The structure of the Russian fear map is unchanged but anxiety over economic problems has slightly declined.
MOSCOW, November 12, 2019. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the results of a survey describing what Russians are most afraid of.
Since January 2019 there has been a decline in most of the “fear ratings”. The percentage of Russians who are not afraid of increased prices for goods and products they got used to has extremely increased (-12 percentage points since January 2019; 58%). The share of respondents who are afraid of decreased income has reached bottom since the start of the year (-5 percentage points compared to January percentage, 63%); the same is true for social inequality (-4 percentage points; 68%) and availability and quality of free health care services (-3 percentage points; 58%).
These very problems pose the highest concern for Russians. The list of Russian fears is headed by the fear of possible increase in social injustice (68% of respondents). Those who are most concerned are older Russians aged 35-44 (69%), 45-59 (72%) and 60 and over (71%).
This is followed by the fear of possible income decrease (63% of Russians think this problem may arise in their life); anxious feelings are typical of Russians aged 45-59 (71%).
The third problem Russians are most afraid of is a refusal to provide access to free health care: 58% of Russians are concerned about that. Those who are less concerned are Russians aged 25-34 (52%) and 60 and over (53%).
Possible aggravation of international conflicts involving Russia (20%), job loss (35%) and crime rate increase (36%) are things Russians are least afraid of.
The dynamics of change in Russian anxiety is likely to be positive: after reaching a peak during the warmer months (May, June and July) anxiety has been steadily declining across all the problems in the proposed list.
Nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on October 31, 2019. The survey involved 1,800 Russians aged 18 and over. The survey was telephone-based and carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
How would you assess the probability of occurrence of the following problems in your life? (closed-ended question, one answer, sum of answers “Completely confident that it will happen (or it has recently happened)” or “Likely to happen”, % of total respondents) |
| ||||||||||
| I. 19 | II. 19 | III. 19 | IV. 19 | V. 19 | VI. 19 | VII. 19 | VIII. 19 | IX. 19 | X. 19 | |
Increased social injustice, social inequality | 72 | 70 | 68 | 70 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 69 | 68 | 68 | |
Decline in income | 68 | 65 | 64 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 66 | 67 | 66 | 63 | |
Inability to get access to health care services free of charge / poor quality of free health care | 61 | 60 | 62 | 63 | 65 | 62 | 62 | 61 | 59 | 58 | |
Expensive or unaffordable common products | 70 | 67 | 66 | 64 | 66 | 64 | 64 | 63 | 62 | 58 | |
Civil unrest caused by protest actions against the authorities | 36 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 36 | 37 | 47 | 43 | 39 | |
High crime rate | 33 | 33 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 36 | 34 | 36 | |
Loss of job* | 35 | 33 | 36 | 33 | 35 | 38 | 33 | 35 | 33 | 35 | |
Aggravation of conflicts between Russia and other countries; launch of military operations | 22 | 27 | 25 | 22 | 21 | 27 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 20 | |
* Answers of the working Russians
How would you assess the probability of occurrence of the following problems in your life? (closed-ended question, one answer, sum of answers “Completely confident that it will happen (or it has recently happened)” or “Likely to happen”, % of total respondents) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and more |
Increased social injustice, social inequality | 68 | 58 | 59 | 69 | 72 | 71 |
Decline in income | 63 | 61 | 61 | 65 | 71 | 56 |
Inability to get access to health care services free of charge / poor quality of free health care | 58 | 62 | 52 | 62 | 64 | 53 |
Expensive or unaffordable common products | 58 | 55 | 60 | 61 | 61 | 54 |
Civil unrest caused by protest actions against the authorities | 39 | 56 | 44 | 40 | 33 | 33 |
High crime rate | 36 | 42 | 39 | 37 | 37 | 30 |
Loss of job* | 35 | 42 | 28 | 34 | 41 | 32 |
Aggravation of conflicts between Russia and other countries; launch of military operations | 20 | 46 | 25 | 20 | 19 | 8 |
* Answers of the working Russians
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.