Exactly one-half of Russians believe that the fact that dozens of ethnic groups live in Russia does more good than harm to the country, and an overwhelming majority do not feel hostile toward other nationalities, a poll carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation showed on Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th December, 2018) Exactly one-half of Russians believe that the fact that dozens of ethnic groups live in Russia does more good than harm to the country, and an overwhelming majority do not feel hostile toward other nationalities, a poll carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation showed on Friday.According to the poll, the share of Russian citizens who believe that ethnic diversity is beneficial for the country is 50 percent, while 21 percent feel the opposite and 29 percent are undecided.
Moreover, 82 percent of those surveyed said that they did not feel any irritation or disaffection toward other ethnic groups, 14 percent felt the opposite and 3 percent were neutral.
An overwhelming majority of 92 percent believed they had never faced any harassment based on ethnicity or national origin, and only 7 percent thought they had. The remaining one percent were undecided.
The poll was carried out from Saturday to Sunday among 1,500 respondents in 104 Russian settlements. The margin of error does not exceed 3.6 percent.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that ethnic diversity and religious tolerance played a vital role in formation of Russia.
According to the 2010 Russian Census, people from over 190 ethnic groups designated as nationalities live in Russia around 4 percent did not specify their nationality that year. The share of Russians is the biggest, standing at 80.90 percent, while Tatars, Ukrainians, Baskirians, and Chuvashes are included in the top 5.
