Below is a translation of Marat’s post from the Russian-language Kazakhstan.Neweurasia blog, where you can also find some graphs.

I have decided to make a few statistical calculations about the prices on public utilities and on some products with reference to average salaries. For this purpose I used “Kazakhstan and the CIS countries” magazine, and data for the middle of the last year.

Firstly, I have taken the public utilities and counted how many square meters of a living space a citizen of each country can pay for with his salary. Strangely enough, Tajiks can pay for more space, because they have very cheap water and electricity. Heating is very cheap in Azerbaijan. In Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus the price for heating, an electricity and water is very high (relatively) - therefore we are not the leaders.

Now we shall take the prices for products. I have counted how many beef, milk, sugar, bread and potatoes a person can buy with his salary, making an indicative food set that characterizes the general tendencies. The prices for products were given for the capitals of the countries. Apparently, inhabitants of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus can buy more food. Ukraine and Azerbaijan are at approximately one level. The following group is represented by Armenia and Moldova; the poorest are Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.