MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The Russians have started spending 50.1% of their earnings for foodstuffs, says a monthly monitoring report on social and economic situation and the general state of health that was done by the Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting.

"For the first time over eight years foodstuffs outdid the manufactured goods in terms of retail sales volume, showing 50.1% and 49.9% in February 2016 respectively," the research said.

The previous record was set in May 2009 when the share of foodstuffs in the overall retail trade stood at 49.6%.

"A tendency towards an increase of people's spending for foodstuffs has taken a clear outline," it said. "It reflects quite logically a drop in the population's real incomes and a growth of poverty. It is well known that the poorer a household is, the bigger the part of the budget it spends for foodstuffs."

The Federal Service for Statistics Rosstat says that an average salary in Russia was 32,990 rubles (about $ 500) in February 2016.