The press release was prepared by Volodymyr Paniotto, the president of KIIS

• Despite the war and the challenges facing society, the majority of Ukrainians (58%) are happy, only one in six Ukrainians (16%) feels unhappy

• The main factors that influence the level of happiness are age (with age, the level of happiness decreases), health, well-being (the better the health and the higher the level of well-being, the happier the person) and the level of optimism about the future of Ukraine (optimists are happier than pessimists)

• The percentage of happy people in Ukraine has decreased from 69% to 58% over the past year, but this decrease is not due to an increase in the number of unhappy people (there are now 16% of them, approximately the same as before the war), but due to an increase in the number of undecided people.

From December 2 to 10, 2024, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted its own all-Ukrainian public opinion survey "Omnibus", to which, on its own initiative, added a question about whether Ukrainians feel happy. By the method of telephone interviews (computer-assisted telephone interviews, CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting) in all regions of Ukraine (the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine), 1,509 respondents were surveyed. The survey was conducted with adult (aged 18 and older) citizens of Ukraine who, at the time of the survey, lived in the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Government of Ukraine. The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities (at the same time, some of the respondents are IDPs who moved from the occupied territories), and the survey was not conducted with citizens who left abroad after February 24, 2022.

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 1.3) did not exceed 3.3% for indicators close to 50%, 2.9% for indicators close to 25%, 2% for indicators close to 10%, 1.5% for indicators close to 5%.

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

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

For over 20 years, KIIS has been asking Ukrainians the question “Do you consider yourself a happy person?” Respondents are offered five answers (as in the graph below). Graph 1 shows the answers to this question in December 2024.

Graph 1. Do you consider yourself a happy person? %. December 2024

As we see, the majority of the population (58% of respondents) of Ukraine consider themselves happy, with 24% stating that they are definitely happy, and 34% choosing the option “Rather yes than no”. Another 25% of respondents answered “both yes and no”, which reflects the ambiguity of their attitude towards their own happiness. At the same time, 16% of respondents indicated that they are unhappy or rather unhappy (8% answered “Rather no than yes”, another 8% chose the answer “no”). These figures show that despite the war and the challenges facing society, the majority of Ukrainians are happy, only one in six Ukrainians feels unhappy, more than three times as many happy people as unhappy people. The research demonstrates a high level of optimism among Ukrainians even in difficult conditions.

The research we conducted before the start of the large-scale war showed that traditionally the level of happiness was affected by age, level of well-being, health, education, intimate and family relationships, and confidence in the future[1].  

Traditional factors continue to affect. 

Gender. Men are slightly happier than women, but this is largely due to the fact that women in Ukraine live about 10 years longer than men, and with age the level of happiness in Ukraine decreases. In addition, due to longer life expectancy among women, more people become lonely with age, which also negatively affects the level of happiness.

Age. The level of happiness in Ukraine decreases with age. This significantly distinguishes Ukraine from most European countries, the UK and the USA, where happiness is U-shaped with age - young people are the happiest, then the level of happiness decreases and is minimal at the age of about years, and then increases again. In December 2024 in Ukraine, among people under 40 years old, 64% were happy, and after 70 years old 54% of respondents.

Health.  Among those who have experienced a deterioration in physical or mental health, the level of happiness is approximately 55%, and among those who have not experienced it - 65%

Graph 2. Dependence of the level of happiness on the level of well-being, %. December 2024

Well-being. As we see from graph 2, the dependence of the level of happiness on the level of well-being is practically linear – among the poor, only 38 are happy, and among the well-off – twice as many, 77%

Graph3. Optimism level and percentage of happy people, %. December 2024

(On the X-axis, the answer options to the question “In general, are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of Ukraine?”)

Optimism. In graph 3 we see an almost linear relationship between the level of happiness and the level of optimism about the future of Ukraine – the higher the optimism, the higher the level of happiness. Among the biggest pessimists, only 38% are happy, while among the biggest optimists – 72%.

Trust in Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Among those who do not trust Volodymyr Zelenskyi at all, 46% are happy, and among those who trust him completely, 69%. In sociological researches, it is easy to identify the correlation of certain variables, but very often it is difficult to say what influences what, a special research design is needed to answer this question. Therefore, we do not know whether trust in Zelensky makes people happier or, conversely, happier people perceive the world around them more optimistically, including Zelenskyi.

