3.19 |
Imagine you have won a $1 mln lottery prize. In what percentages would you spend this sum? I will read out options, please specify the percentage you would spend on… (closed-ended question, one answer, for each option, % of total respondents, average)** | ||
| 2006* | 2025 |
Spending money (apartment, car, studies, vacation, etc.), average percentage | 51 | 34 |
Putting aside (for example, bank account), average percentage | 27 | 30 |
Investing into high-yield but risky projects (shares of growing companies, investment funds, etc.), average percentage | 10 | 17 |
For charities, average percentage | 11 | 19 |
** Data were normalized to 100%; “Hard to answer” responses were omitted.
Do you use your mobile phone to manage and control your finances, or not? If you do, in what way? (closed-ended question, any number of answers for each option, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2011* | 2025 |
To pay utility bills | 2 | 59 |
For money transfers | 3 | 56 |
To get notifications about bank operations | 16 | 51 |
To manage bank account | 2 | 51 |
To manage digital wallet | 1 | 32 |
No, I don’t | 78 | 23 |
Other | 0 | 2 |
Don’t know | 2 | 1 |
*** Before 2017, surveys were conducted through household face-to-face interviews (Express project); stratified multi-stage sample, with quotas based on socio-demographic parameters; representative of the Russian population aged 18+, according to type of settlement, gender, age, education and federal district. Sample size: 1,600 respondents.
Author: Lyudmila Bogomazova