Efforts to rehabilitate the image of the 1990s failed to resist the live memory of most of Russians.
MOSCOW, December 8, 2015. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data of the survey concerning the feelings and opinions of Russians about the 1990s.
About half of Russians have negative feelings about the 1990s (53%). This period is associated with crime (50%); those who think so are mainly people aged 18-44 rather than retired persons (52-56% vs 39%). The 1990s are synonymous with collapse (39%), poverty (34%), corruption (30%), impunity (26% etc. Rarer respondents mention deficit of goods (10%), democracy (7%), freedoms (10%), unlimited opportunities (4%) and openness (3%).
Eighteen percent of Russians express positive emotions regarding the last decade of the XXth century. At the same time, many of them fail to name exact facts or events they consider positive. Sixty percent of Russians did not give a precise answer to this question; 19% told that no significant changes happened in the 1990s (they are mainly elderly respondents than younger ones: 22-23% of people aged 45 and over against 8% of those aged 18-24)
Among the positive changes occurred during the 1990s respondents mention change of power (2%), new perspectives (2%), development of private entrepreneurship (2%), setting up democratic values (1%) and freedoms (1%), et cet. However, more Russians cite failures; and one of the biggest one - the collapse of the USSR - is mentioned by 24% of respondents (mainly by middle-aged and elderly respondents than those who were children during the 1990s: 25-28% of people aged 35 and over vs. 13% of the 18-24-year-olds). Negative things involve crime (8%), economic collapse (5%), shutdown of factories and plants (4%), market crashes in 1992 and in 1998 (4%), et cet.
Only ten percent of Russians are indifferent to what was happening in the 1990s. One-quarter (25%) failed to express their feelings about this period.
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted October 31 – November 1, 2015; 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.
The 1990s were characterized by significant changes in the life of Russia. What emotions and feelings do you have about the 1990s? (open-ended question, any number of answers, %) | |
| Total respondents |
Negative | 53 |
Neutral | 10 |
Positive | 18 |
Other | 7 |
Don’t know | 25 |
Choose the associations related to your memory of the Russian 1990s. (close-ended question, not more than three answers, %) | |||||||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and over | Low income | Income below average | Average income | Income above average | High income |
Crime | 50 | 52 | 53 | 56 | 49 | 39 | 49 | 45 | 49 | 47 | 56 |
Collapse | 39 | 35 | 38 | 36 | 42 | 39 | 39 | 42 | 41 | 40 | 38 |
Poverty | 34 | 26 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 36 | 35 | 40 | 33 | 34 | 33 |
Corruption | 30 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 31 | 26 | 26 | 35 | 30 | 34 |
Impunity | 26 | 27 | 23 | 29 | 23 | 28 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 28 |
Decline | 19 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 16 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 18 |
War | 12 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 12 |
Elimination of deficit of goods | 10 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 12 |
Democracy | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 7 |
Freedom | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
Freedom to travel | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
Unlimited possibilities | 4 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
Openness | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Other | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Don’t know | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
What are good things happened in Russia in the 1990s? What major advances appeared in Russia? (open-ended question, any number of answers, %) | |
| Total respondents |
Private entrepreneurship, business development | 2 |
Change of power | 2 |
New life, new road | 2 |
Democracy | 1 |
Freedom to act and to speak | 1 |
Borders were opened | 1 |
Republics became independent (USSR collapse) | 1 |
Goods appeared | 1 |
Putin came to power | 1 |
Perestroika | 1 |
Market economy | 1 |
Changes in people’s minds | 1 |
Russian education | 1 |
Other | 9 |
Nothing | 19 |
Don’t know | 60 |
In your opinion, what bad things happened in Russia in the 1990s? What hardships and failures did the country have to experience? (open-ended question, any number of answers, %) | |
| Total respondents |
USSR collapse | 24 |
Banditism, crime | 8 |
Crisis, economic collapse, inflation | 5 |
Shutdown of factories and plants, agricultural collapse | 4 |
Two market crashes (1992 and 1998) | 4 |
Poverty, low living standards | 4 |
Theft, embezzlement of state poverty | 3 |
Perestroika | 3 |
Privatization | 3 |
Putsch | 3 |
Chechnya military involvement | 3 |
Unemployment | 3 |
Shift of power, coup d’état | 2 |
Inflation | 2 |
Devaluation, denomination | 2 |
Deficit, meal tickets | 2 |
War | 2 |
Disintegration, collapse | 2 |
Yeltsin in office | 1 |
Everything was handed over to private sector | 1 |
Corruption | 1 |
Delay in paying salaries and pensions | 1 |
It was a bad and difficult time; we had many problems | 1 |
Other countries intervened in our policies (USA) | 1 |
Mass murders | 1 |
Instability | 1 |
Catastrophes (earthquakes, Chernobyl, Kursk) | 1 |
Army collapse | 1 |
Wrong governmental decisions, poor government | 1 |
Terrorist attacks | 1 |
Mess, chaos, lawlessness | 1 |
Everything was bad | 1 |
Famine | 1 |
Other | 5 |
Nothing | 1 |
Don’t know | 28 |
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.