Almost half of Ukrainians (45 percent) have noted an increase in their expenses for housing and communal services in October 2019, compared with October 2018, while 35 percent of respondents said they did not change or decrease.
These are the findings of a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in late November.
Poll results released Thursday said three quarters of respondents (75 percent) said they did not see the success of the new government in reducing utility bills, with only 16 percent saying the authorities have been successful in this regard.
About 14 percentof Ukrainians said they spend more than half of their family income on utility bills.
“If you compare the results of this study, see the KIIS survey conducted in 2015 funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, then over four years the share of households that spend more than half of their income on utility services has more than doubled – from 6 percent to 14 percent.
Asked which parties in parliament have the most thoughtful and realistic solutions for lowering gas prices for the population of Ukraine, 18 percent said Servant of the people, 17 percent – Opposition Platform – For Life, 15 percent – Batkivshchyna, 4 percent – European Solidarity and 1 percent – Holos.
In addition, skepticism prevails among Ukrainians regarding Ukraine’s successful resolution of issues of stable gas supplies to the country and Russian gas transit to Europe through its territory: some 46 percent of the study participants said they did not see success in solving these problems, compared to 28 percent who saw it.
Also, Ukrainians generally do not see the success of the new leadership of the country in the fight against corruption in the highest echelons of power, nor do they see any progress in promoting investigations of high-profile crimes.
By the end of November, the number of citizens who positively and negatively assessed the actions of the new authorities of Ukraine in ensuring freedom of speech in the country was almost equal: some 47 percent believe that the new government is successful, with 44 percent saying it is not successful. In early November, the situation was as follows: 55 percent saw success in ensuring freedom of speech, while 36 percent took the opposite view.
KIIS conducted a CATI survey (computer-assisted telephone interviews) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. The sample is representative of the adult population (aged 18 years and older) of Ukraine from November 22 to 25. The sample does not include Russia-occupied territories and Crimea. Some 1,500 interviews were conducted. The sampling error with a probability of 0.95 does not exceed 3 percent. Part of the data from this study is compared with the results of KIIS surveys that were conducted from November 4 to 7, from October 9 to 11, and from September 6 to 19, 2019.
