MOSCOW, 10 July 2024. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey describing the popular hobbies among Russians.

Different hobbies

Today eight out of ten Russians (81%) report to have a hobby. Younger respondents aged 18-24 tend to have hobbies more often (87%).

The most popular hobbies among Russians are sport (17%), dacha, growing plants, gardening (16%), knitting, embroidery, sewing (12%), music as well as internet, social media (11%, each) and reading, books (10%). Sport (12%) is at the top of the list of hobbies Russians do most often; it is followed by plant-growing and gardening (11%); books are ranked third (9%). Internet and handcraft gained 8% (each); 5% of respondents mentioned music, fishing and hunting.

Hobbies of young respondents and those from older age groups differ a lot. Young Russians aged 18-35 often opt for sports (27% vs. 13% of the remained respondents), music and internet, social media (18%, each, vs. 8% of the remained respondents). Besides that, young respondents often do painting (8% vs. 2%) and video games (6% vs. 1%).

For those aged 35 and older preferences change; gardening and dacha come first (20% vs. 2% of young respondents). Calm leisure activities are ranked second: knitting, embroidery, handcrafts (15% vs. 5% of young respondents). Reading and books are popular both among young persons and older respondents (10%, each).

Russians’ hobbies are gender shaped. Male hobbies are fishing, hunting (17% vs. 1% of women), sport games (6% vs. 1% of women) and cars (5% vs. 0% of women). And female leisure activities are handicrafts (22% vs. 1% of men), dacha (22% vs. 8% of men), reading (14% vs. 6% of men) and drawing (7% vs. 0% of men).

From information to actions

A majority of Russians (86%) who have hobbies get information about their hobby at different intervals of time: they watch or listen to news, read blogs and other things, including 42% of those who do it on a regular basis. Nine in ten respondents (89%) communicate with people who have similar interests; 47% do it regularly, 42%, occasionally. Every third respondent (35%) participate in common activities.

Young persons (aged 18-35) are more actively engaged in their hobbies. Young respondents more often communicate with like-minded persons about the hobby (56% do it regularly vs. 43% of the remainder) and more often participate in common activities with them (42% vs. 32% of the remainder Russians). Remarkably, this share is higher in the group of those aged 18-24: 71% regularly communicate with people who have similar interests; 21% regularly coop with them on different activities.

All-Russian VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted 28 June, 2024. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, 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 28 June, 2024:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7728; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0104; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0422. 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.