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Poll shows most Russians satisfied with life and domestic atmosphere

Most Russians are content with life and are upbeat on the situation in the country, according to a poll

© Valery Sharifulin//TASS

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Statistics on personal life and the domestic situation have been looking up. Most Russians are content with life and are upbeat on the situation in the country, according to data from the Russian Public Opinion Research Center published on its website on Tuesday.

"According to a telephone survey [conducted] at the end of the year, the social assessment index for personal life was 69 points - compared to 46 points in December 2016 and 36 points in December 2015," the report says. "The social assessment index for the domestic situation that reached the negative value area (-5 points) at the end of 2015, but it improved in 2016 (14 points in December). In 2017, it grew, reaching 51 points in November and hovering at 50 points in December."

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Thus, in 2017 the assessment of one’s personal life and the situation in the country as a whole surpassed the crisis’ levels. A majority of Russians are satisfied with their life, with 83% of those polled calling life very good/good/rather good. As for the situation in the country, almost three-fourths (73%) of the respondents assessed it either positively or were neutral.

The social expectation index showed an upward trend as well. It was -41 points in December 2016, but grew to -23 points by the end of 2017. About one-third (37%) of those surveyed still believe that worse times are ahead, and almost the same number (34%) believe that they are long past. That said, 20% of those surveyed said that we are now trudging through the most difficult period.

"The current assessments make it possible to say with confidence that the situation overall has improved. People feel rather comfortable and believe that everything in the country is going the way it should be. However, some are still swayed by inertia and think that one should be ready for a worst-case scenario, just in case," head of the Public Opinion Research Center’s Research Department Stepan Lvov said, commenting on the survey’s results.

The indices are calculated as the difference between positive and average assessments, and negative assessments. Their values can range from -100 to 100 points. The higher an index value, the more optimistic respondents are. The survey by the state-run pollster was conducted on December 25-27, 2017, among a random national sample of 1,800 adults. The margin of sampling error is no more than 2.5% with a 95% probability.

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