The number of Ukrainians who consider the introduction of the visa-free regime with the European Union to be important to them has been growing this year and reached nearly 50 percent in August, according to a poll conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
According to the poll results released in Kyiv on Sept. 28, 39 percent of respondents stressed the importance of the visa-free regime with the EU in June 2017, 42 percent in October, 46 percent in December, and 48 percent of respondents in August 2018.
In the regional dimension, the introduction of visa-free travel with the EU is more important to residents of the country’s western regions (74 percent) than to residents of the center of Ukraine – 48 percent, the south – 29 percent, and the east -33 percent.
The number of Ukrainians with a new biometric passport has also significantly increased. There were only 7 percent of such people in June 2017, but almost a quarter of Ukrainians (24 percent) in August 2018.
The survey results in August 2018 compared with last year’s polls showed an increase in the mobility of Ukrainians to the EU countries, from 12 percent in October 2017 to 17 percent in August 2018. Residents of the western regions (34 percent) travel to the European Union more often, unlike those living in the center (12 percent), the south (10 percent), and the east (8 percent).
The main purpose of trips of Ukrainians to the EU, according to the survey, is tourism (61 percent). Ukrainians also travel to the European Union for employment (27 percent), on business trips (24 percent) or to visit their relatives (20 percent).
The survey was conducted from August 16 to August 28, 2018 in all regions of Ukraine except for Crimea and the occupied territories of Donbas. The poll’s margin of error is 2.3 percent.
