Uzhhorod residents are the most optimistic in Ukraine about their economic prospects, with 17% saying their financial situation has improved or somewhat improved over the past year, according to a new survey released on June 30.
The findings come from the Eighth All-Ukrainian Municipal Survey conducted by the Sociological Group Rating on behalf of the Center for Analysis and Sociological Research of the International Republican Institute.
Odesa residents were the least optimistic about their financial situation, with only 5% saying it had improved.
The following cities also made the top five in terms of residents reporting an improvement in their finances:
– Zhytomyr (12% reported a significant or relative improvement, 17% reported a significant deterioration);
– Mykolaiv (13% reported improvement, 20% reported significant deterioration);
– Ivano-Frankivsk (12% – improvement, 17% – significant deterioration);
– Khmelnytskyi (12% – improvement, 16% – significant deterioration).
Among Kyiv residents, only 8% reported a significant or some increase in income, and 39% believe that their financial situation has somewhat deteriorated, 26% – that it has significantly deteriorated, and 27% said that it has not changed.
In addition to Odesa, the most frequent reports of worsening financial situations were recorded in Zaporizhzhya, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Kropyvnytskyi.
It is also worth noting that residents of Lutsk are the most optimistic about the prospects for economic development in Ukraine as a whole in the coming year (32% believe that the financial situation will improve significantly or partially).
The biggest pessimists are also in Odesa: only 17% are positive, while 56% believe that the economic situation in Ukraine will significantly or partially deteriorate.
The survey was conducted from April 21 to May 22, 2023, via face-to-face interviews at respondents’ homes. The sample consisted of 16,800 permanent residents of 21 cities, aged 18 and older, and is representative of the population in terms of age and gender. The statistical error for each city does not exceed ±3.5%. The response rate was 56% on average.
**Residents of 21 regional centers took part in the survey, except for the temporarily occupied territories and Kherson, where it was not possible to conduct the survey for security reasons.