Press releases and reports - Ukraine, Russia and Belarus

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Ukraine, Russia and Belarus – mutual evaluations of population

Press release was prepared by Liana Novikova

The press release contains the results of a conjoint project of Kiev International Institute of Sociology, Russian non-governmental research organization "Levada-Center", and Belarusian sociological company “Novak”. All three companies put the same question in the survey, conducted in May, 2014 (in Ukraine respondents were proposed to choose questionnaire either in Ukrainian or in Russian language).

Kiev International Institute of Sociology conducted its own public opinion survey “Omnibus” in a period from the 29^th of April to the 11^thof May, 2014. The survey was conducted in 110 settlements (PSU) in all regions of Ukraine, except Crimea, using the random sample which is representative for the population of Ukraine aged 18 and above. 2022 respondents were interviewed.

Statistical sample error (with probability of 0.95 and design-effect of 1.5) does not exceed:
3.3% — for index close to 50%;
2,8% — for index close to 25%;
2,0% — for index close to 10%;
1,4% — for index close to 5%.

Russian non-governmental company “Levada-Center” conducted the survey in a period of May 23 – 26, 2014 with 1600 respondents aged 18 and above and living in 130 settlements in 45 regions of Russia. The sample is representative for Russia, its statistical error does not exceed 3,4%.

Belarusian company “Novak” conducted the survey in a period from the 26^th of April to the 18^th of May, 2014 with the representative for Belarus sample which consisted of 1066 respondents aged 18 and above.

52% of the population of Ukraine have in general positive attitude towards Russia, but only 35% of Russia`s population have in general positive attitude towards Ukraine.

85% of the population of Ukraine have in general positive attitude towards Belarus, but only 57% of Belarus`s population have in general positive attitude towards Ukraine.

Thus, despite of the aggression of Russia, the population of Ukraine is more positively-minded to two neighbor countries, than the populations of these countries towards Ukraine.

Russia and Belarus have mutually friendly relations – 85% of the population of Russia have generally positive attitude towards Belarus and 81% of the population of Belarus have generally positive attitude towards Russia.

Pic. 1. May 2014. The percentage of the country population aged 18 and above, which have a positive attitude for a particular country (direction of the arrow indicates the direction of the relationship (to which country))

There are significant regional differences (Table 1), but in all regions of Ukraine the majority has positive attitude towards Belarus. In the Western region such attitude have 79% of the population (8.5% have negative attitude); in the Central region 81.5% have positive attitude (and 7% - negative); the majority (91%) of the South region population is generally well disposed towards Belarus, only 4% have bad attitude; in the East region the situation is almost the same (92% and 3% respectively).

Differences by gender and by level of education are not significant. Significant differentiation is in the relation to Belarus observed among age groups (Table 2): positive attitude increases with the increasing of the age of the respondents. For example, in both oldest groups 88% have a positive attitude (negative - 4%); in the age group 50-59 years - 90% have positive attitude (negative - 4.5%) in the youngest group – 81% have positive attitude (negative - 7.5%).

52% of the population of Ukraine have generally positive attitude towards Russia (17% - very good, 35% - mostly good), 38% have generally negative attitude (10% have not decided yet).

At the same time, there is significant regional differentiation (Table 3). In the Western region 30% have positive attitude towards Russia and 59% have negative one. In the Central region the attitude is different: 43% have positive attitude towards Russia and 44% have negative one. The South and the Eastern regions are more positively-minded: in the Southern region 65% have positive attitude (26% - negative), in the Eastern region 77% and 18% respectively.

The attitude towards Russia also depends on the level of education of respondents (Table 4). Thus, the population with the completed secondary and secondary special education have more positive attitude: in the first mentioned above group 53% have positive attitude and 37% - negative; in the second - 58% and 33% respectively. Among those with incomplete secondary education, 42.5% expressed positive attitude towards Russia and 43% - negative, and among those who has higher education, 49% and 42% respectively.

