MOSCOW, 16 December 2024. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a monitoring survey describing how Russians are going to celebrate New Year’s Eve and how much they are going to spend on it.

 The meeting place cannot be changed

New Year is one of the most popular holidays in Russia; an overwhelming majority of Russians are going to celebrate it (97%). Staying in for New Year’s Eve is still common: 76% of Russians are going to stay at home. Over the entire period of measurement (since 2003) this form of family celebration has been the most popular (72-82%). A further 6% are going to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the countryside: at dacha (4%) or recreation center, health resort (2%). Few respondents are visiting friends for New Year’s (no more than 8% since 2017; only 5% this year). Previously, Russians visited friends for New Year’s Eve more often, especially in 2011-2013 (16%). Noisy parties at restaurants and clubs are still unpopular (<1%), as well as spending the holiday abroad (<1%).

How much

When choosing between bread and circuses, Russians prefer the latter for the third consecutive year. Spendings related to culture, entertainment and trips will make up 26,536 rubles (+6,069 rubles compared to the previous year); this is the largest expenditure item for the festivities, whereas spendings on food are going to be much lower (13,136 rub; +1,382 rub compared to 2023). As to New year’s gifts, Russians are going to spend an average of 22,983 rubles on gifts to family and friends (+1,137 rubles compared to the previous year). Spending habits related to these three items are consistent with the habits in 2005-2021. For example, in 2018 Russians were going to spend 4,413 rubles on food, 5,007 rubles on gifts, and 4,335 on entertainment.

By and large, Russians are going to spend an average of 62,655 rubles on New Year’s Eve celebration, which is a new all-time high (+8,588 rubles, or +16% compared to the previous year). Whether Russians can stick to the budget they planned will be clear as early as January.

All-Russian VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted December 6, 2024. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interview, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of December 6, 2024:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7757; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0195; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0927. Calculations are based on corporate standard https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

 ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.