MOSCOW. July 30 (Interfax) - The majority of Russians are worried about price increases and "the impoverishment of the majority of the population" (70% and 60%, respectively). These percentages are up slightly from July 2001, when they were 66% and 59%, respectively.
Interfax received this information on Tuesday from the All-Russian Center
for Public Opinion Research. It is based on a representative poll of over 2,400 Russians, which was conducted in July.
Other things that worry Russians include an increase in crime (43%, compared to 46% in July 2001), an economic crisis (32%, compared to 30% in July 2001), the lack of access to medical care (30%, compared to 25% in July
2001), the divide between the rich and the poor (28% in 2002 and 26% in July
2001), the decline of morals and culture (26% this year and 24% in July 2001), the threat of terrorist attacks in residential areas (15%, compared to 11% in July 2001), helplessness of the state authorities (15%, up from 11% in July 2001), delays in the payment of wages, pensions, and benefits (11%, up from 9% in July 2001) and increasing nationalism (9%, up from 8% in July 2001).
Russians' concerns about increasing unemployment (34%), lack of access to
education (26%), corruption and bribery (23%), government conflicts (3%) and
limited democracy (freedom of speech and the press) have not changed from last year.
At the same time, there has been some increase in the interest in drug-related problems (31%, compared to 37% in July 2001), the worsening environmental situation (18%, down from 19% in July 2001) and military operations in Chechnya (down to 17% this year from 22% in 2001).