The share of Russians who assess their health as good has increased. The reasons why Russians feel bad are the same: stress, poor environment, and age.
MOSCOW, July 3, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing how Russians assess the state of their health and the health of their relatives, as well as what they think are the causes of the diseases.
The self-assessment of the state of health of Russians has improved over the recent three years: positive self-assessment - 36% (27% in 2009). On the contrary, the share of those who assess their health as weak or very weak has decreased (from 23 to 19%). A relative majority of respondents tend to assess their health as satisfactory (43%).
Those who assess the state of health most positively are men (44%), youth (74%), residents of big cities (44%). Negative assessment is basically expressed by women (25%) and elderly respondents (51%).
Over the last years the assessment of health of relatives has also improved: the share of those who are satisfied has increased from 58% to 68%. Young respondents give positive assessments (86%). At the same time, the number of those who are dissatisfied has decreased (from 38 to 31%). Most of them are elderly respondents (54%).
As before, Russians believe that the main reason behind many diseases is anxiety and stress (29%, 3% in 2009). The most crucial factors that influence the state of health, according to Russians are the state of environment (27%), age and aging (26%). Twenty percent of Russians complain about hard work and lack of time for rest and treatment; 19% lack money to prevent diseases (in 2006 there were 26%); 16% mention the hereditary diseases; 13% say they have been trying to get treated for many years; 12% complain about poor nutrition. Russians also mention that diseases are caused by poor environment and hazardous working conditions (per each group). Eight percent believe that poor health is resulted from the absence of physical exercises. Least important factors are chain smoking (4%) and alcohol abuse (3%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted April 14-15, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
How do you assess the state of your health? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||
| 2012 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006 |
Very good | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Good | 32 | 24 | 24 | 27 |
Satisfactory | 43 | 49 | 49 | 45 |
Weak | 16 | 19 | 18 | 19 |
Very weak | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Hard to tell | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Are you generally satisfied with the state of health of your family and relatives? | ||||
2012 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006 | |
Generally satisfied | 16 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
Rather satisfied | 52 | 47 | 43 | 41 |
Rather dissatisfied | 25 | 30 | 33 | 33 |
Completely dissatisfied | 6 | 8 | 7 | 12 |
Hard to tell | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
In your opinion, what are the main causes of your diseases and diseases of your relatives? (close-ended question, not more than 3 answers) | ||||
| 2012 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006 |
Too much anxiety and stress in modern life that harms health | 29 | 33 | 34 | 34 |
Poor environment, nature is spoiled | 27 | 30 | 30 | 27 |
Age and aging | 26 | 23 | 23 | 17 |
Too much work, no time for rest and treatment | 20 | 20 | 19 | 26 |
Lack of money to prevent diseases, to get treatment and medicine | 19 | 22 | 26 | 29 |
Diseases being probably inherited | 16 | 16 | 17 | 15 |
Impossible to have a rest and get some treatment for many years | 13 | 12 | 12 | 19 |
Poor nutrition | 12 | 11 | 16 | 13 |
Poor climate conditions | 10 | 17 | 13 | 14 |
Hazardous working conditions or living close to it | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 |
No physical exercises, no sport | 8 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
Smoking | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
Alcohol abuse | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Other | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Hard to tell | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
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!