Graph 4 shows the dynamics of the percentage of people who consider themselves happy. We see that Ukraine has gone through a difficult path and the level of happiness has changed significantly. The percentage of happy people increased from 38% to 65% from 2001 to 2010. A possible reason for such a significant increase in the level of happiness could be the economic growth in Ukraine, which lasted from 2002 to the global economic crisis of 2008. Of course, this factor alone cannot explain the rise and fall in the level of happiness; the economic difficulties of 2008 not only did not lead to a drop in the level of happiness, but even to its increase to 65% in 2010. We asked questions about happiness in December 2021, 2 months before the full-scale Russian invasion, and in September 2022, after the invasion. In 2023 and 2024, we asked this question twice a year to more accurately identify the dynamics after the start of a large-scale war.

In December 2021, on the eve of the invasion, 71% of Ukrainians considered themselves happy, while 15%, on the contrary, did not consider themselves so. By December 2023, despite two years of full-scale war, the indicators remained practically the same. In the third year of the war, in 2024, the level of happiness decreased from 69% to 58%. This level of happiness was in Ukraine from 2012 to 2017.  

Graph4. Do you consider yourself a happy person? 2001-2024

% of those who consider themselves happy

If to consider the dynamics of the number of happy, unhappy and those who cannot decide and consider themselves partly happy and partly not during a full-scale war (graph 5), we see that with the beginning of the war the level of happiness did not decrease (the reasons for this paradoxical fact are given in the comments to the press release, see below). And the decrease in the number of happy people during 2024 occurred not due to an increase in the number of unhappy people (there are now 16% of them, approximately the same as before the war), but due to an increase in the number of undecided people.

Graph5. Do you consider yourself a happy person? , %

V. Paniotto, comments on the survey results:

Researches that we and other sociological centers began to conduct after the start of the full-scale invasion were paradoxical. They showed that objectively the situation in the country had significantly worsened, while satisfaction with the government, the president, various aspects of life, satisfaction with the level of security, and a sense of happiness had increased.

I repeat here the reasoning that I have already expressed in the cited article and other press releases regarding happiness. First, the mechanism of happiness formation is not simple and linear. For example, the growth of well-being does not always lead to an increase in the level of happiness. In the USA, from 1985 to 2005, the real income of the population doubled, while the level of happiness did not change. The fact is that the level of happiness can be conventionally represented as a fraction, the numerator of which is the level of achievements in a broad sense (level of material security, creative work, loved one, etc.), and the denominator is the level of encroachments (for example, what level of material security a person considers sufficient).  The level of encroachment itself is formed depending on the level of achievements of the respondent's reference group. As the American happiness researcher R. Layard wrote, people do not become happier when their entire society becomes richer, people become happier when they become richer than their neighbors. In conditions of war, when millions of people suffer, the level of encroachment (the denominator of the happiness formula) decreases significantly, and this compensates for the hardships that people experience. It is clear that those who are in a combat zone become unhappy, but they make up only a few percent.

Secondly, the level of happiness is influenced by many factors, for example, the behavior of children, intimate relationships, relationships with friends, etc. And although the material conditions of life have significantly worsened and many people suffer from separation from their families, there are factors that increase the level of happiness. The cohesion of our society has significantly increased, regional differences have decreased, the value of the state for the population of Ukraine has increased, mutual support has increased, and the socio-psychological climate has improved. All this compensates for the worsening situation and makes the decline in the level of happiness slower.

Despite three years of terrible war, Ukrainians continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience and optimism. According to a survey, 58% of our fellow citizens consider themselves happy, while only 16% feel unhappy. These figures testify to the strength of spirit, faith in the future and the ability to find joy even in the most difficult circumstances. The Ukrainian people are not only fighting for their freedom, but also remain steadfast in their pursuit of a happy life.

Annex 1. Formulation of question from the questionnaire

Do you consider yourself a happy person? 

Annex 2. Survey results

Dynamics of the feeling of happiness in Ukraine (2001-2024)*, %

* For 2012-2013, the combined annual average is given. Since May 2015, data has been given for Ukraine without temporarily occupied territories (AR Crimea, part of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts).