Economic issues are still the most sensitive for Russians. Respondents also point out health care problems more frequently in 2016.
MOSCOW, December 28, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey devoted to the nation-scale problems Russians are worried about.
According to Russian assessments, the top three issues Russia was facing in 2016 include low pay (18% in December vs. 13% in January), general situation in economy (18% vs. 23%), health services (17% vs.7%). Whereas public concern over the health care system was growing over the year, concern over rising prices has declined by the end of the year; this problem was mentioned by 20% of respondents in January and by 13% in December 2016. Unemployment is also mentioned among top five Russian problems.
Russians aged 18-24 think that today the most important Russia’s problems are economy (19%), inflation (17%), unemployment (14%); those aged 60 and over mention economy (24%), healthcare (23%) and low pensions (16%). Women draw attention to health services (22%), low salaries (20%), economy (18%); men - to economy (19%), low salaries (17%) and unemployment (13%).
Every tenth Russian mentions education (11%), social policy (9%), low pensions (8%), corruption and bureaucracy (8%) among top Russian problems. The importance of foreign policy has decreased over the recent years: whereas in 2014 – 2015 it was mentioned by 12%, in December this year only 4% of Russians pointed it out.
The VCIOM survey was carried out on December 10-11, 2016 in 130 settlements in 46 oblasts, krais and republics and 8 federal districts of Russia, with a sample of 1600 persons representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement. The survey was conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage. The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork should be taken into account.
What problems do you think are the most acute for the country in general? | ||||||||||||||
| XII.14 | XII.15 | I.16 | II.16 | III.16 | IV.16 | V.16 | VI.16 | VII.16 | VIII.16 | IX.16 | X.16 | XI.16 | XII.16 |
Low salaries, low living standards | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 18 |
Economy | 14 | 20 | 23 | 20 | 22 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 |
Health services | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 17 |
Unemployment | 9 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
High inflation rate, price increase | 26 | 12 | 20 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 13 |
Education –related problems | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
Social policy | 4 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
Low pensions, pension reform | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
Corruption and bureaucracy | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 8 |
High rates for public utilities | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 |
Foreign policy | 12 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
Roads | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Internal policy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Agricultural and industrial breakdown, dependence on natural resources | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
Unaffordable housing | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
War threat | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
Maternity and childhood problems | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Political situation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Low level of culture, morality, patriotism, ideology | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Non-competent authorities | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
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!