It is not surprising that in wartime the welfare of households suffers a noticeable deterioration. However, due to the lack of statistical data on the wages of employees or incomes of the population (the State Statistics Service stopped providing them with the beginning of the aggression), as well as a significant rise of unemployment (including as a result of forced displacement and temporary emigration), both quantitative and even qualitative indicators of well-being of Ukrainians is practically absent. Note that economic assessments (of the current socio-economic situation in the country) are necessary to determine the sustainability of households and their ability to maintain livelihoods, at least in the short term.

Razumkov Centrr, having considerable experience of public opinion polls in different (even very critical) periods of the country's history, after the beginning of the large-scale war conducts sociological surveys in the territories controlled by the Ukrainian government. These surveys revealed important characteristics of present-day life in Ukraine, primarily in the institutional sphere and society’s trust in public institutions. It should be noted however that the results of Razumkov Centre surveys reflect the situation in the territories controlled by the Ukrainian government, free of active hostilities, and cannot be extrapolated to the occupied, front-line territories and territories only recently liberated from the invaders.

Let us pay attention to some comparative indicators of the respondents' assessment of the current overall economic situation and their well-being. The results of the most recent survey — of September 2022 — will be compared with the corresponding results, on the one hand, taken two years ago — in September 2020, when Ukrainians had recovered from the first coronavirus shock and adapted to the requirements and restrictions of the first coronavirus wave (there were even expectations of the end of the “hot” phase of the coronavirus).

On the other hand, a rather "optimistic" period was chosen — May 2021, when the next wave of coronavirus was on the decline and rather pronounced macroeconomic stabilisation was observed (the hryvnia fluctuated in a narrow range of 26-27, inflation in the 3rd quarter was slightly above 1%, the August nominal salary was 16% higher than in January).

(A). Assessment of the economic situation in the country. Despite the huge losses and destruction, the respondents did not term the current economic situation in the country as a collapse. Of course, the estimates for September 2022 look worse compared to May 2021 (when the country practically "got rid" of the worries of a coronavirus attack). At the same time, the overall balance of positive and negative assessments in September, 2022, practically coincides with the balance of September 2020 (table "Assessments of the economic situation"). The average score given by the respondents on a 5-point scale also was almost the same. 

(B). Assessments of family well-being. As in all previous surveys, respondents more optimistically assess their own well-being, and assess the well-being of their own households much higher than the overall situation in the national economy. In this respect, the results of September 2022 are also close to those of September 2020, and the balance of responses is better than the overall economic assessments (table "Assessment of family well-being").

Assessment of the economic situation, % of responses

Assessment of family wellbeing, % of respondents

General conclusions. The comparative results of the three public opinion polls on respondents' self-assessment of their well-being provide a somewhat unexpected picture. The September 2022 assessments of both the economic situation in the country and the well-being of their families are quite close to the assessments of the economic situation and well-being two years ago — in September 2020. Somewhat higher assessments were observed in May 2021, in the conditions of macroeconomic stabilisation and successive wage increases. The level of self-assessment of their own well-being in September 2022, close to the "pre-war" assessments of 2020, may be surprising. This may be partially explained by the fact that the assessment is made on a subjective scale of "bad-good", i.e. it largely correlates with the economic expectations. Since these expectations in wartime are mostly negative, this lowers the "baseline" of the assessments, so that an objectively worse situation may be subjectively seen very much the same as in 2020.

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