Most popular health care expenses of Russians are body and hair care and medical treatment. Respondents split in opinion about nutritional supplements.
MOSCOW, January 30, 2013. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data describing what healthcare expenses are the most popular among Russians; what role the nutritional supplements play in maintaining health.
The most popular expense items in Russian families related to healthcare are facial, body and hair care and treatment (70%, for each). Remarkably, almost one-third of Russians (30%) spend not more than 500 rubles per month on buying cosmetics or going to beauty salons. More than one-quarter of Russians spend from 501 to 1500 rubles on medical treatment; 18% can afford spending not more than 500 rubles; 14% – from 1501 to 3000 rubles.
Less popular items in family budget are right nutrition (51%) and sports (28%). Every tenth (11%) can spend from 501 to 1500 rubles per month going to gyms; the same share of respondents (9%) - less than 500 rub. Every fifth Russian would pay 3000 rubles for eco products of balanced nutrition.
Russians split in opinion about supplements: 21% supports taking supplements, whereas 22% oppose that. A relative majority of Russians say that taking supplements is neither good, nor bad (44%). Those who once took supplements often say that it help solve health problems (23%). Depending on the respondents` awareness, positive assessments can be found more often: 14% of Russians who know well what supplements are appreciate taking these substances.
Most of respondents say that it is not possible to solve health problem using supplements (78%). Eight percent of Russians oppose them; most of them are those who took nutritional supplements at least once (23%), as well as those who are well informed about supplements.
Among those who are convinced that supplements are good for health 30% report that taking them can strengthen the immunity. More than one-quarter of respondents (27%) say they can fill the missing elements and vitamins. Seven percent say that they can improve hair, skin and nails. Six percent of Russians think that supplements can help recover from a cold or flu.
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on December 1-2, 2012. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Do you spend money on the following things, or not? | ||||
| Facial, body and hair care | Medical treatment | Right nutrition | Sports |
I spend money on that | 70 | 70 | 51 | 28 |
I do not spend money on that | 24 | 24 | 40 | 67 |
Hard to tell | 6 | 6 | 9 | 5 |
In your opinion, do nutritional supplements improve or damage health? | |||||
| Total respondents | Elementary, or lower, incomplete secondary education
| Secondary (school, technical college) | Secondary special (college) | Incomplete higher (not less than 3 years), higher |
Rather improve | 21 | 10 | 19 | 21 | 26 |
Rather damage | 22 | 27 | 22 | 23 | 20 |
Neither | 44 | 40 | 45 | 45 | 44 |
Hard to tell | 12 | 23 | 14 | 11 | 10 |
In your opinion, is it possible to improve health or cure diseases taking nutritional supplements, or not? ( close-ended question, one answer, % respondents) | |||
| Total respondents | I took supplements | I did not take supplements |
Yes, it is possible | 8 | 23 | 3 |
No, it is not possible | 78 | 69 | 81 |
Hard to tell | 14 | 8 | 16 |
If you think that taking supplements can help solving health problems, can you tell us what kind of problems? (open-ended question, any number of answers, % of respondents who believe that taking supplements helps solving health problems) | |
Strengthening immune system; disease prevention | 30 |
Filling the missing vitamins and elements | 27 |
They can help but doctor`s control is needed | 8 |
Improving skin, hair, nails | 7 |
Cold and flu | 6 |
Stomach and digestive disorders | 4 |
Bowel diseases | 3 |
Losing weight | 3 |
Normalizing pressure | 3 |
Mild diseases | 3 |
Heart problems | 2 |
Thyroid gland problems | 2 |
Raising hemoglobin levels | 2 |
Other | 4 |
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!