Social well-being indicators show a positive trend in Russia – poll

(Interfax – November 14, 2012) Most indicators of social well-being show a positive trend in Russia, Interfax news agency reported on 14 November, quoting sociologists from the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM).

According to their information, over the last month people’s perception of their financial situation has increased by two points (from 64 to 66), due to an increase in the number of Russians who see their financial situation as average (from 70 to 72 per cent), and reached April’s record high.

According to a VTsIOM press release received by Interfax, since April this index has been the highest among all social indicators. For comparison, in November 2011 it was only 51 points.

Since the end of last summer, the index of social optimism has been within a narrow band of 61-63 points. The number of those who think that they will live better has been 27-30 per cent in the last four months. The current index (63) is considerably higher than in similar periods in previous years (an average of 55 points).

The life satisfaction index for Russians, which increased in the first half of the year, has been falling slowly since July from 60 to 58. This is explained by a decline in the number of respondents who are generally satisfied with their lives (from 41 to 36 per cent). However, the current indicator remains high compared to last year (45 points).

The perception of the economic situation in the country has overcome the summer’s negative trend (44 points in August) and continues to increase (48 in October). However, it is still a long way to go to the pre-crisis peak and the 2012 maximum (56 points in May). “Despite obvious progress, the perception of the economic situation is still in the last place among social indices,” sociologists said.

When asked by sociologists to assess the current economic situation in Russia in general, most of respondents (61 per cent) called it “average”, a quarter (25 per cent) “bad” or “very bad” and only 12 per cent said “good”.

After a major drop in August, the perception of the political situation in the country has been growing for the second month in a row (in October from 57 to 59 points), with an increased proportion of Russians who give it average marks (60 to 64 per cent). The current index is much below the October achievements in 2007-2009 (63-68) but exceeds 2010-2011 (46-55).

The perception of the country’s general development in October lost one point (from 52 to 51), with positive assessments declining (from 34 per cent to 28 per cent) and negative growing (from 21 to 23%). However, the current index is one of the highest for the same period in previous years. For comparison, a year ago the index was only 40 points.

The perception of the situation in the country, or economy, or personal life is calculated as the difference between positive, neutral and negative average ratings. The higher the index, the better the Russians see the situation. The index can range from minus 100 to 100.

The poll was conducted by VTsIOM in 138 towns and villages in 46 Russian regions on 27-28 October.