Most residents of Ukraine see themselves as Ukrainian citizens

The vast majority of Ukraine's population considers themselves, first and foremost, Ukrainian citizens, according to a survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the sociological service of the Razumkov Center.

The results of the survey were presented at a news conference on Tuesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The overwhelming majority of the population of Ukraine (75%) considers themselves, first and foremost, Ukrainian citizens, and significantly fewer people - 16% of citizens - have chosen regional identification (belonging to a region, city or village). Moreover, national identification is prevalent in all regions of Ukraine: the south (84%), the center (78%), the west (76%) and the east (66%)," the study says.

At the same time, 7% of the population in Ukraine's eastern regions consider themselves primarily to be citizens of the former Soviet Union.

According to the survey, national identification increased substantially after 2013 (54% in December 2013, 73% in December 2014).

A nationwide survey was conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from December 13 to December 18, 2019 in all regions of Ukraine, except Crimea and occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A total of 2,017 respondents aged 18 and over were interviewed. The poll's margin of error does not exceed 2.3%.

The survey was funded as part of the MATRA project of the Embassy of the Netherlands.

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