Every fifth Russian considers a possibility to adopt a child.
MOSCOW, December 7, 2015. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the results of the survey describing the attitudes of Russians towards the Dima Yakovlev law: whether they support the adoption of this law and are ready to adopt a child.
Since the Dima Yakovlev law came into force (January 1, 2013; ban on the adoption of Russian children by residents of foreign countries), the share of those Russians who approve of this law has increased from 54% in January 2013 to 76% in October 2015. Today the share of Russians who oppose this law is 19% (49% of non-parliamentary parties’ supporters).
The share of respondents who leave open the possibility to raise an orphan has increased over this period from 14% to 20%, respectively. Those who support this idea are mainly Russians aged 25-34 (34%), residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg (29%), people with high income (27%) and high level of education (27%). One percent of Russians say that they have already adopted a child. Seventy-five percent of Russians eliminate the possibility to adopt a child; this number has dropped since 2005.
The number of adoptive parents has considerably increased since the beginning of the year (from 17% in January to 26% in October this year) reaching its maximum over the entire period of measurement. Most of them are women (30%) rather than men (22%). Two-thirds of respondents (67%) say that they have no friends or relatives who adopted children. Six percent of Russians are not confident that they have such friends (14% in January).
The Medialogia Company analysis suggests that there have been 35 thousand publications devoted to the Dima Yakovlev law. In the end of December 2012, after the final reading the Russian State Duma adopted the Federal law ‘On measures against persons involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation’ (Dima Yakovlev law) introducing the ban on the adoption of Russian children by the United States residents. In 2012, this topic was mentioned more than 11 thousand times in the media; in 2013 – about 20 thousand times. Remarkably, in 2015, the law was mentioned in the media about 2.5 thousand times.
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted October 17-18, 2015; 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%. Russian media monitoring and analysis were carried out by the Medialogia Company using approximately 28 900 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, information agencies and online media. Research period: December 2012 – December 2015.
Two years ago Russia introduced a law concerning the adoption of Russian children by citizens of foreign countries, including the U.S.A. Do you approve of this law? (close-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||
| 2013 | 2014 | January 2015 | October 2015 |
Rather approve | 54 | 64 | 70 | 76 |
Rather disapprove | 21 | 20 | 14 | 19 |
Don’t know | 25 | 16 | 16 | 5 |
Would you (members of your family) like to adopt a child or not? (close-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||||
| 2005 | 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | January 2015 | October 2015 |
We have already adopted a child (children) | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Yes, I (we) would like to adopt a child | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
We do not eliminate this possibility; we will think of it in a while | 6 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 11 |
Yes, but we have some controversies concerning this issue | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
No, we are not going to do that | 82 | 84 | 78 | 85 | 79 | 75 |
Don’t know | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
Do you know someone in your circle of friends and relatives who adopted children, or not? (close-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||
| 2005 | 2013 | 2014 | January 2015 | October 2015 |
Yes | 21 | 23 | 19 | 17 | 26 |
No | 72 | 71 | 63 | 67 | 67 |
I know nothing about that; probably there are some | 7 | 5 | 17 | 14 | 6 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
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! Full or partial reproduction of the Medialogia Company materials in other media must contain a reference to the Medialogia Company.