By KYIV. Nov 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – In addition to the war, Ukrainians are most concerned about the problems of corruption (63%) and low wages and pensions (46%), according to a nationwide poll conducted on September 30 through October 13 by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
The respondents also named high utility tariffs (24%), demographic risks (22%), unemployment (20%), no invitation to NATO (15%), the risk of the demolition of democracy and the threat of authoritarianism (9%), the risk of untimely talks on the EU accession, too slow restoration of the war-affected regions (8% each), the cutting of local communities’ budgets (7%), the insufficient support for internally displaced persons (5%), and the slowdown of road construction (3%) as important problems.
The majority of those polled in all macro-regions mentioned corruption and low wages/pensions. In the east the share of such respondents was slightly smaller than in the rest of the macro-regions, although respondents in the east named high utility tariffs, unemployment, and slow restoration more often.
The majority of respondents (54%) believe that, first of all, the new anti-corruption agencies created after 2014 should fight against corruption. At the same time, quite a lot of respondents also said this problem should be addressed by the president or the Office of the President (43%) and the traditional law enforcement agencies: the police, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the prosecutor’s office. Such sentiments are quite similar in the regional context.
“Corruption remains a strong trigger for Ukrainians and, in addition to Victory, Ukrainians want an effective fight against corruption… The issue of their own welfare (for instance, pensions/wages, unemployment or tariffs) bother the population less than injustice because of corruption… The public expects active steps from the government at various levels to overcome corruption. Recall that 59% of Ukrainians still tend to think that there are attempts to combat corruption and there are positive changes, therefore we should not talk about hopelessness of the situation and impending doom. Ukrainians can see the light at the end of the tunnel, that is why a well-coordinated teamwork of the government and the public is necessary to achieve positive changes,” Executive Director of the KIIS Anton Hrushetsky said.
The survey was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) among 2,007 adult respondents from all government-controlled regions of Ukraine. Under normal circumstances, the statistical sampling error with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1 did not exceed 2.4% for indicators of about 50% and 1.1% for indicators of about 5%. In war conditions, a systematic deviation is added to the formal error.
