MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Approximately 81% of Russians surveyed firmly believe that the world’s most gorgeous women are to be found precisely in their country, the results of a new poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) show.
"According to the data VCIOM gathered in January, the last 11 years have solidified our opinion that the [world’s] most beautiful women are Russian (81% now versus 76% in 2013)," a VCIOM press release on the poll findings says.
The poll results also tell us that over half of all respondents were not interested in beauty contests (55%), while more than a quarter have a positive opinion of such events (29%), but every seventh respondent (15%) expressed disapproval of beauty contests.
The pollster noted that Russian women predominantly look upon participation in beauty pageants as an opportunity to build a career in the entertainment industry (47%). "Over the last 11 years such events have become seen as a method for satisfying one’s own [career] ambitions (24%, or an 8% rise compared to the 2013 figure), rather than as means of earning money (29%, or minus 12% since 2013), or finding a wealthy husband (22%, or minus 8% since 2013). Every fourth respondent believes that the primary goal of beauty pageant participants is to get an ego boost (26%)," the press release reads.
The poll data shows that 11% of young Russian women aged 18 to 24 years old would like to take part in a beauty contest, while 70% of Russian men would be willing to see their significant other participate.
The nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted on January 28, 2024. A total of 1,600 Russians over the age of 18 took part in it. The survey method was a phone interview via stratified random sampling of the full list of cellular phone numbers operating in Russia. The given data were evaluated according to socio-demographic characteristics, with a 95% confidence interval and a margin of error not exceeding 2.5%.