58% of Russians oppose the proposal to equalize men and women`s pension ages. They were 67% of them ten years ago.
MOSCOW, November 26, 2010. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing whether Russians approve the equalization of the pension ages between women and men, and what reasons they think are behind the proposal to increase the pension age.
The majority of Russians still think that men should retire later than women; however the number of such respondents has been decreased over the recent decade (from 67 to 58%). Those who think so are generally residents of big cities (68%), specialists with high-education diplomas working in the production sector (40%), as well as supporters of the CPRF (62%) and Fair Russia (60%) parties and elderly respondents (65%). At the same time, the share of those who propose to equalize pension ages both for men and women has increased (from 23 to 32%). Those who support this proposal are rural area residents (38%), servicemen (71%), adherents of Fair Russia and non-parliament parties (40% for each) and Russians aged 35 (35-37%). Men more often than women approve of the idea to equalize pension ages (34% versus 30% among women).
The view of the residents of the North Caucasus is different from that of other Russians: whereas Russians living in other regions support keeping the existing model (52-74%), Russians living in North Caucasus are in favor of equalizing pension ages (52%). The same thing can be applied to the Urals district: both variants are supported there equally (50 and 45% respectively).
The majority of Russians are hard to explain the reasons for the increased attention of authorities to the raise of pension age (43%). However, according to the most popular version, financial issues are the main reason: authorities` willingness to cut costs (19%) and lack of money for paying pensions (12%). Besides, respondents say the problem of ageing can also be the reason (14%). Others mention stealing money (6%), attempt to legalize the employment of the retired persons (5%), and the desire to distract people from the actual problems (4%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on September 25-26, 2010. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
In Russia men live on average 13 years less, than women, but men are regarded to be the major breadwinner in the family. In your opinion, should men and women retire at the same age? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||
| 1998 | 2010 |
At the same age | 23 | 32 |
Men later than women | 67 | 58 |
Hard to tell | 10 | 10 |
In Russia men live on average 13 years less, than women, but men are regarded to be the major breadwinner in the family. In your opinion, should men and women retire at the same age? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and above |
At the same age | 32 | 35 | 37 | 31 | 32 | 24 |
Men later than women | 58 | 54 | 55 | 58 | 58 | 65 |
Hard to tell | 10 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 12 |
In Russia men live on average 13 years less, than women, but men are regarded to be the major breadwinner in the family. In your opinion, should men and women retire at the same age? (close-ended question, one answer) | |||
| Total respondents | Male | Female |
At the same age | 32 | 34 | 30 |
Men later than women | 58 | 57 | 59 |
Hard to tell | 10 | 9 | 11 |
Pension age increase has been actively discussed recently. In your opinion, why is it being discussed? (open-ended question, any number of answers) | |
Authorities are indifferent to people's problems; they try to cut costs so that people would not live up to pension | 19 |
People are ageing; the number of the retired persons is increasing compared to the number of the working people | 14 |
Government is lacking money for paying pensions | 12 |
Money is being stolen | 6 |
It is an attempt of authorities to legalize the work of the retired persons, because the majority of them keep working | 5 |
It is an attempt to distract people from the actual problems | 4 |
We try to imitate western countries | 1 |
Other | 1 |
Hard to tell | 43 |
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.