MOSCOW, 31 January 2024. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a monitoring study describing how Russians perceive their country.
Faith, hope, and love…
The spectrum of emotions Russians feel for their country has changed for the better over the recent year: more respondents feel pride (52%, +10 p.p. compared to 2023), faith (45%, +8 p.p. compared to 2023), love (43%, +4 p.p. compared to 2023) and especially hope (39%, +15 p.p. compared to 2023), whereas anxiety has declined (22%, — 6 p.p. compared to 2023).
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Pride is on the rise
A vast majority of Russians are proud of Russia, its history and culture (92%, 2022 — 91%); the figure is similar across all the age groups (91–95%). Two-thirds of Russians say they are more proud of Russia than a year ago (64%, 2023 — 62%); most often they are respondents aged 60+ (70%). Sixteen percent of Russians cannot say the same (2023 — 23%).
What evokes pride is primarily Russia’s achievements and resources - 41% (country’s greatness — 9%, natural resources — 7%, vast territory, strong army, art and culture —5%, each, etc.). Many responses touched upon Russian people and its features — 39% (people, cohesion, unity —16%, each; values, traditions, mentality, etc.).
A third of respondents are proud of Russia’s domestic policy – 30% (country’s development — 10%, social policy, taking care of people, economy, business —5%, each, increase in livings standards, infrastructure, industry and agriculture, etc.). A further 8% point out Russia’s history; 14% say they love Russia because they were born and grown up there.
VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 17 and 22 January, 2024. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18+ 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. Data were weighted for 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 to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of January 17, 2024: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8025; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0186; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0968. Calculations are based on the corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of January 22, 2024: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8290; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0198; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0998. Calculations are based on the 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.
What emotions do you have when you think about Russia? (close-ended question, any number of answers, % of total respondents) | |||
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024* |
Pride for Russia | 49 | 42 | 52 |
Faith in Russia | 41 | 37 | 45 |
Love for Russia | 37 | 39 | 43 |
Hope regarding Russia | 26 | 24 | 39 |
Anxiety about Russia | 24 | 28 | 22 |
Disappointment in Russia | 4 | 7 | 6 |
Shame for Russia | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Irritation | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Indifference | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Other | 5 | 9 | 5 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 1 |
* January 2024 data are of January 17.
What emotions do you have when you think about Russia? (close-ended question, any number of answers, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
Total | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + | |
Pride for Russia | 52 | 47 | 56 | 45 | 46 | 50 | 54 | 56 |
Faith in Russia | 45 | 41 | 48 | 41 | 42 | 46 | 50 | 43 |
Love for Russia | 43 | 36 | 48 | 45 | 46 | 43 | 45 | 38 |
Hope regarding Russia | 39 | 37 | 41 | 44 | 46 | 37 | 39 | 35 |
Anxiety about Russia | 22 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 19 | 20 |
Disappointment in Russia | 6 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
Shame for Russia | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
Irritation | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Indifference | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Other | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 |
Don’t know | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Can you say that you are proud of Russia, its history, culture, or not? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2022 | 2024* |
Definitely yes | 71 | 72 |
Likely yes | 20 | 20 |
Likely no | 4 | 2 |
Definitely no | 2 | 3 |
Don’t know | 3 | 3 |
* January 2024 data are of January 22.
Can you say that you are proud of Russia, its history, culture, or not? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
Total | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + | |
Definitely yes | 72 | 72 | 72 | 65 | 69 | 71 | 75 | 74 |
Likely yes | 20 | 18 | 21 | 27 | 26 | 20 | 16 | 18 |
Likely no | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Definitely no | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Don’t know | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Over the recent year have you felt more/less pride in your country? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||
| 2023 | 2024* |
More pride | 62 | 64 |
Less pride | 23 | 16 |
Don’t know | 15 | 20 |
* January 2024 data are of January 17.
Over the recent year have you felt more/less pride in your country? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
Total | Men | Women | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + | |
More pride | 64 | 61 | 66 | 51 | 56 | 62 | 67 | 70 |
Less pride | 16 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 22 | 20 | 14 | 13 |
Don’t know | 20 | 22 | 18 | 33 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 17 |
What exactly are you proud of?* (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of total respondents) | |
Russia’s achievements and resources — 41% | |
Russia is great / strong country | 9 |
Rich country / natural resources / nature | 7 |
Vast territory | 5 |
Army / arms | 5 |
Culture /art | 5 |
Science / scientific achievements | 2 |
Achievements / famous people | 2 |
Sport / Sport achievements | 2 |
Education | 2 |
Space flight / Gagarin | 2 |
People and its qualities — 39% | |
People | 16 |
Unity / cohesion / “we don’t abandon our own” | 16 |
Values / principles / traditions | 2 |
Mentality / spirit of people | 2 |
Talented, smart people | 1 |
Faith / Spirituality / Orthodox Christianity | 1 |
For Justice / for Truth | 1 |
Domestic policy — 30% | |
Domestic policies / development of the country | 10 |
Social policy / taking care of people | 5 |
Economy / business | 5 |
Quality improvement / improvement in living standards, increase in salaries, pensions | 2 |
Infrastructure / construction / urban beautification | 2 |
Industry / agriculture | 2 |
Development of technologies / IT | 1 |
Stability / order in the country | 1 |
Healthcare / medicine | 1 |
Many opportunities in the country | 1 |
History of the country — 8% | |
National history / ancestors | 6 |
Victory in Great Patriotic War | 2 |
Other | |
I was born here / I love Russia / I am Russian / I am a patriot | 14 |
Global image / foreign policy | 9 |
Our president / government | 9 |
Victories in SMO | 8 |
Other | 5 |
Nothing evokes pride | 3 |
Don’t know | 12 |
* January 2024 data are of January 17.