The greatest Russians fears are related not to the economic crisis but to the escalation of international tensions.
MOSCOW, January 18, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the results of the survey concerning the greatest fears of Russians.
The index measuring the fear of international tensions that soared to 30 p. in November (annual maximum) slightly weakened its positions in December reaching 27 p. (in a range between -100 and 100). Seventy percent of Russians are confident that the greatest threat today refers to military actions and conflicts between nations.
The remainder of the indicators has not shown any serious changes by the end of the year. The index reflecting the Russian fear concerning the increased prices and devaluing savings was equal to 13 points in December (compared to 15 p. in October and November and 18 p. in January). At the same time, Russian anxiety related to the decrease in income has slightly gone up over the recent months (-9 p.); however, it was lower than the January 2015 record (-5 p.).
The dismissal fear index has gained 6 points from October to November (-25 p.) and did not change in December. In the beginning of the year, Russians’ preoccupations with this problem was higher (-19 p. in January). The fear index related to the health problems and difficulties getting medical aid has been negative during the last months of 2015 and made up -3 p. which is lower than it was a year before (3 p. in January).
The fears related to crime rise slightly strengthened in November (the index reached 3 p.) and fell down in December (-3 p.). Anxiety related to riots and internal conflicts (political, ethnical and religious) has decreased; compared to November, today fewer Russians think that this problem is likely to happen (decrease from 1 to -6 p.).
The natural disaster index that has been wildly fluctuating during the latest twelve months has reached the level of the beginning of the year by the end of 2015 (-17 p. in December and -19 p. in January). Russians are least anxious about possible family problems; the importance of this problem has considerably decreased over a year (from -30 p. in January to -45 p. in December).
*Fear Index reflects how high Russians assess the probability of certain event. The Index is based on the question “In your opinion, what is the likelihood that the following events will happen in your life?”; it is measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100. The answers “I am completely confident that it will happen” corresponds to the coefficient “1”; “I think it will happen” – “0.5”; “it is likely to happen” - “0.1”; “it is not likely to happen” - “0.1”; "I think it will not happen -“0.5"; “I am completely confident that it will not happen”- “-1”. The higher the value of index is, the higher the probability of this event is.
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on December 26-27, 2015. A total of 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions and republics of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.
In your opinion, what is the likelihood that the following events will happen in your life? (closed-ended question, one answer, Fear index*, points) | ||||||||||||
| I.15 | II.15 | III.15 | IV.15 | V.15 | VI.15 | VII.15 | VIII.15 | IX.15 | X.15 | XI.15 | XII.15 |
International tensions, conflicts between countries, military actions | 14 | 16 | 19 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 30 | 27 |
Common products disappeared or became too expensive; savings devalued | 18 | 19 | 19 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 13 |
Crime rampage | 0 | -1 | -1 | -5 | -5 | -9 | -8 | -7 | 0 | -2 | 3 | -3 |
Health problems; difficulties getting medical assistance and medicines | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -1 | -5 | -3 | -4 | 0 | -4 | -2 | -3 |
Riots, inter-ethnic and religious internal conflicts | -1 | -1 | -2 | -4 | -7 | -9 | -9 | -6 | -2 | -7 | 1 | -6 |
Decrease in income (salary cut, switch to a lower paid job, switch to part-time, delays in paying salaries) | -5 | -5 | -10 | -11 | -13 | -14 | -14 | -15 | -9 | -13 | -10 | -9 |
Flood, earthquake, other natural disaster | -19 | -17 | -14 | -12 | -18 | -4 | -13 | -13 | -12 | -19 | -17 | -17 |
Job loss | -19 | -18 | -20 | -22 | -24 | -27 | -27 | -25 | -23 | -31 | -25 | -25 |
Family conflicts, break-up with relatives | -30 | -35 | -36 | -44 | -43 | -42 | -47 | -42 | -45 | -46 | -47 | -45 |
In your opinion, what is the likelihood that the following events will happen in your life? (closed-ended question, one answer per each line, % of respondents, December 2015) | |||||||
| I am completely confident that it will happen (it has already happened) | I think that it will happen | It is likely to happen | It is unlikely to happen | I think that it will not happen | I am completely confident that it will not happen | Don’t know |
International tensions, conflicts between countries, military actions | 26 | 20 | 24 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
Common products disappeared or became too expensive; savings devalued | 17 | 17 | 25 | 16 | 12 | 7 | 6 |
Crime rampage | 9 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 19 | 9 | 7 |
Health problems; difficulties getting medical assistance and medicines | 10 | 12 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 8 | 6 |
Riots, inter-ethnic and religious internal conflicts , | 8 | 14 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
Decrease in income (salary cut, switch to a lower paid job, switch to part-time, delays in paying salaries) | 8 | 12 | 23 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 8 |
Flood, earthquake, other natural disaster | 6 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 11 |
Job loss | 5 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 19 | 23 | 11 |
Family conflicts, break-up with relatives | 2 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 28 | 34 | 4 |
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