The war of sanctions and economic crisis did not increase the number of Russians willing to move permanently abroad.
MOSCOW, October 26, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey describing the emigration moods of Russians.
Economic crisis, sanction policy and other factors have not had any substantial impact on the Russian emigration moods.
Over the recent year or two, there has not been any increase in the number of Russian who moved permanently abroad: 21% think that this number has decreased; 33% - stayed the same. Every fifth (20%) knows someone among friends and relatives who left Russia in recent years.
The share of those who would like to move permanently abroad has been 13-11% in 2011-2016 (16% in 1991). At the same time, most of them can hardly specify where exactly they would like to move (51% have not thought about that yet; 18% do not know when they could move) and are reluctant to take any active actions to make their plan come true (63%). Currently, the majority of Russian residents are not going to leave Russia 86%), and they think that their children and grandchildren should stay living in Russia rather than abroad (75%).
Those who would like to move permanently abroad hope for better living conditions (50%); this is followed by social stability, milder climate and other things. The most attractive country is Germany; it is at the top of the list of countries where respondents would like to move to.
The VCIOM survey was conducted on October 8-9, 2016, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. Sample size was 1600 persons. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.
In your opinion, has the number of people who leave Russia to move permanently abroad increased/decreased/ stayed at the same level over the recent years? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
This number has increased | 29 | 18 | 24 | 23 |
This number has decreased | 37 | 42 | 32 | 33 |
This number has stayed at the same level | 21 | 24 | 23 | 21 |
Don’t know | 13 | 16 | 21 | 23 |
Do you have friends/relatives who have left Russia over the recent five years? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| 2015 | 2016 | |
Yes | 22 | 20 | |
No | 76 | 77 | |
Don’t know | 2 | 3 | |
Would you like to move permanently abroad or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||||
| 1991 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Rather yes | 16 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 11 |
Rather not | 70 | 82 | 88 | 85 | 88 | 85 | 86 |
Don’t know | 14 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
What is better for your children and grandchildren when they grow: to stay in Russia or to live abroad? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| 1990 * | 2015 | 2016 |
Living in Russia | 58 | 75 | 75 |
Living outside of Russia | 13 | 11 | 11 |
Don’t know | 29 | 14 | 14 |
* In 1990, the mass survey included the USSR representative nationwide sample of urban and rural populations aged 16 and over; the sample size was 2680 respondents; the questions was “What will be better for your children and grandchildren when they grow: to live in the USSR or to live abroad?”
If you want to move permanently abroad, what is the reason why? (open-ended question, any number of answers, % of those who are willing to move permanently abroad) | ||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Higher living standards/salaries/pensions/benefits | 41 | 39 | 51 | 47 | 40 | 50 |
Social protection/stability | 14 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 7 |
I do not like the current government, policies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
Better climate, ecology | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 4 |
More career/business opportunities | 16 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 6 | 3 |
I strongly refuse to live in Russia/ I like another country | 8 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
It is interesting | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
High quality education | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Relatives live abroad | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
Russia are not fighting corruption | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Higher cultural level/ different mentality | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
Respecting human rights, laws | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Better health services | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
In Russia there are high levels of social problems (alcoholism, drug addiction, crime)/low level of supervision over the execution | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
To marry | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Other | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Don’t know | 11 | 20 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 28 |
Could you name, please, a country where you would like to move permanently abroad? (open-ended question, one answer, % of those willing to move permanently abroad) | |
| Total respondents |
Germany | 12 |
USA | 7 |
France | 5 |
England | 4 |
Canada | 3 |
Italy | 3 |
Australia | 2 |
Thailand | 2 |
Switzerland | 2 |
United Arab Emirates | 2 |
New Zealand | 2 |
Spain | 2 |
Finland | 1 |
Austria | 1 |
Netherlands | 1 |
Japan | 1 |
China | 1 |
Portugal | 1 |
Czech Republic | 1 |
Sweden | 1 |
Other | 11 |
Don’t know | 35 |
Have you thought about when you could move? If yes, when? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those willing to move permanently abroad) | |||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Within a year or two | 11 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 7 |
Within three to five years | 13 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 13 |
Within six to nine years | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 5 |
In a decade or later | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
No, I have not thought about it | 39 | 50 | 43 | 49 | 51 |
I thought about it but I do not know when it is possible due to certain reasons | 18 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 18 |
Are you carrying out any specific actions to move permanently abroad now or later? (closed-ended question, any number of answers, % of those willing to move permanently abroad) | ||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
I am learning a foreign language | 16 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 16 |
I am saving money to move | 9 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 15 |
I am searching information about the country I want to move | 20 | 21 | 26 | 23 | 14 | 14 |
I am getting advice from friends who moved abroad | 19 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 12 | 11 |
I am searching information about resettlement programs | 8 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 4 |
I am getting additional education, skills that could help me find a job abroad | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
I am searching for a job abroad | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
I am searching for an education program abroad | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
I am searching (I am hired) a job in an international company with an opportunity to move abroad | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
I am searching for opportunities to marry a foreigner | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
I do not do anything special/ Don’t know | 50 | 45 | 39 | 42 | 55 | 63 |
Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!