MOSCOW, April 26 / TASS / The number of Russians who consider themselves happy has set a historical record high, the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The level of Russians’ happiness, according to subjective criteria, has reached 85% - the highest figure for all years surveyed. This percentage is high for all socio-demographic groups," the report said.

The happiness index (in the range of -100 to 100 points) came to 72 points, while in 2016 it reached 66 points, in 2010 it totaled 48 points, and in 1990 the score was 17 points, on the happiness index.

What makes Russians happy is what’s tried and true - family and children, 32% of the respondents feel happy due to family, and this indicator has gone up by 12% in the last six months, and another 19% due to children in their life.

For every fifth respondent (21%), their well-being is a necessary condition for happiness, while a good job brings joy to 14% of Russians.

However, what makes Russians unhappy is financial difficulties - 9%, while a small salary and bad health both totaled 6%.

According to the survey, half of Russians (50%) noted an approximately equal number of happy and unhappy people in their surroundings. At the same time, more than a third (35%) of those surveyed believe that most of their friends and relatives are cheerful people.

Agency Expert Oleg Chernozub says that despite outside factors, that is political, economic and other elements, personal joy is still what Russians use to judge whether or not they are truly happy.

The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion survey was conducted on March 31-April 2, 2017 with 1,800 people having been polled. The maximum margin of error with a probability of 95% does not exceed 2.5%.