As international tensions weaken, Russians get increasingly worried about economic problems, crime rate and natural disasters.

MOSCOW, May 17, 2016.  Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the data describing the problems that Russians are afraid of.

The “map” of Russian fears has not changed much; at the same time, the situation is tenser today than a year ago.

The biggest problems involve drop in household’s income (the fear index* is 20 p.) and military conflicts (19 p.); a year ago the indicators were 13 and 14 p., respectively,  given that the possible minimum is -100 p., and the possible maximum is   100 p.  Two-thirds of Russians (64%) believe that these problems may have impact on their lives now or in the future.

Cut in salaries and switch to part-time work cause less anxiety to Russians than devaluing savings: the index value is -10 (-11 p. in April 2015). The loss of job seems less probable (the corresponding index was -25 p. in April).

Russians are more worried about possible riots and internal upheavals than a year ago. Half of respondents are anxious about political, religious and ethnic conflicts; the fear index is at the zero point compared to -4 p. a year ago. The index describing the fear of crime has been at an annual maximum over the recent two months (4-5 p. versus -5 p. in April 2015). The index of the fear of natural disaster has increased from -9 from -4 p. which is higher than the previous year’s level (-12 p.).

The degree of anxiety concerning deterioration in the state of health and difficulties getting medical aid has not changed much over a year (0 p. in April 2016 and 1 p. in April 2015). Family conflicts still seem less probable: the corresponding index remains at -46 p. in January – March (44 p. a year ago).

*Fear Index reflects how high the probability of certain event is for Russian respondents. The Index is based on the question “In your opinion, what is the likelihood that the following events will happen in your life?”; it is measured in points and can vary between -100 and 100. The answers “I am completely confident that it will happen” corresponds to the coefficient “1”; “I think it will happen” – “0.5”; “it is likely to happen” - “0.1”; “it is not likely to happen” - “0.1”; “I think it will not happen -“0.5"; “I am completely confident that it will not happen”- “-1”.  The higher the value of index is, the higher the probability of this event is. 

The VCIOM opinion polls were conducted on April 23-24, 2016, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 9 federal districts of Russia. Sample size for each survey was 1600 persons. The surveys were conducted with multi-stage stratified sample based on general rule of walking and quotas at the final selection stage; the sample is representative of the Russian population aged 18 and over according to sex, age, education, type of settlement.  The margin of error (taking into account the design effect) with 95% confidence interval does not exceed 3.5%. The survey method is community-based formalized face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the field work should be taken into account.

Note: Using materials from the websites 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.