Over the last six months, 60% of Ukrainians have experienced a deterioration in their economic situation, 35% have not changed, only 5% have noted an improvement, according to the research carried out by the Sociological Group “Rating” on September 5-7.
At the same time, 23% of the respondents hope that in 2024 their personal economic situation will improve, 41% believe it will not change, 21% are pessimistic about this.
Ukrainians assessed the economic situation in the country as a whole even worse: 73% felt it had deteriorated, 13% said there had been no changes, and 9% said it had improved. Assessments of the current situation are better than in previous surveys, but negative assessments of the future are increasing: 29% expect improvement, 26% think nothing will change, 32% expect deterioration.
At the same time, 61% of respondents believe that things in Ukraine are moving in the right direction, 23% share the opposite opinion, and 16% were not able to assess. There is a decrease in the number of those who assess the direction of the country’s development as correct, but in all regions and among all age groups, the assessment of the direction as correct continues to prevail.
The best assessments of their own economic situation are observed among the residents of the West and Center of the country, younger respondents, those who are employed, and especially those who have found a new job. Almost the same trends are observed in assessing the future. The future of the Ukrainian economy is relatively better assessed by residents of the South.
44% of respondents who worked before the war are currently working at their usual jobs, 14% work part-time/remotely, and 15% have found a new job. A quarter of respondents who had a job are still unemployed, but their number is decreasing. Residents of the center and west of the country, men, young people, and middle-aged people have a relatively better job situation. Among IDPs, the number of those who have secured new jobs and are working as usual has increased over time, while the share of those who are unemployed has decreased from half to 40% compared to the beginning of 2023.
The number of respondents forced to leave their place of permanent residence remained almost unchanged at 18%. The largest number of IDPs came from the eastern macro-region – about 60% of them changed their place of residence, and the southern macro-region – 25% of whom were internally displaced.
The CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviews) survey included 1,000 respondents aged 18 and older in all government-controlled areas and districts with Ukrainian mobile phone coverage at the time of the survey. The results are weighted using the latest data from the State Statistics Service. The margin of error of the survey with a confidence level of 0.95 is no more than 3.1%.
