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- They are busy themselves: Russians' incomes from entrepreneurship have increased by a quarter
They are busy themselves: Russians' incomes from entrepreneurship have increased by a quarter
Russians' incomes from entrepreneurial activity in the first half of 2025 exceeded 4 trillion rubles, which is a quarter more than a year ago, according to calculations by a HSE expert. The reasons are the rapid exit of businesses from the shadows under the pressure of tax control, the development of online commerce and government support encouraging the opening of their own business. In addition, against the background of high inflation and wages lagging behind the cost of living, more and more citizens are looking for new sources of income — as a result, they choose self-employment or part-time work. Whether this trend will continue and why hiring is losing its appeal is in the Izvestia article.
How much did Russians earn in the first half of 2025
Russians received 4 trillion rubles from business activities in the first half of the year, which is 25% more than in 2024. Such data was provided by Svetlana Misikhina, Deputy director of the HSE Development Center, in the review "Incomes and Expenses of the population", which was reviewed by Izvestia. The calculations are based on Rosstat statistics.
The income structure from their own business includes income from self-employed and individual entrepreneurs, rent payments, royalties and bonuses to members of the boards of directors. For the whole of 2024, their volume exceeded 7 trillion.
This income item showed the largest growth among other sources of income, according to the author's calculations. In general, Russians earned 57 trillion in the first half of the year, which is 18% more than a year earlier. Of this amount, 36 trillion was for labor remuneration (+17%), almost 10 trillion — for social benefits (+15%), 5 trillion — for money from property (+23%). Other revenues amounted to 3 trillion.
Why Russians have become more likely to work for themselves
The growth of income from entrepreneurial activity is largely related to the legalization of business: a significant part of businessmen began to leave the shadows, fearing tax control, explained Natalia Shuvalova, associate professor at the Faculty of Economics of the Rudn University. As a result, their income began to be reflected in official statistics, which increased the dynamics of the indicators.
The increase in revenue was also influenced by rising prices: entrepreneurs began to set higher prices for the same volume of products, she noted. According to HSE calculations, real household spending in the first half of the year increased by 5% on goods and 6.3% on services.
Government support measures also have an impact, said Anastasia Melnikova, senior lecturer at the Department of Entrepreneurship and Logistics at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. According to her, even students can start their own business today, and there are special subsidy programs for schoolchildren. In addition, the government offers grants for launching projects, preferential loans for small businesses, tax holidays for beginning sole proprietors and educational programs on the basics of entrepreneurship.
Another reason is that employers do not always index salaries by inflation. As a result, wages in a number of companies are lagging behind price increases. Against this background, entrepreneurship looks like a more attractive option than employment, the expert noted.
According to the latest data from Rosstat, annual inflation in September was 8.1%.
As Izvestia previously reported, wage growth in the Russian Federation has reached a ceiling and has begun to slow down for the first time since the pandemic. In June, the average nominal salary increased by 15% to 103 thousand rubles, but the rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than last year. The main reasons are high interest rates, an increase in the tax burden and the exhaustion of business resources amid declining consumer demand.
Why Russians have started to earn extra money more often
Against the background of a decrease in the attractiveness of employment, more and more Russians are choosing self-employment. According to the Federal Tax Service, by August 2025, their number exceeded 14 million compared to 12 million at the beginning of the year. They are most active in the fields of repair, car service, IT and beauty industries. The share of self-employed workers already exceeds 12% of the total number of employees, said Nikolai Pereslavsky, head of the Support department at CMS Group.
— An additional factor was the growth of e-commerce. Today it is much easier to become self—employed and start your own business - to organize an order pick-up point, place goods on a marketplace or launch a small cafe. The entry threshold is low, but there is always demand. People now have affordable opportunities to try their hand at business and refuse to hire," said Natalia Shuvalova from RUDN University.
According to Nikolai Pereslavsky, in addition to low tax rates (4% and 6%), self-employment involves simplified reporting, exempts from mandatory insurance premiums and allows you to combine it with your main job, so for many, this regime becomes a convenient way to earn additional income: salaries and social support are often not enough.
So, to approve a mortgage on market conditions at current rates, you need to earn from 110 thousand to 341 thousand rubles per month. However, the real incomes of Russians are 1.6–3.2 times lower. At the same time, the share of available funds after mandatory expenses in August 2025 decreased to 15%, according to Romir data.
Against this background, interest in part-time work has also increased in Russia in 2025. According to Avito, people are looking for temporary employment almost four times more often than a year ago.
Daniil Gonenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Public Sector at the Presidential Academy, is confident that the trend of income growth from entrepreneurial activity will continue in the future. Natalia Shuvalova from RUDN University agrees with him, noting that this is facilitated, among other things, by the development of online commerce.
According to the Ministry of Economic Development, the share of Russians involved in business activities in one way or another has grown in two years and by January 2025 reached 23% of the 76 million economically active citizens. The main motive is the desire for higher earnings.
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