The volume of the hidden sector - which is more often called the shadow economy - is 33.6 trillion rubles, which is almost 40% of Russia's GDP. It was this indicator that led our country to the 4th place in the ranking of the largest shadow economies in the world. Ahead, as shown by the study of the International Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) - only Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Nigeria.

In total in the global "shadow" rating of 28 countries. The top five are Azerbaijan, with 67% of GDP in the shadow, Nigeria (48% of GDP), Ukraine (46% of GDP), Russia (39% of GDP) and Sri Lanka (38%). At the same time, the Russian indicator is about 84% higher than the world average.

At the opposite end of the rating - the countries with the most transparent economy. This is the United States (7.8% of GDP), Japan (10%) and China (10.2%). According to the ACCA definition, the shadow economy is an economic activity and income derived from it that are outside the system of state regulation, taxation or supervision.

In total in the global global GDP, the share of the shadow economy, according to ACCA, is 22.66%, and it is gradually decreasing. In 2017, the forecast figure is 22.5%, in 2020 - 22.1%, in 2025 - 21.4%. In Russia, however, this trend is not confirmed: the shadow sector was 39.33% in 2011, the same figure ACCA experts predict and in 2025-year.

ACCA data does not completely coincide with what is being said in the Russian Federation: for example, the head of the Federal State Statistics Service, Alexander Surinov, reported that the share of the shadow economy is about 10-14% of GDP, while the distribution is uneven.

"There are sectors where almost 50% of the unobserved economy, for example - agriculture ... Real estate transactions - almost 50% ... Trade - about 10-11%, construction - about 16-18% ... in education order 5-6% », - the official explained.

At the same time, Rosstat officially does not disclose data on the shadow economy. But there is evidence of a hidden wage fund (the so-called gray wages and incomes received by workers in the informal sector): in 2015, thus, 10.9 trillion rubles were paid, that is, 13.4% of GDP. And here the trend towards growth is obvious - in 2011 this amount was almost two times lower (6.3 trillion). The number of Russians working in the informal (non-criminal) sector last year amounted to 15.4 million - this is more than a fifth of the total number of employed people. And a sad record for the last 11 years. According to the Center for Socio-Political Monitoring of the Russian Academy of Science and Technology, about 40% of working Russians are involved in the informal sector in one way or another - they are either fully employed "in the shadows" or have some earnings from which tax deductions do not go.