Russia
Eastern Europe / Eurasia
Overall scoring rubric
How easy it is to get in, stay, and build status.
How far local income goes after prices.
How friendly the country is for taxes, companies, and investing.
How comfortable everyday life is for families and long stays.
How reliable freedoms and institutions are.
Safety (49) clears the 40 floor, so no penalty applies.
Healthcare (88) clears the 40 floor, so no penalty applies.
Environment (91) clears the 35 floor, so no penalty applies.
Penalty: Weak rights and institutions (18) cut the overall score from 57 to 43. Rights and institutions measures political and civil freedoms and the rule of law.
Very low living costs and a flat personal-tax system, but international sanctions, banking isolation and political risk make Russia a difficult and high-risk relocation choice in 2026.
Pros
- Flat 13–15% personal income tax
- Very low cost of living
- Affordable universities
Cons
- Heavy sanctions & banking isolation
- Political/legal risk; conscription concerns
- Limited international mobility (weak passport access)
Best for
Score profile
Access
Residence
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any residence / visa decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Our 0–100 score combines international migrant stock (40%), regulatory quality (20%), the breadth of named residence pathways (25%), and time to permanent residence (15%). Available indicators are reweighted.
| Student | Student visa; work allowed with permit. |
|---|---|
| Work | Work permit / HQS route for skilled foreign hires. |
| Self-employed | Self-employed ('samozanyatyy') 4–6% regime; company formation possible. |
| Permanent | Permanent residence (VNZh) after a temporary permit period. |
Citizenship
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any citizenship decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Years required | 5 years of permanent residence (fast-tracks for some categories) |
|---|---|
| Dual allowed | true |
| Language | Russian language exam + history/law test |
| Residence | Permanent residence with continuous stay |
| Notes | Sanctions and exit/financial restrictions materially complicate relocation; seek up-to-date advice. |
Passport
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any travel or visa decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Passport-index style mobility for the Russia passport. The score above is its world reach: the share of 198 destinations reachable without a prior visa.
- Visa-free64
- On arrival49
- eTA3
- Visa required82
Passport Index style mobility data (2024–2025 estimate). Placeholder figures; verify current entry rules with each destination’s authority before travelling.
Earning power
Salary & work
Our 0–100 score combines output per worker (a proxy for wage potential at 40%), unemployment (35%) and labour-force participation (25%). Available indicators are reweighted; the curated profile fields remain below.
| Tech salary (estimate) | $15,000–35,000 (constrained by sanctions) |
|---|---|
| Freelance | Cross-border payments difficult under sanctions |
| Job market | Strong domestic IT talent; international engagement curtailed. |
Buying power
Our 0–100 score estimates how far money goes for the typical person here. It combines GNI per capita at PPP (30%) and actual household consumption per person at PPP (15%) with a price-advantage term from the local price level (25%) that rewards lower prices, then adjusts for income equality via the Gini index (20%), so unequal economies don't ride a high average, plus price stability via consumer inflation (10%). Available indicators are reweighted; it is a comparison, not a personal budget estimate.
Cost of living
Our 0–100 affordability score is derived from the local consumer price level (World Bank, US = 100): the cheaper everyday prices are, the higher it scores. Lower price level means your money goes further here.
| Rent | $400–800 (1BR Moscow) |
|---|---|
| Monthly | $800 |
| Cities | Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan |
Economy
Our 0–100 score combines income level (GDP and GNI per capita, output per worker), growth momentum (real GDP growth), price stability (inflation) and labour utilisation (unemployment). Available indicators are reweighted; the sector split and industry profile below are descriptive, not scored.
| Type | Upper-middle-income, hydrocarbon- and resources-driven |
|---|---|
| Key sectors | Energy (oil, gas, nuclear), Metals & mining, Grain agriculture |
| Summary | A large resource-driven economy reliant on oil, gas and metals, reshaped by sanctions since 2022. |
| Currency | Russian ruble (subject to sanctions and capital controls) |
Business and wealth
Taxes
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Personal | Progressive resident rates of 13%–22% |
|---|---|
| Corporate | 25% |
| Capital gains | 13% |
| Dividends | 13% |
| Exit tax | None standard; capital controls in force |
| Foreign cos | CFC rules apply |
Personal tax
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Personal | Progressive resident rates of 13%–22% |
|---|---|
| Freelance | Self-employed regime: 4% (individuals) / 6% (businesses) on turnover |
| Capital gains | 13% |
| Dividends | 13% |
| Exit tax | None standard; capital controls in force |
Corporate tax
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Corporate | 25% |
|---|---|
| Capital gains | 13% |
| Dividends | 13% |
| Foreign cos | CFC rules apply |
Business
Our 0–100 score measures the operating environment without counting tax a second time: company formation and ownership rules contribute 40%, regulatory quality 30%, and government effectiveness 30%. Available indicators are reweighted; the values are shown below.
