MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. Almost one out of two (49%) Russians believe that terminally ill patients should be legally allowed to end their lives in Russia, a survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) reveals.

"Euthanasia is currently prohibited by Russian law. Compared to 2019, the question regarding its legalization in relation to terminally ill patients has become a more difficult one for Russians. Five years ago, one out of ten people (10%) were unsure about what should be done, while today almost twice as many (18%) are on the fence. Meanwhile, the number of supporters of this measure for the period under review remained unchanged; it was the same as five years ago. A little under half of respondents supports the legalization of euthanasia for terminally ill people (49%, 2019 - 50%). One out of three people (33%, 2019 - 40%) are against it," the report says.

The survey revealed Russia's attitude toward euthanasia in general. Thus, most people view it as a personal decision to end one's life for medical reasons by administering an injection (42%). Less common definitions were "legalized murder" (10%), "help for terminally ill people to end their life" (7%), "artificial death" (5%), "lethal injection," "suicide" (3% each), as well as putting animals to sleep (2%). Young people from 18-24 years old are among the least informed about euthanasia (53%), while 78% of Russians aged 45-59 years old know about this procedure. In Moscow and St. Petersburg 83% are aware of euthanasia. In villages and cities with a population under 100,000 people the proportion is 64% and 61% respectively. The number of active Internet users and those who consume a wide range of media sources had more knowledge about the subject (73% and 75%) than people who only watched TV, 55% of whom were able to give an answer, while 45% could not reply.

According to VCIOM, one out of five people who support euthanasia (28%) believes that it is an individual choice (19%). Those who favor this procedure mostly perceive it as an opportunity to end one's life without pain (34%) and as a way to end the suffering of terminally ill patients ("there are diseases with no hope of a cure" - 17%, "a person should not suffer" - 11%, "pain is unbearable sometimes" - 8%).

Many are against euthanasia for religious reasons (30%), while 15% see death as a natural process in which humans should not intervene. Meanwhile, 5% say that euthanasia is murder. Thus, anti-euthanasia proponents have a wide range of arguments against the procedure - religious, medical and everyday life considerations.

The all-Russian telephone survey VCIOM-Sputnik was conducted on June 28, 2024 among 1,600 Russians over the age of 18. The maximum margin of error, with a probability of 95%, doesn’t exceed 2.5%.