“It’s not dead yet,” but the process has already begun: Ukrainians don’t believe that life will get better
Ukrainian sociologists have recorded a record low level of the social well-being index (SWI) in the country, which was determined based on answers to questions about the direction of development of Ukraine, the economic situation and expectations regarding how life in the country will change in the future, сообщает “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, citing data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
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“According to KIIS, at the beginning of summer, 70,5% of citizens believed that the leadership of Ukraine was leading the country in the wrong direction, 11,7% supported the actions of the authorities, 17,3% found it difficult to answer. The economic situation was called good or very good by 0,8% of citizens, satisfactory by 9,7%, bad and very bad by 87,1%, and 2,5% found it difficult to answer. 10,5% hope that life in Ukraine will improve in a year, but 38% believe that the situation will worsen, and 33,9% think that nothing will change (17,6% found it difficult to answer).
Indicators assessing the situation in the country, according to sociologists, indirectly affect the self-perception of Ukrainians. 16,9% of citizens hope that in a year their family will live better, almost a quarter of the population fears the situation will worsen, another 38,8% believe that nothing will change, and every fifth cannot predict the situation for their family. 53,1% of citizens called themselves happy (definitely, and also to one degree or another), 19,5% feel unhappy, and 24,5% chose the answer “both yes and no.” Self-assessed health indicators have remained virtually unchanged since last year. Experts draw attention to the fact that assessments of financial situation practically do not change (and therefore remain very negative).
Less than half a percent of citizens “can afford everything they want,” another 2,3% can buy expensive things. Another 27,5% said that they have enough money for food, clothing, and other immediate material needs and that they can save some of the funds for a rainy day. At the same time, 50,3% of citizens only have enough money for food, and buying, for example, clothes is already expensive for them (17,8% are forced to save even on food).
Indices of social and individual well-being are calculated using a formula that can be found on the KIIS website. The maximum positive value is plus 100, the maximum negative value is minus 100. In May of this year. the index of individual well-being fell to a record minus 55 (in November 2013, on the eve of the Maidan, it was minus 39; in February 2014 – minus 40; in May 2016 – minus 53; in December 2016 – minus 51). The IIB always looked much better: on the eve of the Maidan the indicator was plus 1; in February 2014 (during the change of government) - plus 8; in May 2016 – minus 8; in December 2016 – minus 3, six months later – minus 4,” writes NG.
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