Young Ukrainians want to join the EU while oldest favor the Customs Union with Russia

According to a public opinion poll conducted in December 2012, 48% of citizens want Ukraine to join the European Union (29% against), while 40% support joining the Customs Union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (37% against). Only 15% support NATO membership (60% against). The survey was carried out by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center with support from the International Renaissance Foundation, Matra Program of the Netherlands Embassy in Ukraine, National Endowment for Democracy, PACT, UNITER Project and the European Union.          

The choice of integration path was split along geographic lines: respondents in the Western (65%) and Central (50%) regions of Ukraine support the EU, while those in the Southern (50%) and Eastern (48.5%) regions prefer the Customs Union.

Opinion also differs among age groups: 52% of respondents under the age of 30 are in favor of EU accession; age 30-39 51%; age 40-49 46.5%; age 50-59 37%; age 60+ 29%. As concerns the Customs Union, 23% of respondents under the age of 30 are in favor of joining, age 30-39 22%; age 40-49 31%; age 50-59 36%; age 60+ 45%.

The overwhelming majority of the population supports the requirements that must be met for the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement: improvement of the electoral system and adoption of the Electoral Code (69%), reform of the judicial system (76%), elimination of politically motivated court decisions (70%), execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (75%). Furthermore, these requirements are supported by a majority of voters in all regions and by supporters of all political parties represented in parliament. However, only 23% believe that Ukraine is fully capable of fulfilling all the requirements and 13.5% believe that Ukraine can’t fulfill any obligations, while another 10% believe that Ukraine shouldn’t fulfill the requirements put forth by the EU.        

Only 22.5% of the population has visited counties that are now members of the EU. Most of them live in Western Ukraine (38%), with far less in Central (19%), Southern (18%) and Eastern (19%) regions.  

The nationwide opinion poll was conducted on December 21-24, 2012. A total of 2009 respondents age 18+ were surveyed in all oblasts of Ukraine, Kyiv and Crimea with the sample representative of the adult population of Ukraine based on key socio-demographic indicators. The sampling margin of error (excluding design effect) is +/- 2.3% with a 95% confidence level.

Contacts:
Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation
(+380 44) 234 80 46
dif@dif.org.ua

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Main objective of the International Renaissance Foundation is to provide financial and operational assistance to the development of an open and democratic society in Ukraine by supporting key civic initiatives in this area.