Most Ukrainians felt happy in 2020

"Despite the economic turmoil, despite the epidemic, despite everything that happened in 2020, most [citizens] still feel happy: almost 9% are very happy, and almost 46% are mostly happy," the foundation's analyst, Petro Burkovskyi, said at a press conference at Ukrinform, presenting the results of the survey.

At the same time, he noted that this is a lower level of happiness compared to 2017-2019.

"I would even say that this is the lowest level of happiness in the past four years of observation," Burkovskyi said.

On the other hand, he said, the survey found that the proportion of people who feel mostly unhappy and unhappy has increased. "If you combine them together, you get 38%. That is, more than a third of respondents answered so," the expert said.

Burkovskyi said that, according to the poll, at the end of the year, the most common feelings of Ukrainians about the future of the state were hope (43%), optimism (31%) and anxiety (28%).

"However, I must say that the epidemic and the economic crisis have affected the minds of citizens. In particular, the share of citizens who feel hope has decreased - less than in 2017 and 2019, but more than in 2015. However, the level of hope this year is higher than in December 2015. The level of optimism has dropped to the level of 2017-2018," he said.

According to him, the survey shows that in 2020 fewer citizens feel joy - 4%, but "this is more than in 2015, when 1% of respondents spoke about joy."

In addition, Burkovskyi said, the number of respondents who feel confused when thinking about the fate of Ukraine in the future has increased.

"Despite the fact that feelings have become more cautious, most of our fellow citizens remain optimistic. Still, the majority believes that there will be more good than bad things in the new year - 62%," the analyst said.

A nationwide poll was conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from December 5 to December 13, 2020 in all regions of Ukraine, except for Crimea and the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

A total of 2,004 interviews were conducted with respondents living in 131 settlements in Ukraine. The poll's margin of error (with a probability of 0.95 and a design effect of 1.5) does not exceed 3.3%.

op