7 out of 10 Russians view their country as a superpower on the world stage, a recent survey revealed. In 1999 only 3 out of 10 Russians thought this way.

Russians believe that Russia is a superpower

Despite the fact that monthly wages in Russia are on the level of about USD 700, the vast majority of Russians (71%) view their country as a superpower on the world stage.

• A recent survey by the non-government’s public surveying company Levada.ru asked Russians if they view their country as a “great power” (“великая держава”), and 32% of their respondents stated, “Definitely yes”, while further 39% picked the answer, “Rather yes”.
• 19% of respondents chose the option, “Rather not”, and only 7% went for, “Definitely not”.

Levada interviewers knock on people’s doors to conduct interviews. For the first time this question was asked in 1999 and the monitoring have been happening through the following years, as you can see in the table below.

Only 12% of Russians thought about their country as definitely a “great power” in March 1999, with further 19% of respondents picking the option “Rather yes” (31% in total). Since then, there had been definitely a great job done by country’s propaganda, with 7 out of 10 Russians now thinking this way, despite the fact of their country finding its place in the middle or close to the bottom of many ratings.

Russia in the ratings

According to Statistictimes.com, Russian Federation isn’t even in the world’s top 50 economies in 2019 for GDP per capita. 2018 rating by the World Bank places Russia at #54 by GDP per capita (per person).

In nominal terms, Russia is only #11 economy in GDP among others. USA, China and Japan lead the rating, with Germany, India, UK, France, Italy, Brazil, and Canada all being ahead of the “superpower” Russia.

Considering the criteria of GDP per person, even such countries as Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, and the little place called Aruba are ahead of the mighty power Russia. Basically all the participants from Europe are ahead in the rating, as well as Korea, Israel, Singapore, and the Bahamas. Even the little Estonia, which used to be a part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991, is ahead.

GDP is the simplest and most straightforward criteria to see where the country fits on the world stage. United States, for instance, is #1 in nominal GDP and only #8 in GDP per capita, but it’s not #54, which is certainly isn’t a performance expected from a world superpower.

What do you think? Is Russia a superpower or not? Comment below!

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