Demography and Savings: Evidence from a Russian Household Survey

We utilise data from the biennial longitudinal survey Financial Behaviour of Russian Households (waves 2013–2022) to examine the saving patterns across Russian households. We find that female-headed households are less likely to save – this holds for all age groups and is especially pronounced among women aged over 40. Furthermore, single-person households in Russia are characterised by a lower probability of saving compared to other types of households – this finding is very consistent but differs from the estimates obtained for other countries. Since the demographic trends demonstrate a rising percentage of single- person households, behaviour patterns in this group may increasingly determine the saving behaviour of the population in the long term. At the same time, our analysis shows that the impact of individual time and risk preferences such as a saving horizon, future discounting and risk aversion on saving behaviour in the group of single-person households differs from the estimated effects for other types of households. Thus, standard policies to encourage savings may become less effective in the near future because they will have to deal with a large group of the population with a short planning horizon and high future discounting.