LIFE PRIORITIES OF RUSSIANS: FAMILY, CHILDREN, OR CREATIVE ACTIVITIES?: VCIOM: Russia Public Opinion Research Center

LIFE PRIORITIES OF RUSSIANS: FAMILY, CHILDREN, OR CREATIVE ACTIVITIES?

Over more than ten years, health, family well-being and safety has been of great importance for Russians.

07.06.2017

IN BRIEF

Health, family and safety are top three priorities for Russians; Over the recent five or ten years, social status, climate and recreational activity has become less important; Since 2014, Russians have paid more attention to social and economic issues

Over more than ten years, health, family well-being and safety has been of great importance for Russians, as the VCIOM-Sputnik daily omnibus survey suggests. At the same time, social status and recreational activities are getting less important.

MOSCOW, June 7, 2017. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a survey devoted to the most important aspects of life of Russians.

Health (99 p.), family relationship (98 p.) and safety (96 p.) are ranked as “very important” among different aspects of life; over the entire measurement period the safety index has not dropped below 90 p. (in a range from -100 to 100 p.).

Other priorities have changed over the years. Thus, compared to 2014, social infrastructure and environment hit their all-time highs (from 83 to 93 pp. and from 82 to 93 pp., respectively).

Respondents pay more attention to economic and political situation in the country (an increase of 8 p.; up to 83 p. in 2017), participation in social and political life (an increase of 9 p.; from 7 p. in 2009 to 8 p. in 2017); at the same time, more Russians seek opportunities to achieve personal goals (an increase of 6 p.; up to 83 p.) and for creative self-realization (an increase of 8p.; up to 46 p.). However, career development was ranked last (a drop from 14 p. in 2014 to currently -15 p.). Family well-being is also less important now than it was in the previous years (90 vs 95-97 p.).

In recent five or ten years, there has been a decrease in importance of certain aspects. Social status has decreased from 73 p. in 2009 to 39 p. in 2017, and leisure and recreational activities - from 70 to 46 pp. Also, a negative trend was observed for the climate indicators: a drop from 77 to 36 p. respectively.

The Index shows how important various aspects of life are for Russians. The indicator is based on the question “How important for you are the following aspects of your life?” The index is calculated as the difference between positive and negative answers. The Index can vary between -100 and 100 points. The higher the value of index is, the more important the aspect is for Russians.

The VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide survey was conducted on May 14-15, 2017, using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia, and involved 1,200 respondents. Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 3.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Results for the 2005-2014 studies are based on household surveys.

How important for you are the following aspects of your life? (closed-ended question, one answer, index in points)
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
*State of your health/health of your relatives (index)*	98	94	93	96	97	95	99
*Relationship within the family (index)*	97	94	94	96	97	97	98
*Your personal safety and that of your family members (index)*	96	94	93	96	97	97	96
*Social infrastructure in your place of residence (roads, stores, child-care facilities, education institutions) (index)*	85	89	89	90	91	83	93
*Environment, ecology in your area (index)*	90	92	89	88	89	82	93
*Welfare of your family/your personal welfare (index)*	96	96	95	96	97	96	90
*Opportunities to communicate with friends, relatives (index)*	93	90	89	90	90	88	89
*Opportunities to achieve personal goals (index)*	78	74	78	82	79	77	83
*Economic and political situation in the country in general (index)*	83	82	79	84	87	76	83
*Entertainment and recreational opportunities (including recreation during vacation) (index)*	65	68	68	74	70	61	46
*Creative self-realization (at work or outside of work) (index)*	51	58	52	60	59	38	46
*Your social status (index)*	72	73	71	73	73	52	39
*Climate, weather conditions in your area (index)*	71	76	75	77	77	61	36
Participation in social and political life (index)*	0	1	-10	0	7	-1	8
Career development, opportunities to have high-level position (index)**	0	0	7	0	0	14	-15

