Satisfaction of Russians with Different Aspects of Life: Ten-Year Trend Against the Background of Socio-Economic Crises

The materials of the ten-year all-Russian monitoring by the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences are used to analyse the most important part of the subjective well-being of Russians – their satisfaction with various aspects of their lives. Particular attention is paid to changes associated with such events as the Crimean Spring, the coronavirus pandemic and the special operation in Ukraine. Each of these crises has affected Russians’ satisfaction with different aspects of their lives to varying degrees, but the crisis that began in 2022 has a number of unique features. Although the confrontation with the “collective West” has entered a phase of particular aggravation since this year, the socio-economic crisis associated with it is experienced by Russians much more easily than the similar crisis of 2014–2016. The dynamics of indicators in 2022–2024 demonstrates a qualitatively new phenomenon – the absence of protracted declines in indicators after the onset of a large-scale crisis. The sharp “surge” of emotional negativity in early 2022 was quickly overcome, Russian society consolidated, which was facilitated by the general positive changes in various spheres of life of Russians over the past decade. First of all, this concerns the characteristics related to the standard of living of Russians. At the same time, other characteristics of both the everyday life of the population and their employment, as well as those related to their provision with public goods, have also improved. However, it is too early to talk about significant positive changes in the quality of life of the mass strata. More noticeable improvement of satisfaction is observed in those spheres that are more closely connected with the efforts of the country’s citizens themselves, while the picture is less optimistic with those aspects that are more dependent on the state.