 Approximately 19.2 million of Russians lived below the national poverty line in 2016, significantly up from 16.1 million in 2015.Unemployment in Russia was 5.4% in 2014, down from about 12.4% in 1999.Officially, about 20–25% of the Russian population is categorised as middle class; however some economists and sociologists think this figure is inflated and the real fraction is about 7%.