* In 2005, 2008, this answer option was not offered

** In 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, this answer option was not offered

How important for you are the following aspects of your life? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of respondents)
State of your health/health of your relatives
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	88	82	79	85	84	78	95
Rather important	11	15	17	13	14	19	4
Rather not important	1	2	2	2	1	2	0
Not at all important	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Don’t know	0	0	1	0	1	1	1
*Index*	98	94	93	96	97	95	99
Relationship within the family
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	85	79	77	79	84	78	92
Rather important	13	18	19	19	14	20	7
Rather not important	1	2	1	1	1	1	0
Not at all important	0	1	1	1	0	0	1
Don’t know	1	0	2	0	1	1	0
*Index*	97	94	94	96	97	97	98
Your personal safety and that of your family members
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	85	79	73	74	82	79	85
Rather important	13	18	23	24	16	19	12
Rather not important	2	2	2	2	1	1	0
Not at all important	0	1	1	0	0	0	1
Don’t know	0	0	1	0	1	1	2
*Index*	96	94	93	96	97	97	96
Environment, ecology in your area
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	62	59	60	64	60	56	78
Rather important	33	37	34	30	34	34	18
Rather not important	4	3	4	5	4	7	2
Not at all important	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Don’t know	0	0	1	0	1	2	1
*Index*	90	92	89	88	89	82	93
Social infrastructure in your place of residence (roads, stores, child-care facilities, education institutions)
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	59	58	60	67	59	55	75
Rather important	33	36	34	28	36	36	21
Rather not important	5	4	4	4	3	7	3
Not at all important	2	1	1	1	1	1	0
Don’t know	1	1	1	0	1	1	1
*Index*	85	89	89	90	91	83	93
Welfare of your family/your personal welfare
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	84	80	78	78	83	75	71
Rather important	14	18	19	20	15	23	23
Rather not important	1	1	2	1	1	2	3
Not at all important	1	1	0	1	0	0	1
Don’t know	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
*Index*	96	96	95	96	97	96	90
Opportunities to communicate with friends, relatives
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	58	57	56	61	57	57	70
Rather important	38	38	38	33	37	37	24
Rather not important	3	4	4	4	3	5	3
Not at all important	0	1	1	0	1	1	2
Don’t know	1	0	1	2	2	0	1
*Index*	93	90	89	90	90	88	89
Opportunities to achieve personal goals
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	55	52	55	57	57	53	62
Rather important	33	33	33	33	30	35	28
Rather not important	8	9	7	6	6	8	5
Not at all important	2	2	3	2	2	3	2
Don’t know	2	4	2	2	5	1	3
*Index*	78	74	78	82	79	77	83
Economic and political situation in the country in general
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	58	52	48	56	60	48	64
Rather important	33	38	40	35	33	39	27
Rather not important	7	7	8	6	5	9	6
Not at all important	1	1	1	1	1	2	2
Don’t know	1	2	3	2	1	2	1
*Index*	83	82	79	84	87	76	83
Entertainment and recreational opportunities (including recreation during vacation)
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	42	43	43	49	45	42	33
Rather important	40	40	40	37	38	38	38
Rather not important	14	12	13	10	11	15	17
Not at all important	3	3	2	2	2	4	8
Don’t know	1	2	2	2	4	1	4
*Index*	65	68	68	74	70	61	46
Creative self-realization (at work or outside of work)
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	38	41	37	41	39	33	37
Rather important	36	36	36	37	37	35	34
Rather not important	18	15	17	13	12	21	15
Not at all important	5	4	4	5	5	9	10
Don’t know	3	4	6	4	7	2	4
*Index*	51	58	52	60	59	38	46
Your social status
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	44	45	43	48	45	36	35
Rather important	41	40	41	37	40	39	32
Rather not important	11	10	11	10	10	17	17
Not at all important	2	2	2	2	2	6	11
Don’t know	2	3	3	3	3	2	5
*Index*	72	73	71	73	73	52	39
Climate, weather conditions in your area
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	42	44	46	49	45	38	39
Rather important	43	43	41	39	42	42	28
Rather not important	13	9	10	10	9	16	19
Not at all important	1	2	2	1	1	3	12
Don’t know	1	2	1	1	3	1	2
*Index*	71	76	75	77	77	61	36
Participation in social and political life*
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	0	22	16	0	24	21	19
Rather important	0	26	26	0	26	28	33
Rather not important	0	31	31	0	25	30	31
Not at all important	0	16	21	0	18	20	13
Don’t know	0	5	6	0	7	1	4
*Index*	0	1	-10	0	7	-1	8
Career development, opportunities to have high-level position **
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2014	2017
Very important	0	0	13	0	0	27	19
Rather important	0	0	39	0	0	29	22
Rather not important	0	0	31	0	0	21	27
Not at all important	0	0	14	0	0	21	29
Don’t know	0	0	3	0	0	2	3
*Index*	0	0	7	0	0	14	-15

* In 2005, 2008, this answer option was not offered

** In 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, this answer option was not offered

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!

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Topics:

Morals. Interpersonal communication. Values