The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Olga Golodets, informed that according to the latest statistics, there are 22 million poor in the country.

“This is a serious problem,” Golodets added. “And the problem is that, today, most of the poor are families with children.”

To the query on what would be the situation in Russia with regard to poverty in 2016, the deputy PM responded: “We will do everything to stop this process and start reducing the number of poor,” Interfax news agency reported.

According to the 2013 data, the population of Russia is around 143.5 million.