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Home sweet home: Majority of Russians want to live in Russia, poll indicates

A total of 88% would not want to leave Russia to live in some other country, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center said

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. As many as 88% of participants in a survey by Russia’s leading polling agency say they don’t want to leave to live abroad, compared to 70% during the turbulent year of 1991.

"An absolute majority of our fellow countrymen (88%) would not want to leave Russia to live in some other country," the Russian Public Opinion Research Center said in a report. "The share of those willing to leave remains practically the same - in 2011-2018 it has hovered at around 10 to 13%," it said. "Ten percent of those polled stated they would want to leave Russia, and this share reaches 31% among young people (18-24 years of age).

Many of the surveyed Russian nationals ready to abandon Russia failed to come up with concrete plans - 44% had not thought about when this would occur, while 41% had not taken any serious steps towards emigration. However, each fourth respondent (26%) has relatives or acquaintances who have left Russia in recent years. Most of those polled - 74% - have not been abroad at all in the past two or three years, while 18% have been to other countries for vacation or medical treatment, and another 4% have visited their relatives or friends living abroad.

Only 26% of potential emigrants have begun researching the country they would want to move to, while 22% have started learning a foreign language, 21% have consulted their friends who have moved abroad, and 19% have started saving money. The most popular emigration destinations are Germany (16%), the US (7%), Spain (6%) and Canada (5%).

The survey was conducted on June 6-7 among 2,000 people. The margin of error does not exceed 2.2% at the 95% confidence level.