MOSCOW, 21 August 2024. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a monitoring study on trust conducted among Russian adults.

Don’t lower your guard…

As six years ago, today most of Russians consider that it is important to be cautious when interacting with people (73%, 2023— 71%, 2018 — 74%). About a quarter of respondents appear to be ready to trust others (“most people can be trusted”) (24%); this share has been the same over the measurement period (2018 — 23%, 2023 — 25%).

Young people are still less gullible compared to older generation: a vast majority of those aged 18-34 say people should be cautious (88% of those aged 18-24; 83% of those aged 25-34); and only every eight respondent thinks most people can be trusted (12% of those aged 18-24; 13% of those aged 25-34). Russians aged 60+ are more likely to say they tend to trust others (32%). An alternative viewpoint is less common (65%; “one should be cautious when interacting with other people”).

Whether to trust or not to trust others does not depend on the size of the settlement. Both residents of Moscow and St Petersburg and the rural area dwellers believe that people should be cautious when interacting with other people (72%, each).

…and don’t lose trust in people

About half of respondents believe that other people would play honestly even if they had an opportunity to deceit (48%). A third of respondents oppose them (33%). Since December 2023, people have not changed their opinions much on this topic (48% and 31% respectively), whereas as early as 2018 the shares were almost equal: 42% were potentially ready to be deceived; 41%, not.

Those who still believe that people are honest are mainly Russians with high level of education (57%), residents of both capitals and million-plus cities (61% and 54% respectively). Those who expect deception are often men (40% vs. 28% of women), young respondents aged 18-24 (45% vs. 28% of those aged 60+), rural area residents (40% vs. 25% of residents of Moscow and St Petersburg), as well as those who view others as selfish persons (49%).

Thinking about yourself and others

People tend to think only about themselves, according to 56% of Russians. Despite prevailing pessimism, the share of those who see others as purely selfish persons is declining (−9 p.p. since 2018). They are opposed by 29% of those who think that people strive to be useful (vs 2023 — 31%, 2018 — 25%); a third of those aged 60 and over (36%), and only a quarter of those who are aged 18-24 (25%).

Financial well-being matters

Based on the data the following conclusion can be drawn: the higher the financial income, the better respondents think about others. Indeed, the ‘rich’ (those who assess their financial well-being as good or very good) are twice as likely as the ‘poor’ (those who say their financial well-being is bad or very bad) to believe that people can be trusted (30% vs. 15%) and that people try to be useful for others (37% vs. 18%). These groups also have the opposite views concerning human decency: 58% of the ‘rich’ consider that people would not deceive them even if they had an opportunity. On the contrary, the ‘poor’ often report the opposite (“people would try to deceive me” — 50%).

All-Russian VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted July 28, 2024. A total of 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older took part in each survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of 28 July, 2024:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7431; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0289; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1249. Calculations are based on corporate standard https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

 ** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.