Those Russians willing to leave their country are driven by the opportunities to increase their standard of living. However, potential emigrants are rarely active to achieve their goals.
MOSCOW, September 28, 2011. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing why Russians would like to leave Russia, and what they do for that.
The major reason behind the desire of Russians to move abroad is the opportunities to improve the standard of living (42%). Rarer respondents mark their desire to live where there is more order (18%), more perspectives (15%), or to live in a particular country (12%). Less important reasons are strive for safety (5%) or desire to be close to relatives (7%).
Those who would like to move abroad because they want to live ina particular country are Russians aged 18-24 (19%). Russians aged 45-59 point out the desire to be close to their relatives (12%).
Those Russians who are willing to leave the country limit themselves to collecting the information about the country they want to move to (20%) and getting advice from the emigrants they know (19%). Sixteen percent of respondents study foreign language; 11% search for a job; 9% save up money to move; 8% choose resettlement program. Those who search for education programs (4%), who would like to get additional education (2%), who try to find a job abroad or ways to get married to a foreigner (1% for each) are in the minority. Twenty percent do nothing.
Young Russians are most active in their desire to move abroad. Mainly young Russians aged 18-24 are those who collect information about the country they want to move (26%), get advice from their friends (29%), study foreign languages (29%), search for a job abroad (16%). On the contrary, those who do nothing to move abroad are mainly respondents of pre-retirement or retirement age (28-29%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted September 10-11, 2011. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
If you want to move to another country, why? (open-ended question, any number of answers, % of those who would like to move) | ||||||
Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and above | |
Improve standard of living | 42 | 41 | 41 | 40 | 44 | 43 |
More order | 18 | 22 | 16 | 23 | 19 | 0 |
More perspectives | 15 | 19 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 0 |
I like the country | 12 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 14 |
Move to friends/relatives | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 7 |
Safer/calm | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
Other | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 19 | 29 |
Do you do anything to move abroad now or in the future? (close-ended question, any number of answers, % of those who want to move) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and above |
I collect information about the country I want to move to | 20 | 26 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 7 |
I get advice from my friends to have already moved | 19 | 29 | 14 | 14 | 21 | 7 |
I learn foreign language | 16 | 29 | 13 | 6 | 16 | 0 |
I search for a job abroad | 11 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 0 |
I save up money | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
I search for the information about the resettlement programs | 8 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 0 |
I look for an educational program I need | 4 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
I get additional education, attend courses that will help me to find a job abroad | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
I search for easy ways to get married to a foreigner | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
|
I search for (I have found) a job in international company with the perspectives to move abroad | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
I do nothing | 20 | 10 | 20 | 23 | 28 | 29 |
Hard to tell | 30 | 18 | 40 | 26 | 30 | 57 |
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!