The press release was prepared by Volodymyr Paniotto

-   The lowest level of ethnic prejudice in Ukraine is towards Ukrainians and Poles, then towards Canadians and Americans, followed by Germans, French and Jews (with approximately the same values of social distance). Russians living in Russia are treated the worst in Ukraine, followed by Belarusians living in Belarus.

-   During the year from October 2022 to October 2023, the attitude towards Russian-speaking Ukrainians also deteriorated somewhat.

-   After the start of a large-scale war from 2021 to 2022, the level of xenophobia increased slightly due to the deterioration of attitudes towards Russians and Belarusians, and in the last year from October 2022 to October 2023 it slightly decreased due to the improvement of attitudes towards allies (Canadians, Americans, Germans and French).   

-   In general, from 1994 to 2007, the level of xenophobia in Ukraine grew. From 2008 to 2013, the index decreased to 4.0 points. Further, the xenophobia index fluctuates around this value, in October 2023 it was slightly below 4 (more precisely, 3.7). This level is not high, it shows that for the majority of ethnic groups of the population of Ukraine support a distance of 3, 4 or 5 (that is, they would not like the representatives of these ethnic groups to be members of their families and close friends, but are ready to see them as neighbors, work colleagues and residents of Ukraine)

We present the data of the survey conducted two months ago (the analysis of the survey results takes some time). From September 29 to October 9, 2023, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus". Bythemerhodofcomputer-assistedtelephoneinterviews(CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting), 1,010 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except AR of Crimea) were interviewed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived on the territory of Ukraine (within the boundaries controlled by the Ukrainian authorities until February 24, 2022). The sample did not include residents of territories that were not temporarily controlled by the authorities of Ukraine until February 24, 2022 (AR of Crimea, Sevastopol, certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts), and the survey was not conducted with citizens abroad.

Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) did not exceed 3.4% for indicators close to 50%, 3.0% for indicators close to 25%, 2.1% - for indicators close to 10%, 1.5% - for indicators close to 5%.

Under conditions of war, in addition to the specified formal error, a certain systematic deviation is added. KIIS previously cited factors that can affect the quality of results in "wartime" conditions.

In general, we believe that the obtained results are still highly representative and allow for a fairly reliable analysis of public moods of the population.

Methodological remarks

We usually provide methodological information in annexes, but in this case some preliminary explanations are necessary. Since 1994, KIIS has been conducting research on the attitude of the population of Ukraine to certain ethnic groups. This research is conducted according to the scale of the American sociologist Emory Bogardus (adapted by N. Panina). For each ethnic group from the list, respondents must answer how close a relationship they are willing to allow with representatives of each group.  This is called social distancing.  Minimum social distance 1 (agree to admit as a family member), maximum 7 (would not let into Ukraine).  Often, the level of social distance is interpreted as the level of prejudice against one or another group.

I agree to admit representatives of the national group named in the line..   ...

(SEE TABLE 1, WHERE THEY ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

SEVERAL ANSWERS ARE POSSIBLE FOR EACH NATIONAL GROUP

Table 1

Etc., list of groups in the annex

Survey results.

Hierarchy of social distances

Graph 1 shows the social distance (average index obtained using the Bogardus scale) from the population of Ukraine to certain ethnic groups.

Graph 1. Social distance from the adult population of Ukraine to some ethnic groups (Bogardus scale), October 2023

The smallest social distance is with Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians (index 2.03), followed by Poles and Russian-speaking Ukrainians (the index is practically the same - 2.93 and 2.95), respectively, the majority of respondents are ready to admit representatives of these groups as members of their family and close friends.  Canadians and Americans follow (indices are also practically the same - 3.04 and 3.07), and Germans, French and Jewish residents of Ukraine (indices from 3.32 to 3.39, the difference is statistically insignificant). The greatest social distance is with Africans (4.69), Roma (4.75), Russians living in Ukraine (4.96), Belarusians living in Belarus (5.30). The last place with the greatest social distance is naturally occupied by Russians living in Russia (6.38). The vast majority (80%) would not let Russians even as tourists.

