Did Russian Quality of Life really collapse after the Soviet Union Fell?

by Autistic_Puppy

I have seen charts floating around that show that Russian GDP per Capita fell 40% after the Soviet Union fell and only recovered to pre-collapse levels around 2007. Is this just a weird statistical artifact or is it true that the quality of life for the average Russian became substantially worse after the Soviet Union fell?

Kochevnik81

Overall, the answer is yes.

Some further answers I've written that might be of interest on the topic:

Why was Poland's transition to capitalism so much more effective than Russia's in the 90s?
The population of the Soviet Union grew rapidly from 1950 until 1990. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the population of the former Soviet states stagnated and began to decline. Was the collapse of the union so serious that it caused that decline or is there something I'm missing?
In the 1990s Ukraine is reported to have lost 50-60% of its GDP. How is such a thing possible?
What was life like in the former Soviet Socialist Republics after the fall of the USSR? How did people survive in places like Kazakhstan when the supply lines collapsed? How did the transfer of governance proceed? What were those months like for ordinary citizens?