20% of respondents say that they could relocate to the Far East if they were given free land. They could do farming or start a business there. In general, the Russian Far East is regarded as a prosperous territory that opens big money-making opportunities.   

MOSCOW, July 31, 2015. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of the survey commissioned by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and devoted to the Russian perceptions of the Far East and its development potential.

An overwhelming majority of Russians (70%) assess the situation in the Russia Far East as satisfactory. A further 14% are confident that the situation is favorable.

Comparing the situation in the Russian Far East to their residential region, 20% of Russians believe that the state of affairs is the same. Every fifth respondent thinks that living in the Far East is better than in their regions. Only 20% consider that the situation in the Far East is worse than in other Russian regions.  

Currently, an undeniable advantage of the Far East is an opportunity to get high income, according to 55% of Russians. Those who share this stance are respondents from various age and gender groups. A further one-third of respondents cite affordable housing and social provisions (31%), high quality education for children (29%), and opportunity to get a job according to specialization (28%), as well as career and professional development (27%) among other priorities of living in the Far East. Proximity to Southeast Asia (27%), favorable climate (25%) are also advantages of this region. Every tenth Russian (10%) considers that the Far East is one of the most developed Russian territories. Half of respondents (51%) think that the Far East will become the most developed territory in fifteen or twenty years. Twenty-three percent of Russians expect it to happen in forty or fifty years.

According to the survey, the potential of the Far East depends on the implementation of the government initiatives. Remarkably, 63%-70% of respondents think that the projects which are now under discussion will lead to the increase in living standards for people living in the Far East. More than half of respondents (54%) are confident that large-scale projects have a considerable impact on the social and economic development of the Russian Far East.

Respondents think that creating a priority development area may open up perspectives for this region (70%). It should be stressed that this stance is supported by young Russians aged below 34 (73%), mainly with high education diplomas.  The initiative to allocate a plot of land for free may be a driving force to make people relocate to the Far East. Every fifth (20%) would participate in the resettlement program to move to the Russian Far East.

People would agree to get a plot of land in such prosperous regions as Primorsk krai and Khabarovsk krai and Amur oblast.  This is due to the fact that these respondents like homesteading (28%) and farming (19%). Thus, to develop farming it is important to have land. Fewer respondents would use the land to get other types of income (26%). According to two-thirds of Russians (67%) think that allocating free land in the Far East will not help solving the problem of the population drain but will help to partially improve the situation. Only one-quarter of respondents (25%) say that this initiative will not produce any positive changes

Those people who have relocated to the Far East are happy with their choice. Not being frustrated, sixty-seven percent of them perceive the resettlement positively. Many respondents report that their representations of the life in the Far East proved to be real after the resettlement (46%). One-fifth of respondents (21%) even say that the potential of the region was underestimated, and their fears related to the relocation were exaggerated.

The VCIOM report regarding the Russian perceptions of the Far East can be <link www.wciom.ru/fileadmin/file/reports_conferences/2015/2015-07-28-vostok.pdf - external-link-new-window>downloaded</link> 

The VCIOM opinion poll was commissioned by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and conducted April 10 – May 23, 2015; 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%.         

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!