Two percent of Ukrainians unhappier over year of Yanukovych's presidency, according to poll
Kyiv, March 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – In 2011 the number of happy people in Ukraine decreased to 63% from 65% year-over-year, Deputy Director General of Ukraine Today Company Natalia Ischenko has said.
"This is the smallest reduction in the [annual] level of happiness in the last six years," Ischenko said at a press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine on March 14, while commenting on the results of a sociology survey conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
"This reduction is slight, so we can say that the level of happiness in Ukraine has stabilized," she added.
According to the poll, some 34% respondents said that they are definitely happy, 29.2% participants of the poll said that they are more likely to be happy than unhappy, 9% said that they are more likely to be unhappy than happy, and some 7.9% respondents said that they are absolutely unhappy.
The level of their income was the determining factor for Ukrainians' perceptions of being happy.
At the same time, among the most important factors for a happy life for Ukrainians are family (39.4%), health (32.4%), material well-being (21.9%), children and grandchildren (19%), personal values and self-actualization (15.9%), job (9.8%), spiritual needs (10%), love and friendship (6%).
The level of happiness also depends on age and gender. Among people aged between 18-29 years old a share of happy people falls to 58%, while among people older than 70 years old only 16% are happy.
The most number of happy people live in Western regions of Ukraine – 74%, the lowest number of happy people is in central regions, while in Eastern regions 64% of residents are happy, and in southern regions this rate amounts to 62%.
Director General of Kyiv International Institute of Sociology Volodymyr Paniotto has said that the decrease in the level of happiness of Ukrainians was caused by the fact that the euphoria after the presidential election, in which the candidate supported by almost half of the population won, has vanished, while the level of material well-being remained unchanged.
The sociology poll was conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology by order of Ukraine Today Company on February 8-20 in 110 residential areas all over Ukraine. A total of 2,037 respondents were interviewed. The poll's margin error is 2.2%.