Significant differentiation in the relation to Russia is among the age groups (Table 5). The biggest difference is between the youngest and the oldest age groups in a “very good attitude” to Russia (12% of youth, 24% of the oldest group), as well as in "mostly bad attitude” to Russia (23% of youth, 14% of the oldest group). In general, in the age group “18-29 years” 43% have good attitude and 45% - bad; in the group “30-39 years” - 54% and 35% respectively. In the age group “40-49” positive attitude is expressed by 53% of the group, negative – by 40% of the group; in the age group “50-59 years” - 58% and 34% respectively; 54% of people in the age group “60-69 years” have positive attitude to Russia and 35% - negative. In the age group “70+” it is 55% and 34% respectively.

Researchers investigated not only the perception of countries as a whole, but also the attitude to their population and government.

80% of Ukraine`s population have generally good attitude to the Russians (32% - very good, 48% - mostly good), 13,5% have generally bad attitude.

81% of Russia`s population have generally good attitude to the Ukrainians (22% - very good, 59% - mostly good), 12% have generally bad attitude.

There are significant regional differences (Table 6), but in all regions of Ukraine the majority has positive attitude towards the Russians. In the Western region such attitude have 71% of the population (20% have negative attitude); in the Central region 73% have positive attitude (and 18,5% have negative); in the South region population is generally well disposed (85%) towards the Russians, only 9% have bad attitude; in the East region the situation is close to the one mentioned above (91% and 4% respectively).

The differences by gender and level of education are not significant. Significant differentiation in attitudes towards the Russians, as in the case of the attitudes to Belarus, is observed among age groups (Table 7). Thus, in the oldest group 80% have positive attitude to the Russians (10.5% have negative one). In the age groups “50-59” and “60-69 years”, a good attitude to the Russians is observed among 83.5% (bad attitude - 11.5%) and 80% (bad attitude - 14%), respectively. In the group “40-49 years” 82% have good attitude to the Russians, and 11% have bad. In the youngest age group 76% have positive attitude (negative - 17%) and in the group “30-39 years” 77% and 16% respectively.

The opposite situation is observed in the attitude of the Ukrainians to Russia`s government and in the attitude of the Russians to Ukraine`s government.

71% of Ukraine`s population have generally bad attitude to the government of Russia (56% - very bad, 15% - mostly bad), 19% have generally good attitude (10% have not decided yet).

79% of Russia`s population have generally bad attitude to the government of Ukraine (29% - very bad, 50% - mostly bad), 11% have generally good attitude (10% have not decided yet).

There is a significant regional differentiation in the attitude of the Ukrainians to Russia`s government (Table 8). In the Western region only 2,5% have positive attitude (95% have negative one); in the Central region 5% have positive attitude (85% have negative one); in the South region 18,5% have positive attitude (67,5% have negative one). Only in the Eastern region more than a half of the population (56%) supports Russia`s government (29% have negative attitude).

The differences by gender are not significant. Significant differentiation is observed by the level of education, but respondents of all levels of education mostly have negative attitude to Russia`s government (Table 9). Among those with incomplete secondary education 12.5% expressed positive attitude towards Russia`s government and 74% - negative; among the population with the completed secondary education 22% have positive attitude and 68% - negative; among those who has higher education - 16% and 75% respectively.

Significant differences in attitude are also among different age groups (Table 10). For example, in the youngest age group the percentage of respondents who has positive attitude to the government of Russia is 14%, and in the group “30-39 years”, the percentage of such people is the biggest - 23%. In the oldest age group 66% are negatively-minded, in the groups “50-59” and “60-69 years” - 70% in each group, in the group “40-49 years” - 73%, “30-39 years” - 68.5%, and in the youngest one the bad attitude to the government of Russia is typical for 78% of people.

ADDITIONS

Table 1

What is your general attitude towards Belarus?

By regions:

	West	Center	South	East	Whole Ukraine
very good	17.1	27.6	43.5	51.9	34.1
mostly good	61.8	54.0	47.2	40.0	51.2
mostly bad	6.7	4.7	3.3	1.8	4.2
very bad	1.7	2.2	0.4	0.9	1.4
Difficult to answer	12.7	11.5	5.7	5,4	9.1
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

Table 2

What is your general attitude towards Belarus?

