MOSCOW, July 21, 2009. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of the regular wave of cross-country opinion polling conducted by the Eurasian Monitor Consortium in 14 republics of the former USSR; the survey describes how citizens of Russia and former USSR countries perceive the crisis.
Social Welfare Assessment
The level of satisfaction with life is the highest among citizens of Uzbekistan (89%) and Estonia (74%). The share of such respondents in Russia is 47%. Those who are basically dissatisfied with their life are Ukrainians (62%), Armenians (62%), Georgians (60%), and Moldavians (58%).
Family financial situation is most positively assessed by citizens of Kyrgyzstan - half of respondents assess it as being very good or good (51%). This figure is also high in Uzbekistan (44%) and Tajikistan (34%). As for Russia, no one estimate family financial situation as very good, and only every tenth consider it good (10%). The most negative assessment is given by citizens of Ukraine and Moldavia - those who consider their financial situation as very bad or bad are 53% and 47% respectively.
Citizens of Uzbekistan give most positive assessment of their financial situation - almost every second respondent (49%) have very good or good financial self-assessment. The share of such respondents in Russia is lower - 7%; most of them assess their financial situation as average (46%), and other 43% as bad or very bad. And finally, negative assessments are mostly popular among Ukrainians and Latvians (86% and 87% respectively).
Respondents from Uzbekistan more often than others expect the situation to get improved in a year (69%). As for Russia, only every fifth predict positive changes (20%); most of respondents think that everything will be the same (38%). The most pessimistic ones are residents of Armenia where more than a third of respondents expect further deterioration of the situation (35%).
Residents of different countries make different hierarchy of the key problems their countries face. Inflation is seen to be most important for respondents living in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (47-48%); they also report about housing problem (16-19%). Those who are worried about unemployment are Tajiks, Uzbeks (58% for each), and Latvians (53%); the latter ones also report they are worried about economic situation of their country (62%). Crime is mostly mentioned by Russians (23%); low pensions are the key problem for Moldavians (22%).
Assessment of political institutions performance
Respondents demonstrating the greatest approval of President's work are from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan (85% for each) and Russia (73%). The opposite point of view is held by those residing in Ukraine: 86% of respondents are not satisfied with the performance of the head of their state.
The level of approval of the work of Government is the highest in Uzbekistan (85%), and Kazakhstan (59%). More than half of respondents in Russia assess the work of their Government positively (54%). On the contrary, in Ukraine and Latvia a majority is not satisfied with the performance of their government (78% and 73% respectively); this figure is also the highest in Estonia (64%).
People living in Uzbekistan tend to assess the work of their Parliament positively (82%). This figure is also high in Kazakhstan (53%). Only a third of Russians approve of the work of their Parliament (31%). Negative attitudes are mostly held by respondents from Latvia (82%), Ukraine (81%), Estonia (77%), Armenia (60%) and more than half of respondents from Georgia (55%).
Synchronized opinion polls were conducted in April and May 2009.
1100-2000 respondents were interviewed in 14 (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldavia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia). The total sample made up 16498 respondents.
Are you generally satisfied or dissatisfied with your life? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||||||||||||
| Uzbekistan | Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | Estonia | Russia | Tajikistan | Azerbaijan | Belarus | Latvia | Ukraine | Armenia | Moldavia | Georgia |
Quite satisfied | 42 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
Rather satisfied | 47 | 46 | 53 | 60 | 35 | 53 | 36 | 40 | 46 | 29 | 32 | 37 | 34 |
Rather dissatisfied | 8 | 25 | 23 | 21 | 37 | 28 | 33 | 36 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 47 | 45 |
Completely dissatisfied | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 30 | 34 | 11 | 15 |
Hard to tell | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
In your opinion, what are the basic problems your country is facing at the moment? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||||
| Belarus | Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | Latvia | Moldavia | Russia | Tajikistan | Uzbekistan |
Inflation, costliness | 48 | 47 | 23 | 16 | 33 | 47 | 27 | 29 |
Unemployment | 17 | 47 | 49 | 53 | 39 | 33 | 58 | 58 |
Economic situation | 45 | 25 | 48 | 62 | 43 | 27 | 35 | 23 |
Crime | 9 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 23 | 7 | 5 |
Housing | 16 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 11 | 7 |
Low pensions | 15 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
Situation in health care system | 13 | 13 | 5 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 11 |
High taxes | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 6 |
Situation in education system | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 |
Environmental situation | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Immigration | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 13 | 2 |
Defense and foreign policy problems | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Do you generally approve or disapprove of the performance of the President of your country? | |||||||||||
| Tajikistan | Kazakhstan | Russia | Kyrgyzstan | Armenia | Estonia | Belarus | Moldavia | Georgia | Latvia | Ukraine |
Approve (rather approve) | 85 | 85 | 73 | 54 | 53 | 53 | 48 | 43 | 42 | 36 | 7 |
Disapprove (rather disapprove) | 5 | 7 | 15 | 38 | 38 | 31 | 24 | 44 | 41 | 46 | 86 |
Hard to tell | 10 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 16 | 28 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 8 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM,
the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!