Results of our studies

IN BRIEF

Russians easily find friends, build families, live life with honor, get interesting jobs. But it is much harder for them to start a business and to become rich and famous.

 

MOSCOW, March 11, 2012. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the goals that Russians set in life, as well as the goals they have already achieved.

 

Top life priorities of Russians involve building a happy family and bringing up children (93%), followed by finding reliable friends on the second place (91%), and living honorable life on the third place (90%).

According to Russians, the most important life aspirations are interesting job  (86%), activity for pleasure (82%), high quality education (79%), having spare time and ability to spend it interestingly (76%), travelling around the world (72%).

Least important life goals are to build a carrier (54%), to become rich (52%), to run a business (42%). Rarer Russians have a desire to be part of elite (23%), to become famous (22%) or to get access to power (18%).

Men more often than women tend to strive for an interesting work (88% versus 84%), an activity for pleasure (84% versus 80%), welfare (58% versus 48%), private business (50% versus 36%), being part of elite (25% versus 21%), being famous (24% versus 20%) and being powerful (21% versus 16%).  

The younger the Russians are, the more important they think these goals are for them, except for such things as family, friends and honorable life: these goals are equally important for almost all age groups.

The most achievable life goals among those that were pointed above are finding reliable friends: 78% of respondents who set this goal have achieved it. This is followed by creating a happy family (68%), living an honorable life (67%), having good education (achieved by 51%), interesting job (47%), and favorite activity (41%). The least numerous share of respondents are those who have spare time and spend it interestingly (30%), and those who have managed to build a career (21%). The most difficult goals are being wealthy, being powerful, being famous, being part of elite, traveling around the world and having a private business: most of respondents who make account to these goals (46-59%) skeptically assess their chances to meet them.

The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted December 10-11, 2011. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

What would you like to achieve in your personal life?

(close-ended question, one answer per each position; rating of goals calculated as a difference between total number of respondents and the share of those who did not set the given goal and are hard to tell)

 

Total rating, %

Age

Age

Men

Women

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-59

60 and above

Build a happy family, bring up children

93

93

94

94

94

94

94

92

Have reliable friends

91

92

90

95

89

92

91

89

Live life with honor

90

89

90

91

84

86

93

92

Have interesting job

86

88

84

92

90

88

86

75

Do favorite activity, creative work

82

84

80

90

83

84

84

70

Get quality education

79

79

78

95

87

81

74

64

Have lots of spare time and spend it interestingly

76

75

76

86

75

72

77

71

Visit foreign countries

72

73

72

87

19

73

71

55

Build a career

54

56

52

79

70

56

45

33

Become rich

52

58

48

76

66

53

50

23

Start a business

42

50

36

75

59

47

34

13

Be part of elite

23

25

21

41

30

21

18

11

Become famous

22

24

20

36

28

23

18

13

Get access to power

18

21

16

33

24

17

16

8

 

What would you like to achieve in your personal life?

 (close-ended question, one answer per each position, % of those who would like to achieve this goal)

I have achieved what I wanted

I have not achieved yet, but I think I will do that

I would like to achieve it, but I can hardly do  that

 Have reliable friends

78

16

7

Build a happy family, bring up children

68

26

6

Live life with honor

67

26

7

 Get good education

51

21

27

Have interesting job

47

34

20

Do favorite activity, creative work

41

35

24

Have lots of spare time and spend it interestingly

30

36

34

Build a career

21

47

31

Visit foreign countries

9

39

51

Be part of elite

9

38

53

Start a business

8

46

46

Become famous

5

39

56

Get access to power

5

38

57

 Become rich

3

39

59

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!

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