By age:

	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70 +
very good	24.5	32.9	32.4	38.5	38.3	43.3
mostly good	56.5	49.9	52.3	51.7	50.4	43.7
mostly bad	5.9	4.9	5.4	3.4	2.5	2.1
very bad	1.6	1.6	1.2	1.1	1.3	1.4
Difficult to answer	11.6	10.7	8.7	5.3	7.5	9.5
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100

Table 3

What is your general attitude towards Russia?

By regions:

	West	Center	South	East	Whole Ukraine
very good	4.8	6.9	22.6	40.2	17.3
mostly good	24.8	36.1	42.5	36.6	35.0
mostly bad	24.2	25.2	15.4	8.8	19.1
very bad	35.2	18.8	10.6	9.0	18.7
Difficult to answer	11.0	13.0	8.9	5.4	9.9
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

Table 4

What is your general attitude towards Russia?

By the level of education:

	Incomplete secondary	Complete secondary	Special secondary	Higher
very good	15.0	16.3	19.0	16.9
mostly good	27.5	36.9	38.7	31.8
mostly bad	24.0	19.0	16.3	20.9
very bad	19.2	17.8	17.1	21.1
Difficult to answer	14.4	10.0	8.9	9.4
TOTAL	100	100	100	100

Table 5

What is your general attitude towards Russia?

By age:

	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70 +
very good	11.6	20.3	14.0	18.8	17.0	24.2
mostly good	31.8	33.5	38.8	39.0	36.9	30.9
mostly bad	23.2	18.1	21.8	19.1	15.8	14.0
very bad	21.8	17.3	18.2	15.2	19.5	19.6
Difficult to answer	11.6	10.7	7.2	7.9	10.8	11.2
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100

Table 6

What is your general attitude to the Russians (the residents of Russia)?

By regions:

	West	Center	South	East	Whole Ukraine
very good	19.4	16.6	41.6	56.3	31.7
mostly good	51.9	56.8	43.8	35.0	47.9
mostly bad	14.2	12.4	7.8	2.7	9.6
very bad	5.6	6.1	1.3	1.6	3.9
Difficult to answer	9.0	8.0	5.4	4.5	6.9
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

Table 7

What is your general attitude to the Russians (the residents of Russia)?

By age:

	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70 +
very good	21.5	33.7	29.0	36.3	32.5	41.5
mostly good	54.2	43.6	53.4	47.3	47.5	38.7
mostly bad	13.4	10.4	8.1	8.2	10.0	6.3
very bad	3.6	5.5	3.0	3.4	3.8	4.2
Difficult to answer	7.3	6.8	6.6	4.8	6.3	9.2
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100

Table 8

What is your general attitude to the government of Russia?

By regions:

	West	Center	South	East	Whole Ukraine
very good	0.8	1.1	7.0	28.9	8.5
mostly good	1.7	4.1	11.5	27.5	10.4
mostly bad	10.8	14.5	23.3	12.6	15.2
very bad	84.2	70.9	44.3	16.7	56.1
Difficult to answer	2.5	9.4	13.9	14.2	9.9
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

Table 9

What is your general attitude to the government of Russia?

By the level of education:

	Incomplete secondary	Complete secondary	Special secondary	Higher
very good	6.6	8.7	9.7	7.3
mostly good	6.6	10.8	12.4	9.1
mostly bad	9.6	16.5	17.1	13.1
very bad	64.7	53.0	51.2	62.3
Difficult to answer	12.6	11.0	9.7	8.1
TOTAL	100	100	100	100

Table 10

What is your general attitude to the government of Russia?

By age:

	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70 +
very good	4.8	10.2	7.2	11.2	9.2	9.1
mostly good	9.1	12.9	11.3	9.2	10.0	9.5
mostly bad	17.8	17.1	13.7	14.8	12.9	13.3
very bad	60.3	51.5	59.1	54.9	57.1	53.0
Difficult to answer	8.0	8.3	8.7	9.8	10.8	15.1
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100