The inflation and alcohol addiction frightens Russians more than foreign policy issues.
MOSCOW, November 15, 2010. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the problems Russians are worried about.
The inflation (56%) and alcohol addiction (53%) are major problems mentioned by Russians. Russians also point out unemployment (46%), corruption and bureaucracy (44%), and level of living standards (42%).
Russians are less anxious about the situation in housing sector (34%), pension provision (33%), crime (31%), and healthcare (30%). This is followed by the state of young people, terrorism (26% for each), moral state (23%), situation in education (19%), the influence of oligarchs on the life in the country (18%), ecological situation, demographic situation (16% for each), economic crisis (15%), delay in payment of salaries (13%), and the situation in the army (11%).
Russians are less concerned about such problems as democracy and human rights, national security (8% for each), cross-ethnic and cross-confessional relations, relations with CIS counties, Russia`s position in the world (7% for each), extremism and fascism (5%).
Compared to September, Russians are less anxious about inflation (from 59 to 56%), alcoholism (from 59 to 53%), unemployment (from 51 to 46%), and level of living standards in Russia (from 48 to 42%). Following the September rise, the level of anxiety of Russians about the threat of terrorism has decreased again (from 38 to 26%). Russians are also less worried about the ecological situation in the country (from 22% in August to 16% in October). At the same time, the importance of such problems as corruption (from 41 to 44%), pension provision (from 26 to 33%), and health care (from 27 to 30%) has grown up.
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on October 9-10, 2010. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Which of the following problems do you think are most important for the country in general? (closed-ended question, not more than seven answers) | ||||||||||
| March 2008 | January 2009 | March 2010 | April 2010 | May 2010 | June 2010 | July 2010 | August 2010 | September 2010 | October 2010 |
Inflation, increase of prices for goods and services | 67 | 61 | 54 | 46 | 47 | 50 | 51 | 55 | 59 | 56 |
Alcoholism, drug addiction | 63 | 53 | 58 | 61 | 49 | 51 | 62 | 57 | 59 | 53 |
Unemployment | 25 | 61 | 59 | 55 | 55 | 51 | 48 | 50 | 51 | 46 |
Corruption and bureaucracy | 30 | 41 | 41 | 40 | 40 | 39 | 43 | 41 | 41 | 44 |
Level of living standards | 20 | 32 | 45 | 40 | 43 | 43 | 46 | 41 | 48 | 42 |
Situation in housing sector | 44 | 24 | 40 | 38 | 36 | 33 | 34 | 28 | 33 | 34 |
Pension provision | 38 | 29 | 24 | 25 | 31 | 28 | 31 | 27 | 26 | 33 |
Crime | 34 | 31 | 33 | 37 | 39 | 36 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 31 |
Situation in health care | 31 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 32 | 28 | 27 | 30 |
State of young people | 13 | 23 | 31 | 30 | 36 | 33 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 26 |
Terrorism | 32 | 13 | 10 | 49 | 34 | 36 | 29 | 22 | 38 | 26 |
State of moral | 21 | 12 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 21 | 23 |
Situation in education | 20 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 17 | 23 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 19 |
Influence of oligarchs on country`s economical and political life | 20 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 20 | 17 | 18 |
Ecology, environment | 26 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 22 | 18 | 16 |
Demographic situation (fertility, mortality) | 27 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 16 |
Economic crisis | - | 23 | 18 | 12 | 13 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
Delay in payment of salaries | - | 20 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 |
Situation in the army | 13 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
Democracy and human rights | 19 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
National security | 8 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
Cross-ethnic and cross-confessional relations | 8 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
Relations with CIS countries | 16 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 |
Position of Russia in the world | 16 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 |
Extremism, fascism | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Implementation of national projects | 6 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Forthcoming change of power , problem of continuity of power | 7 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Energy security | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Implementation of administrative reforms | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Hard to tell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
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.