The majority of Ukrainian citizens highly appreciate the implementation of the constitutional principles of sovereignty, independence and democracy of the state, according to the results of a poll conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center on the eve of the Constitution Day.

"According to the poll results, 67% of respondents believe that Ukraine is indeed a sovereign state [26% gave a negative answer], and 56% of respondents call it an independent state [39.5% do not consider it independent]. Some 60% of respondents think that Ukraine is a democratic state [33% gave a negative answer]," according to a report on the poll results, published on Friday.

At the same time, 41% of respondents consider Ukraine to be a social state, while 45% of respondents do not consider it as such. Least of all, citizens of Ukraine recognize it as a legal state – 36% with 52% of negative answers.

It is noted that if Ukraine is considered a sovereign state by the majority of residents of all regions – from 83% in the west of the country to 50% in the east, then the majority of residents of only the western and central regions (80% and 58%, respectively) consider it independent, while the majority of residents of the southern and the eastern regions (58% and 56%, respectively) do not consider it as such. According to all these indicators, the implementation of constitutional principles is best assessed by residents of the western region, and worst – by residents of the eastern and southern regions. The younger respondents are, the better they assess the implementation of constitutional principles.

The respondents were also asked to rate the extent to which human and civil rights were observed in Ukraine over the past year, on a five-point scale, where the score "1" meant "very bad" and "5" meant "very good."

Citizens rated best of all the observance in Ukraine of such rights and constitutional principles as the right to freedom of movement, to life, to freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association with others, the right to education, to guarantee of rights and freedoms without discrimination on the basis of sex, race, skin color, language, religion, political or other convictions, national or social origin, belonging to national minorities, property status, birth or other circumstances, the right to protection of children and adolescents, inadmissibility of torture and human being in slavery. Compliance with these rights and principles is rated in the range from 3.5 to 3.7 points.

Compliance with such rights and principles as the right to a fair, open and independent court, the presumption of innocence in criminal law, the right to social and medical assistance, to social security, to work and fair remuneration was rated worst of all – in the range from 2.6 to 2.9 points.

Compared to 2006 and 2011, when similar polls were conducted, the assessment of the observance of the rights to the protection of children and adolescents, to healthcare, to education, to work and fair remuneration, to social security, to social and medical assistance has improved. Compared to previous years, citizens' assessments of the observance of any of the rights did not decrease at a statistically significant level.

Residents of the western region rate the observance of most rights higher than residents of other regions. The younger respondents are, the higher they assess the observance of all constitutional rights in Ukraine.

The poll was conducted from June 11 to June 16, 2021 by the method of face-to-face interviews at the place of residence of the respondents. A total of 2,018 respondents aged 18 and over were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, representing the adult population in terms of basic socio-demographic indicators. The sampling error (excluding the design effect) does not exceed 2.3% with a probability of 0.95.

The sociological poll was carried out within the framework of the research project Ukraine: 30 years on the way to Europe, funded by the Representative Office of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ukraine.