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!