Russians are often viewed as gloomy by foreigners and portrayed in movies as people who rarely smile. But most Russians consider themselves rather happy, locals polls report.

Russians are happy, but gloomier than last year

The shares of respondents to the poll about levels of happiness who consider themselves “definitely happy” or “rather happy” both dropped this year as compared to November 2018.

• 35% of local respondents indicated they were definitely happy in November 2018, this year the result is 34%.
• In 2018 51% of survey participants picked the option “rather happy”, while this year their share dropped to 47%.
• The total share of people who are “definitely unhappy” and “rather unhappy” increased therefore from 11% in 2018 to 17% in 2019.
• The number of people who found it hard to answer remained the same: 3%.

Thus, the “personal happiness” index that is defined by asserting certain points to each type of answer dropped from 75 to 64.

But when asked about happiness of others, respondents feel nearly the same as the previous year. The index of “social happiness” (whether people think others are content with their lives or not) dropped only 2 points from 56 to 54.

• 48% of survey participants think there are about the same amount of joyful and displeased people among their friends, family, and acquaintances (both this year and last year).
• Last year 32% of participants indicated there are more cheerful folk among the people they know, while this year the share dropped to 31%.

What makes Russians happy?

• Family remains #1 thing cheering people up: 29% (33% in 2018).
• Health, one’s own, as well as family’s and friends’ health: 22% (21% in 2018).
• Having a good job is the third important thing that makes people optimistic about life in 2019: 13%. In 2018 this option was picked by 17% of respondents, but it was only in the fourth position.
• “Having kids” was #3 in the previous year poll with 18%; this year kids were named as the source of happiness by 12% of participants.
• “The general satisfaction from life” is #5 in 2019 with 12% (in 2018 it scored 10%).
• “Having a good financial position” lost the ground a bit, with only 8% of respondents picking it as the option this year (11% in 2018).

All other indicators also lost votes.

• Having good living conditions: 7% (9% in 2018).
• Having the feeling of stability and calmness: 6% (7% last year).
• Well-being in the personal life: 5% (9% last year).

Family remains #1 thing cheering people up!

What makes Russians unhappy?

1. Financial difficulties: 15% (up from 11% last year).
2. Bad situation in the country: 10% (down from 11%).
3. Bad health: 5% (6% last year).
4. Low wage and delays in paying wages: 5% (5%).
5. General unhappiness about life: 4% (down from 5%).

Do you think Russian women you are communicating with are mostly happy or unhappy? What is your feeling about it?

Read also:

• What makes Russian women unique?
• What makes Russians happy?
• Why Russians don’t smile
• What does ‘attention’ mean for Russian women?