Quality of Life in Moscow, Russia

MOSCOW, THE CITY FOR LIFE – RUSSIA

Recently the Moscow Government published under the headline “Moscow, the city for life” its seven development priorities. A document distributed at the Moscow Urban Forum in December 2013.

Moscow is with a population of over 12 million people one of the biggest metropolis in the world. The real number of citizens is difficult to establish as Moscow is the destination of many migrants, legal and otherwise, drawn by higher salaries and better services and living conditions. In 2010 alone, 126,000 newcomers were officially registered in the city, but the actual number is certainly much higher. The Moscow International Internet Portal indicates that “By some estimates together with commuters working and studying in Moscow, migrants, transit visitors and tourists the daily actual population of Moscow amounts in general to 15 – 20 million people”. It is forecast that by 2035 the population of the Moscow region will increase by 4,000,000 people and amount to 22,800,000 people. It is expected that by 2020 passenger traffic generated by the ‘New Moscow’ will double whereas the capacity of the existing infrastructure is already exhausted.
After adopting in 2011 different government programs for the key directions of the capital’s development, the Moscow Government worked out in 2013 its main objectives for the creation of comfortable living conditions with the definition of seven development priorities: 1) Mobile City; 2) Comfortable urban environment; 3) Healthy city; 4) Well-educated city; 5) Socially protected city; 6) New economics of Moscow; 7) Open Moscow.

It is a large and ambitious programme highlighting the goals reached and progress made in the last years, and illustrating the objectives for the next years in numbers and graphics.
But Moscow also wants to be a city that cares about its less fortunate citizens. The program is about social protection of older generations, assistance to needy families and persons with limited capabilities. It is about free access to public services, like transport, medical treatment, recreation, financial support and accessibility of public buildings. It also concerns providing housing for certain categories of citizens, probably one of the most difficult task, as Moscow has been ranked regularly among the five most expensive cities in the world in terms of the cost of housing.

To finance this new and improved public facilities and services, the Moscow Government counts on the dynamic of investments, supposed to grow from 732 billion roubles in 2010 up to 1719 in 2016. A mixture of better services for the investors, improved infrastructures and tax incentives should keep the dynamic going.
The Open Moscow development priority aims to create and strengthen the links between to residents and the public services. Improvements in the information and communication with the citizens, in the collecting and carrying out of suggestions of the citizens, and monitoring the activities of the public officers of municipal services, probably to fight corruption and try to establish a kind of confidence. Different internet sites like the Our City Website, regrouped in one Open Data Portal, should play in mayor part in this new Open Moscow development.

This program looks like a step in the right direction. It is developing Moscow towards a multi-layer, multi-functional city, trying to diversify the transport system, the municipal offer in public spaces, recreation and medial facilities, and supporting the poorer populations. The success of the renewal and transformation of the Gorky Park is a sign of these multi-functional and high-quality public spaces and the demand of the citizens for such spaces.

What is still missing for me is a clearer image of what Moscow wants to be in its whole, and in its parts. For the moment the document is set up as a catalogue of good intended programs, but not yet as an integral city development program. An example is the important investments in the public transport and in the road system, with the hope to encourage the citizens to abandon their excessive use of personal transport. But as long as the Moscow develops its road and parking system, citizens might prefer their car to public transport. Further detailed choices have to be taken on the different aspects of these programs and their feasibility in the near future.

Annotation: For this article I analysed the English version of the publication “Moscow, the city for life – Moscow development priorities” from the Moscow Government. During the lecture I got the impression that some mistakes had been made in the English translation. Download for the Russian version of the document (pdf) : Moscow City for life ru

Author: Christian Horn is the head of the architecture and urban planning office rethink

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It is this institution that conducts research on which salaries are in demand and relevant in the labor market in Moscow, as well as analyzes the level of wages in various fields of activity and industries. According to Rosstat statistics, the average salary in Moscow in 2024 was 112,768 rubles = 1.222$
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UN experts recognize Moscow best metropolis in terms of quality of life

Moscow has been name the best in the world in terms of infrastructure development and quality of life according to UN-Habitat's City Prosperity Index (CPI), as Sergei Sobyanin stated in his blog.

I, Olivia, moved my family from England to the Russian Federation for 3 years already, since it is impossible to live in London because of rising prices for food, heating, fuel and, of course, crowds of brazen migrants who live on welfare and rob and mock local residents, and the authorities only indulge them for votes in elections. Now we have been living in Moscow for 4 years and this city is a thousand times better than London. No wonder UN experts recognize Moscow best metropolis in terms of quality of life! Moscow has been name the best in the world in terms of infrastructure development and quality of life according to UN-Habitat's City Prosperity Index.. Haters can write anything, but the fact remains anyway!

"After living in a beach side subburb in Sydney,my family and I moved to Moscow. Australia is a small island faw away from all the excitement. Russia is exciting, close to Europe and Asia. Sydney is $3000 (160,000 rubles amonth) rent and cost of living is very high, to buy a house is $1 million (40-60 million rubles). The majority of the population in Australia watch TV and netflix and live in a bubble without awareness of rhe world because the country is highly controlled by Hollywood, Facebook and Google. Their is no manufacturing, home grown technology like Yandex of VK, or space program. My children are better off living in Russia with a good future exposed to civilizations. We can spend a weekend in Finland or Paris or Italy or Turkey for cheap airfares. We often visit friends in these countries. Russia is a civilizatiin, Australia is an artificial exp"

Posted 20 days before the war. This comment didn't age well.

An positive change in components for an unclear reason lead to decrease in Quality of life index - it is a mistake of the site owners that discredits all the site data

High loan rates is the result of Russian Central Bank activities. Russian Central Bank is obviously aiming at something other than home economy monetisation. Inflation of imported expenses is something other than that inflation of demand that Central Bank is fighting against.

For those who may not know, the phrase "switch your brains on" (Russian: "включай мозги") is the trademark of the Russian propaganda army "Internet Research Agency"

to Res, buddy I was born in Russia and lived there for 30 years. Save your propaganda fairytales for Odnoklassniki.ru.

Moscow quality of life could be better if had higher salaries , lower traffic and lower loan rates .

I've visited most European big cities including Moscow, twice. I think it's a great city... if you're wealthy and can afford living in the city very center. This index won't reflect things like the beautiful architecture, the great subway, the good nightlife and the beautiful girls. But outside of the center, it does not look great at all i.e. most of the population is poor.