Press releases and reports - Self-happiness (May 2015)

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Press releases and reports

Self-happiness (May 2015)

Press-release was prepared by Julia Sakhno.

From May 19 to May 29, 2015 the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) conducted All–Ukrainian poll. 2022 respondents at the age of 18 years and older living in 108 regions of Ukraine (except for Crimea) according to statistical selection were surveyed by the method of interview.

In Lugansk region surveys were conducted only on the territory controlled by Ukraine. In Donetsk region surveys were conducted in areas controlled by Ukraine and Donetsk (which are uncontrolled by Ukraine).

The statistical error of selection (with probability 0.95 and at design–effect 1.5) doesn't exceed the following: 3,3% for indicators which are close to 50%, 2,8% – for indicators which are close to 25%, 2,0% – for indicators which are close to 10%, 1,4 – for indicators which are close to 5%.

Despite all the problems and difficulties, the majority of Ukrainian society is optimistic. According to the results of survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in May 2015, 57% of residents of Ukraine feel themselves happy, 22% feel partly happy, partly unhappy, and 17% unhappy of rather unhappy.

In comparison with previous years, the level of happiness is almost the same: while during 2001-2010 years was observed tendency of growth of the general level of people’s happiness, then after 2011 the percentage of happy people decreased and after 2012 fraction of the happy stabilized at 57%-60%.

* For the years 2012-2013 is given combined average annual rate.

The feeling of happiness depends on many factors, including - social and demographic aspects, quality of life, social environment and so on.

The results of a survey show that:

Generally, young people are happier than older, and with increasing age the level of happiness decreases. In May 2015, among young people aged 18-29 felt happy 68%, among people aged 30-39 – 65%, among those, who are in forties, 55% called themselves happy , aged 50-59 – 53%, 60-69 – 50% and people older than 70 – 41%. The relation with age is caused by health status – elderly people get ill more often, and, as the research confirm, health has significant influence on subjective feeling of well-being.
The higher the level of welfare, the more people feel happy, thus, among the poorest (not enough food) called themselves happy 42% of low income (enough only for food) has the following 52% among people with average income (enough for food, clothing, may somewhat delay) - 72% of people with incomes above the average (can buy expensive things) - 79%.
The least happy are currently residents of the eastern regions: in May 2015 in the western regions feel happy 68% of people, in central and southern areas - 59%, in the east of the country - only 38%. That war, with all its consequences is the most important factor that makes residents of the eastern regions of Ukraine unhappy.

ANNEX

Table 1. The distribution of answers to the question "Do you consider yourself a happy person?" Ukraine in general, %

Yes	23.1
Rather yes than no	33.6
Both yes and no	21.6
Rather no than yes	10.3
No	7.3
Hard to say	4.1
TOTAL	100

Table 2. "Do you consider yourself a happy person?" - by age, %

	18-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70 +
Yes	32.1	30.2	17.9	18.8	20.6	13.5
Rather yes than no	35.9	34.8	36.9	34.4	29.8	27.0
Both yes and no	17.4	19.7	23.1	24.1	23.2	24.2
Rather no than yes	7.4	4.1	10.9	10.9	14.1	18.1
No	3.6	5.4	6.9	8.4	8.7	13.6
Hard to say	3.6	5.8	4.3	3.3	3.6	3.7
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100	100

Table 3. "Do you consider yourself a happy person?" - distribution by level of material welfare, %

	We don’t have enough money even for food	We have enough money for food, but buying clothes is difficult	We have enough money for food and clothes and we can set aside some	We can afford to buy some expensive things / We can afford to buy whatever we want
Yes	18.2	21.9	26.4	41.8
Rather yes than no	24.2	30.2	45.4	36.7
Both yes and no	24.5	23.2	17.8	14.0
Rather no than yes	15.5	12.4	4.1	1.2
No	12.6	7.0	4.9	2.8
Hard to say	5.0	5.4	1.4	3.5
TOTAL	100	100	100	100

Table 4. "Do you consider yourself a happy person?" - distribution by macro-regions, %

	West	Center	South	East
Yes	34.5	19.2	25.4	13.5
Rather yes than no	33.2	40.0	34.0	24.3
Both yes and no	17.0	22.9	20.1	26.6
Rather no than yes	7.2	9.1	9.1	16.9
No	6.1	5.8	7.4	11.0
Hard to say	2.0	3.1	4.1	7.8
TOTAL	100	100	100	100

Western region: Volyn, Trans Carpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, L’viv, Rivne, Ternopol, Khmelnitsky, Chernivtsi regions; Central region: m. Kyiv, Kiev, Vinnitsa, Zhitomir, Kirovograd, Poltava, Sumy, Cherkasy, Chernihiv region; South region, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson oblasts; Eastern region: Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk region.

Table 5. Dynamics of happiness in Ukraine (2001-2015)

"Do you consider yourself a happy person?"

	Jan.2001	Nov.2002	Nov.2003	Dec.2005	Oct.2006	Dec.2007	Mar.2008	Jun.2009	Jun.2010	Feb.2011	Feb.-Nov.2012	Feb.-Nov.2013	Feb.2014	May2015
Yes	20.0	22.9	24.0	21.7	22.8	28.0	28.1	30.3	33.1	34.0	21.8	24.3	22.0	23.1
Rather yes than no	18.1	26.0	28.0	25.2	29.4	26.2	28.9	28.3	31.9	29.2	35.3	33.8	37.7	33.6
Both yes and no	27.5	22.4	24.0	26.8	24.9	21.2	20.8	21.1	18.9	17.0	26.3	24.4	23.3	21.6
Rather no than yes	13.6	16.6	14.0	13.5	10.8	12.3	11.5	9.8	9.2	9.0	9.0	9.8	8.0	10.3
No	18.9	10.4	8.0	11.4	9.1	10.5	7.7	7.3	5.2	7.9	4.0	5.3	4.3	7.3
Hard to say	1.9	1.8	2.0	1.3	3.0	1.8	3.1	3.2	1.7	2.9	3.6	2.5	4.7	4.1