If to compare these data with last year (see table 1), we can see that the social distance has decreased significantly (by 0.5 points or more), i.e. the attitude towards Canadians, Americans, Germans and French, i.e. towards representatives of the main allies of Ukraine in struggle with Russia. The attitude towards the Poles has not changed, as it was already at a high level (note that the research was conducted before the Ukrainian-Polish border was blocked by Polish farmers). Over the past year, only the attitude towards Russian-speaking Ukrainians has worsened.

Table 1 . Dynamics of social distance from the adult population of Ukraine to some ethnic groups from September 2022 to October 2023.

To interpret our results, it should be taken into account that some groups live only outside Ukraine (for example, Americans, French), some mainly in Ukraine (Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars), and some both in Ukraine and outside Ukraine (for example, Russians, Belarusians). In the Bogardus scale, which was adapted in 1994, there was no such division, and the scale was used without this division until 2022 (this shortcoming was understood a long time ago, we even conducted some experiments to compare the results, but we did not want to lose the dynamics over many years).  As a result, previously some of the respondents meant citizens of Ukraine, some - citizens of another country, which made it difficult to interpret the data. With regard to Russians and Belarusians, this difference did not seem unnatural until 2013, 90% of the population of Ukraine had a positive attitude towards Russia and an even larger percentage towards Russians, they ranked second in the hierarchy according to the Bogardus scale after Ukrainians themselves. In 2022, we divided Russians into residents of Ukraine and Russia and Belarusians also into residents of Ukraine and Belarus, and the results for these two groups for comparison with the pre-war years are the arithmetic average of the attitude towards Russians - residents of Russia and Russians - residents of Ukraine and similarly for Belarusians . As for Jews, we asked only about Jews - residents of Ukraine. Graph 2 shows a comparison of the results of the 2023 survey with 2013.

Graph 2. Comparison of social distance from the adult population of Ukraine to some ethnic groups from September 2013 to October 2023.

As we can see, in 2013 the attitude of Ukrainians to Russians and Belarusians was better than to all other ethnic groups. It should be noted that it was the best during the entire period of observation, more than 25 years, even after 2013, the social distance to Russians and Belarusians was the smallest after Ukrainians, they ranked 2nd and 3rd in terms of social distance after Ukrainians. The situation changed only after the large-scale invasion of February 2022.  Currently, the attitude towards Russians is the worst among all ethnic groups (80% of respondents do not want to see them even as tourists), and the attitude towards Belarusians is almost the worst (recall that this assessment is the average of the attitude towards Belarusians - residents of Belarus and residents of Ukraine, attitude towards Belarusians -residents of Belarus, as can be seen from table 1 and graph 1, is worse than for all ethnic groups, except for Russians). We can see from graph 2 that Russians and Belarusians moved from the beginning of the list to the end, the attitude towards Poles, Americans and Canadians improved significantly, and other ethnic groups changed their place in the hierarchy by no more than 1-2 positions.

The social distance to Russians - residents of Russia is 6.38 with a maximum of 7 (recall, 7 - "would not let into Ukraine") is higher than to any ethnic group in 29 years of measuring social distance. A slightly lower, but also very high distance to Belarusians - residents of Belarus - 5.30, see table 1 (as we can see from the distribution table in the appendix, 23% are ready to see Belarusians only as tourists, and 46% would not let them into Ukraine at all).  Social distance has also increased significantly compared to 2013. Unfortunately, the attitude towards Russians and Belarusians living in Ukraine has also deteriorated significantly. Attitudes towards Jews - residents of Ukraine have slightly improved since 2013 (but since attitudes towards Americans and Canadians have improved even more, they have "overtaken" Jews in the hierarchy, see graph 2). 

Dynamics of xenophobia

Graph 2 shows the dynamics of the xenophobia index, which is calculated as the average social distance to 13 ethnic and linguistic-ethnic groups (except, as already mentioned, for Russians and Belarusians in 2022 and 2023, we used the arithmetic average of distances for residents of Ukraine and residents of Russia and, accordingly, residents of Belarus). The name of the index is conditional (it could also be called the tolerance index), we consider this index as an indicator that, although it does not measure xenophobia (or tolerance) directly, but is related to the level of xenophobia (in general, xenophobia is a complex multidimensional phenomenon and does not can be characterized by one indicator).

Graph 3 . Dynamics of the level of xenophobia in Ukraine from 1994 to 2023 (average value of social distance according to the Bogardus scale for 13 ethnic groups).

As we can see, the level of xenophobia in Ukraine increased with some fluctuations from 1994 to 2007, it increased during this period from 3.5 to 4.3 points. From 2008 to 2013, the index decreased to 4.0 points. Next, the xenophobia index fluctuates around this value, in October 2022 it is actually equal to 4 (more precisely 3.99), now it has slightly decreased to 3.7.[1] This level is not high, it shows that for the majority of ethnic groups of the population of Ukraine support a distance of 3, 4 or 5 (that is, would not like the representatives of these ethnic groups to be members of their families and close friends, but are ready to see them as neighbors, work colleagues and residents of Ukraine). Table Д1 in the Annex shows the distribution for each ethnic group.

Commentary of the President of KIIS V. Paniotto

As noted in the press releases of previous years, the level of xenophobia in Ukraine is not high, but it is not very low, the xenophobia index (average value of social distance) is approximately 4.0. N. Panina and Ye. Holovakha believe that values less than 4.0 indicate openness (tolerance), and values from 4 to 5 indicate national isolation (want to communicate with representatives of their ethnic group in the family and with friends, and with neighbors and at work are ready to communicate with other groups). The level of xenophobia in Ukraine as a whole is an average between openness and national isolation.

Despite the war, the level of xenophobia in Ukraine as a whole remains stable. For many years, Ukrainians have maintained a tolerant attitude towards Jews (in addition to the fact that the majority of Ukrainians now support Israel in the conflict with Palestine, in addition, the level of support is higher than in the USA or Great Britain https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=ukr&cat=reports&id=1334&page=1). This dispels myths about Ukraine as a state with widespread anti-Semitism.

But the attitude towards Russians - residents of Russia and Belarusians - residents of Belarus is expected to have significantly worsened. 

Unexpectedly, the attitude towards Russians and Belarusians living in Ukraine has also worsened. A negative phenomenon is also the deterioration of the attitude towards Russian-speaking Ukrainians. It is possible that the deterioration of the attitude towards Russians living in Ukraine and towards Russian-speaking Ukrainians is due to the fact that before the beginning of the large-scale war there was a higher percentage of those who support pro-Russian parties among them than among Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians. But now the situation has radically changed.  All surveys by KIIS and other sociological companies after February 24, 2022 testify that although citizens of Ukraine who are ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians differ somewhat in their views, in fact most of them are quite pro-Ukrainian-minded citizens. For example, among them, the majority are in favor of membership in the EU and NATO. In Ukraine, regional and linguistic-ethnic differentiation has greatly decreased (according to some indicators, it has almost disappeared). The terrible reality quickly dispelled the illusions of supporters of Russia about the possibility of cooperation with this country and turned them into opponents of Russia and supporters of NATO. It is possible that not everyone is aware of the radical changes that have taken place in our society. 

We have to realize this new reality, our citizens - both ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians and representatives of other ethnic groups - are fighting the enemy side by side. The enemy is not among us, but is waging an active information war to sow enmity between us, including between linguistic and ethnic groups. We must carefully monitor the inter-ethnic relations of Ukrainian citizens in order to resist negative trends that can reduce the integration of our society. 

