Zee Beam News

28.03.2008 - RBC - Moscow - A poll held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) has shown that Russians mostly describe themselves as happy, with 22 percent of the poll participants answering they were "definitely happy", 55 percent saying they were happy rather than not, and only 15 percent of respondents complaining they were unhappy. Over the past 10 years, the proportion of unhappy people has dropped from 25 to 15 percent, while the percentage of happy people has expanded from 60 to 77 percent. Men tend to be slightly happier than women, with around 18 percent of women feeling unhappy compared to just 12 percent of men. Moscow and St. Petersburg are the two unhappiest cities in Russia, with just 74 percent of their population feeling happy. People are generally happier in Russia's south (84 percent) and in the Urals (83 percent), and the least happy people inhabit Russia's central part, northwest and Siberia (73 percent). Among different age groups, people under 35 proved the happiest (83-85 percent), followed by people aged 35-59 (76-78 percent) and people over 60 (66 percent). 94 percent of people describing themselves as well-off said they were happy, while among average-income respondents the share was 82 percent, and just 53 percent among low-income people. The poll was held among 1,600 people in 153 locations of Russia's 46 regions, with a margin of error no more than 3.4 percent.