In a mid-December national public opinion survey conducted by the Rating Group, 67% of Ukrainians believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction, 24% see the direction right. while 9% were undecided.
The most important issues in the country, according to the respondents, are corruption (55%) and the war in the Donbas (51%), followed by the economic crisis (32%), government incompetence (31%), the coronavirus pandemic (27%), the influence of oligarchs on politics (24%), and poor medicine (24%).
58% Ukrainians support joining EU, 54% in favor of NATO, IRI Ukraine poll shows
The Rating Group’s late-December poll showed that about half of the respondents saw no changes in 2021 in the country’s fight against corruption (37% reported deterioration) and the resolution of the war in the Donbas (34% reported deterioration).
Equal shares of Ukrainians reporting optimistic, pessimistic, and nothing-would-change expectations
The Rating Group poll found that one-third (31%) of Ukrainians expect the upcoming year 2022 to be better than 2021. Another third believes it is going to be worse, as many think that nothing would change in 2022 as compared to this year. The respondents under 20 are somewhat more optimistic in their expectations in 2022, while the 40+ Ukrainians lean to the opinions that everything will remain unchanged or get worse.
More than a half lost their confidence in the future
Another Rating Group poll found that for 53% of Ukrainians, their confidence in the future worsened in 2021, with only 15% having it improved and 30% unchanged. The majority of Ukrainians were pessimistic: they believe that the political and economic situations in Ukraine have deteriorated during the year that comes to an end (63% and 70% respectively). About 20% sees the situation unchanged, meanwhile, only 12% saw the improvement in the political situation has improved and 8% in the economic one.
40% of Ukrainians said that the financial situation didn’t change for their families, but for 50% it has worsened in 2021, while it improved only for 9%. The Rating Group notes,
“Despite skeptical responses, assessments of the political and economic situation have improved somewhat in comparison to December 2018. Residents of the capital [city of Kyiv] and the younger respondents are the most optimistic about the changes in all these spheres.”
Roads and state-provided digital services improved
Roads and digital technologies in the public sector are fields in which the Ukrainians polled by the Rating Group have seen the greatest improvement in 2021. More than 60% of respondents noticed an improvement in the condition of roads over the past year, while almost half of the pollees praised the official mobile app Diia.
Ukraine’s international image, road safety, healthcare, education worsened in 2021, respondents believe
- As for Ukraine’s international image, some 40% of Ukrainians believe it got worse, while 20% saw it improved and 40% unchanged.
- Road safety deteriorated, according to 41% of respondents, 34% believe it hasn’t changed in 2021, 19% said it got better.
- The quality of medical care worsened for 45% of Ukrainians, 17% believe it improved in 2021, 31% saw no change.
- 40% also said that the quality of education got worse as well, meanwhile, 28% didn’t notice any changes in it, while only 12% believe that it has become better in 2021.
Read also:
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- Poll results: Slight improvement amid national pessimism in Ukraine, positive local outlook (2017)
