vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #621 / Social life / Reading article...

The number of the Russians who feel happy and content with their lives has grown by 17 percent in the recent ten years, an opinion poll revealed.

According to the poll conducted by VTsIOM, Russia’s polling agency, in mid March and beginning of May 2008 among 1,600 people in Russia’s 46 cities, towns and villages, 77 percent of the surveyed feel satisfied with their lives as compared to 60 percent who expressed their happiness in the similar poll held in 1998.

According to the poll results, 18 percent of the respondents find favorable family circumstances enough to attain the sense of well-being. 11 percent of the interviewed people link their satisfaction in life to their children and grandchildren. 6 percent of the respondents reveal that good job, profession or education makes them happy.

Positive family circumstances matter much to the respondents aged from 25 to 44, while children and grandchildren were named as priority by those aged from 45 and older. Among younger respondents, 11-12 percent of the surveyed, a good job and enjoyable love life dominated the answers about their perception of happiness.

Good health matters much to 5 percent of the polled, and love and care coming from close people was mentioned as source of happiness by another 5 percent. 4 percent of the polled mentioned that the feeling of satisfaction comes from the opportunities for self-expression in life, while another 4 percent said they are just ‘happy to live’.

Interestingly, a sufficient financial position as the cause for emotional well-being was mentioned by only 2 percent of the surveyed.

Nevertheless, 26 percent of the respondents, or every fourth, revealed they do not feel happy, the poll showed. Among those, 13 percent mentioned the lack of finances as the reason for decreased level of happiness, while illnesses and old age were listed by 6 percent.

Other mentioned reasons for unhappiness were hard living circumstances, loneliness, the lack of a good job and confidence in future, cited by 3, 2 and 2 percent respectively. Finally, 1 percent of the polled mentioned a worrying current situation in the country and growing prices, the survey said.