MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. The majority of Russian citizens (68%) deem office romances to be perfectly acceptable, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) said in its report on the survey’s findings, as published on its website.
"Almost a third of Russians meet their soulmate at work or school, and the same number say they have had romantic feelings for colleagues. In today's age, people view this kind of thing more as the norm (68%), as ten years ago the opinion was almost the same (2014 - 64%). Another 20% believe that romantic relationships between colleagues are not an ideal situation, but are generally okay (down 6 p.p. by 2014)," the VCIOM report says.
It is noted that opinions are changing not only about relationships with colleagues, but also about romance between a subordinate and a supervisor. Every fourth respondent is against such unions (24%).
In addition, in modern Russian society, infidelity (a romantic relationship between a single and a married person) is seen as largely unacceptable - 51%. At the same time, every third participant in the survey accepts that infidelity can take place, but acknowledges that it is wrong (35%), and 8% of Russians think there is nothing wrong with it.
According to the results of the poll, among 18-34-year-olds, 60% consider it normal if a woman is significantly younger than a man in a relationship. In the group over 60 this position is shared by 37% of people. Among Russians under 45 years of age, 45-48% are fine with the opposite situation, where a woman is significantly older than a man, and among those over 60 the indicator decreases to 18%. Seniors are more likely than all others to be against large age gaps (13% and 29%, respectively).
"The opinions of Russians on this matter are also influenced by where they live. The smaller the size of the city <...>, the more often people are not ready to put up with non-conventional relationships. In cities with millions of people, like Moscow and St. Petersburg, on the contrary, people are ready to 'turn a blind eye' to the private lives of others, which go beyond the bounds of traditional ideas about love. In particular, in both capitals, one in three (34%) people admit or consider a polyamorous relationship [3 or more people] to be normal, whereas in rural areas - only one in ten (10%)," the report says.
About the survey
The nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik telephone survey was conducted on January 26, 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 are evaluated according to socio-demographic characteristics, with a 95% confidence interval and a margin of error not exceeding 2.5%.