Annex 1. Tables

For the correct interpretation of the results given in table Д1a, it should be taken into account that there is a certain cumulativeness for the first 6 points of the scale. If a person agrees that a representative of one or another group should be a member of his family, then, naturally, he agrees all the more that he should be a friend, neighbor, colleague, resident or guest of Ukraine. For example, 31.3% of respondents agree that Americans should be guests of Ukraine. This does not mean that only 31.3% agree, it means that those who are ready to allow a closer relationship also agree, that is, the real number of those who agree is equal to 21.1%+20.5%+8.6%+7.3%+5.4%+31.1 %=94.2%. Actually, only 5.8% disagree.

Therefore, table Д1б with cumulative percentages is also given below, where it is better visible. In each cell there is a percentage of those who are ready to allow this level of relationship and all previous ones.

Table Д1a. Response distributions by ethnic group, October 2023, %

Table Д1б- cumulative.

Distribution of responses by ethnic group, October 2023, cumulative %

TableД2.  Xenophobia index (average social distance according to the Bogardus scale) of ethnic groups, October 2023

TableД3.  Xenophobia index (average social distance according to the Bogardus scale) by years

Annex 2. Characteristics of samples from 2014 to 2022

Omn_Feb 2014

KIIS conducted the "Omnibus" public opinion survey from February 8 to 18, 2014. 2,032 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (including the city of Kyiv) and in Crimea were interviewed by the method of personal ("face-to-face") interviews using a stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine aged 18 and over.

Omn_Oct2014

From October 9-19, 2014, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion survey. 2,025 respondents living in 110 settlements in all regions of Ukraine (except Luhansk oblast and Autonomous Republic of Crimea) were interviewed using the personal interview method, using a stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine over the age of 18.

Omn_Sep2015

From September 9 to 24, 2015, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion survey. 2,041 respondents living in 110 settlements of all regions of Ukraine (except AR of Crimea) were interviewed using the personal interview method, based on a stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine aged 18 and over. In Luhansk oblast, surveys were conducted only in territories controlled by Ukraine, in Donetsk oblast in territories controlled by Ukraine, and in Donetsk (which is not under Ukrainian control).

Omn_Sep2016

From September 16 to 26, 2016, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion survey. 2,040 respondents living in 110 settlements in all oblasts of Ukraine (except the AR of Crimea) were interviewed using the personal interview method, based on a stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine over the age of 18. In the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, the survey was conducted only on the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

Omn_May2017

From May 20 to 29, 2017, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted an all-Ukrainian public opinion survey. 2,040 respondents living in 108 settlements of all oblasts of Ukraine (except AR of  Crimea) were interviewed by the method of personal interview, based on a stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine aged 18 and over. In the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, surveys were conducted only in the territories controlled by Ukraine. 

Omn_Sep2018

From September 8 to 23, 2018, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian survey of public opinion using tablets. By the method of personal interview 2,026 respondents living in 109 settlements of all oblasts of Ukraine (except the AR of Crimea) were interviewed using a 4-stage stochastic sample that is representative of the population of Ukraine aged 18 and older. In the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, the survey was conducted only on the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

Omn_Sep2019

From September 6 to 16, 2019, conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey. 2,035 respondents living in 110 settlements in all oblasts of Ukraine (except the AR of Crimea) were interviewed using a personal interview method using a 4-stage stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine over the age of 18. In the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, the survey was conducted only on territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

Omn_Nov2021

From November 2 to 11, 2021, conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey"Omnibus". 2,003 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except AR of Crimea) were interviewed using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). The sample is representative of the adult population (age 18 and older) of Ukraine. The sample does not include territories that are temporarily not controlled by the authorities of Ukraine – AR of Crimea, some districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, the survey was conducted only in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.

Omn_Sep2022

From September 7 to 13, 2022, KIIS conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus". 2,000 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except the AR of Crimea) were interviewed using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived on the territory of Ukraine (within the boundaries controlled by the Ukrainian authorities until February 24, 2022). The sample did not include residents of territories that were not temporarily controlled by the authorities of Ukraine until February 24, 2022 (AR of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left the country after February 24, 2022.