| Foreign co. | Permitted in law, but sanctions heavily restrict cross-border activity |
|---|---|
| Local co. | OOO formation possible; banking access is the practical hurdle |
| Freelance | Self-employed regime: 4% (individuals) / 6% (businesses) on turnover |
Investment
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any investment / tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Our 0–100 score measures market access without counting tax a second time: broker availability contributes 50%, equity-market depth 30%, and private credit depth 20%. Available indicators are reweighted.
| Capital gains | 13% on gains; foreign-market access severely limited by sanctions |
|---|---|
| Dividends | Data not available yet |
| ETFs & funds | Data not available yet |
| Wealth tax | None |
| Brokers | Domestic brokers only; foreign assets largely inaccessible |
| Foreign access | Data not available yet |
| Tax-advantaged | Data not available yet |
Wealth building
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax / investment decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
How favourable Russia is for building wealth: earnings and business/investment upside, tax drag, and how much a typical income keeps after living costs. Estimated from the factors below.
Daily life
Safety
Our 0–100 score combines personal safety (intentional homicide rate at 50%), political stability and absence of violence (30%), and control of corruption (20%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below. Always check current government travel and security advice before relocating.
Healthcare
Our 0–100 score combines health outcomes (life expectancy at 25% and under-5 mortality at 20%) with system capacity (physicians at 20% and hospital beds at 15% per 1,000 people) and health spending per capita (20%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below.
| System | Universal public (OMS) + private |
|---|---|
| Insurance | OMS for insured residents; private clinics in cities |
| Avg cost | Low; private cover inexpensive locally |
Environment
Our 0–100 score combines annual population-weighted PM2.5 exposure at 60% with freshwater stress at 40%. Lower exposure and lower water stress score better. Air quality alone can produce a score because it covers most countries; water stress alone cannot.
Infrastructure
The score combines digital access, resilience and download performance (30%), electricity access and network losses (30%), and transport infrastructure covering rail, logistics and aviation (40%). Available inputs are reweighted, but a country needs both digital and transport data to receive a score.
Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators · Internet Society Pulse Internet Resilience Index
Education
Our 0–100 score combines attainment (expected schooling at 30% and mean schooling at 25%) with participation (tertiary enrolment at 25%) and public investment (government education spending at 20%). Available indicators are reweighted; tuition and study rules remain separate profile fields below.
| Tuition | $3,000–7,000 / yr |
|---|---|
| Public uni | Low; government quota scholarships for some foreigners |
| Languages | Russian, English (limited programs) |
| Student work | Work permitted with appropriate permit |
HDI
The UN Human Development Index is the geometric mean of three dimension indices (a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living), shown on a 0–100 map scale (HDI × 100). The 2023 UNDP inputs behind each dimension are listed below.
Rights and institutions
Freedom
The score weights Freedom House’s 0–100 Freedom in the World score at 60% and its Freedom on the Net score at 40%. If either report does not cover a country, the available score is used alone. Scores of 70 and above are rated “Free”, 40–69 “Partly free”, and below 40 “Not free”.
| Freedom in the World | 12 / 100 (Not free) |
|---|---|
| Freedom on the Net | 17 / 100 (Not free) |
Rule of law
The World Bank’s Rule of Law indicator captures how well contracts are enforced and how independent and effective the courts, police and property-rights regime are. We show its 0–100 percentile rank, where higher means stronger, more predictable institutions.
| Rule of Law percentile | 22 / 100 |
|---|
Resources
Official references and quick links for Russia. Always confirm against the primary source before acting.
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any immigration, tax or legal decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Mock data for demonstration only. Not legal or tax advice.