For Russians and their families 2016 was similar to the previous year. But the dynamics of public assessments on a national scale is much more positive. Respondents have high hopes and expect changes for the better in 2017 compared to what they expected for 2016.

MOSCOW, December 26, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of a survey devoted to what Russians remember about 2016 and what they expect from 2017; how they plan to celebrate the New Year’s eve and how much money they are going to spend on that.

Thirty-three percent of Russians think that the war in Syria was the main world event in 2016 (similar to 2015 year results - 43%). The second position is held by the US presidential election (31%) followed by sports events on the third position (13%).Major national events involve parliamentary elections (10%), Russian doping story (7%), fight against corruption (4%), military aid to Syria (4%).2016 events

According to Medialogia Company data, the top three world events include the Donald Trump victory in US elections (12 620.75), attempt of military coup d’état in Turkey (11 338.27) and Brexit (9 392.08). The main Russian events are Russian doping scandal (13 894.66), performance of Russian athletes at Rio Olympics (6 242.97), and State Duma elections (6 001.37).

2016 rankings

The politician of the year is Vladimir Putin; Putin was named by 64% of Russians. Putin is followed by Sergey Lavrov (18%), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (8%), Sergey Shoygu (8%), Dmitry Medvedev (7%) et cet. The Russian elite ranking is also headed by the president (77%).

Elena Isinbayeva is at the top of the athletes’ ranking (8%). The previous year leader Anton Shipulin came down to the second position this year (5%). The actors ranking is headed by Danila Kozlovsky (5%) and Sergey Bezrukov (5%). Philipp Kirkorov is recognized by Russians as the musician of the year (7%); he is followed by Grigory Leps (4%), Nikolay Baskov (4%), Sergey Lazarev (4%), Alla Pugacheva (4%). Russians still find it hard to choose the writer of the year: all the informative answers do not gain more than 3% (Daria Dontsova (3%), Tatiana Ustinova (2%)); the remainder obtained 1% or even less (for each group).

The most popular TV programs are still the Channel One projects such as “Pust govoryat” (11%), “Golos” (8%), “News” (6%). The most popular TV series is “The major” (8%), followed by “Tainy sledstviya” (4%), “Sled” (4%), “Univer” (4%) et cet. As stated by 5% of Russians, the best movie in 2016 was “28 panfilovtsev”; 4% mention “Ekipaj”. On the whole, Russians fail to mention any favorite person among sport or showbiz stars as well as TV or cinema premieres: none of the national ranking of heroes, TV series or movies obtained more than 10% of respondent likes.

Emotions and assessments of 2016, expectations for 2017

Russians are saying farewell to 2016 in a more positive manner than a year ago when they said goodbye to 2015: the corresponding index* has grown from 60 p. to 63 p. (new historical high). Forty-five percent of Russians are optimistic about new year; only 12% are pessimistic; a further 42% do not feel any positive or negative emotions. On the eve of 2017, 50% of respondents feel joy and anticipation of changes for the better (this figure has been increasing from 35% since 2012); 25% - calmness and confidence. Much less excitement has been expressed over the recent two years (from 21% in 2014 to 7% in 2016).

Russians think that on average the year 2016 has been similar to the previous year; the Index of Personal Results ** was 4 p. in 2016 (5 p. in 2015). Fifty-two percent of Russians say that 2016 was “good” and “successful” for them and their families; 47% experienced difficulties and the year was hard for them. At the same time, the national assessments’ dynamics is more positive: the corresponding index** went up to -24 p. in 2016 after a downfall in 2015 (-53 p.) (an increase of positive assessments from 22% in 2015 to 35% now; 59% give negative assessments).

More Russians hope that things will get better in 2017: Personal Expectation Index*** has gained 17 points since 2015 (54 p. in 2016); the Index of National Expectations saw an even more significant increase of 23 points (reaching 51 p.). About one-quarter of respondents believe that 2017 will be successful (27% - successful personally; 24% successful for the country in general).

New Year celebration plans, spending and gifts

Staying at home is the most popular way to celebrate the New Year eve (76%). Every tenth (11%) plans to visit friends; 4% will go to dachas; 2% will go to restaurants and clubs; 1% (per each group) opt for countryside resort and go abroad. Just 3% of respondents do not plan to celebrate the 2017 New Year eve.

Eighty-eight percent of Russians plan to spend money on New Year’s Day. After hitting a spending peak a year ago (+38%), this year expenditures have not increased too much (+4%): an average sum is 12397 rub. Seventy-seven percent of respondents will spend 4338 rub. on gifts; 70% say they will spend 4164 rub. on New Year’s table; 47% are ready to spend 3895 rub. on restaurants meals, theatres, cinemas and New Year’s parties for kids.

Year by year what people want and what they can afford to give as a gift differ substantially: most of respondents plan to give souvenirs as a gift (30%) but only 8% would like them to have as a gift; candies/spirits (26% vs. 6%); toys (24% vs 1%); perfumery/cosmetics (19% vs. 9%). Most of respondents still want to have money as a gift; remarkably the shares of those who want to give money and to receive it are almost equal (15% and 13%). Fourteen percent are not willing to give gifts; 19% refuse to receive them.

Detailed results are available

<link wciom.ru/fileadmin/file/reports_conferences/2016/2016-12-26-itogi%20goda.pdf&gt;

*Index describes an overall Russian perception of the outgoing year and hopes for the upcoming year. The Index is based on the question: “What feelings do you have bidding a farewell to the outgoing year and welcoming the upcoming year?”; The answer “good feeling, a sense of optimism” corresponds to the coefficient “0.9”; the answer “I feel neither emotional upheaval nor negative emotion”– “0.5”; “Rather bad mood, pessimistic expectations” – “0.1”. The Index is measured in points and can vary between 10 and 90. The higher the value of index is, the more optimistic Russians are about the upcoming year.

**Indices of personal outcomes and general country’s outcomes are based on the questions “What was the outgoing year like to you personally and your family?” and “What was the outgoing year for Russia in general?” The Index is calculated as the difference of positive and negative assessments. The value of Index may vary between -100 and 100 points. The higher the value of Index is, the more positive respondents are about the outgoing year.

***Indices of Personal Expectations and Index of National Expectations are based on the questions “What do you and your family expect for the upcoming year?” and “What should Russia expect for the upcoming year?”. The Index is calculated as the difference of positive and negative assessments. The value may vary between -100 and 100 points. The higher the value of Index is, the more positive respondents are about the future. 

The VCIOM survey was conducted on December 17-18, 2016, in 130 settlements, 46 regions and 8 federal districts of Russia. Sample size was 1600 persons. The survey was 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 structured face-to-face interviews. Apart from the margin of error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork should be taken into account.

The monitoring and analysis of the Russian media was carried out by the Medialogia Company using the Medialogia database involving 36500 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, information agencies and online media. The period of study was from January through December 2016.   The rankings are based using the Medialogia event visibility metric defined as the sum of the visibility of event on certain topic in the most popular media.

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! Full or partial reproduction of the Medialogia Company materials in other media must contain a reference to the Medialogia Company.