How People Feel About Life
% for whom life is...
| Region | Bearable | Unbearable | % Mean bearable |
| Volgo-Vyatka | 74 | 26 | 130 |
| North-west | 69 | 31 | 122 |
| Central | 61 | 39 | 108 |
| Volga | 58 | 42 | 103 |
| RUSSIAN MEAN | 56 | 44 | 100 |
| Urals | 54 | 46 | 95 |
| North Caucasus | 53 | 47 | 95 |
| Northern | 53 | 47 | 94 |
| West Siberia | 51 | 49 | 90 |
| Far East | 50 | 50 | 89 |
| Central Black Earth | 50 | 50 | 89 |
| East Siberia | 48 | 52 | 85 |
| Source: VCIOM, Nationwide Russian surveys 1997. |
Four in Ten Russians Find Life Unbearable
When Russians are asked to describe how they feel about life today, a little less than one half of Russians who are willing to give an opinion say that life is miserable, virtually unbearable. If don't knows are included, only 10 per cent say that things are not so bad and they can manage; 42 per cent say that life is difficult but can endure it; 40 per cent say life is miserable, virtually unbearable, and the remaining 8 per cent are don't knows. The proportion who say their lives are miserable is highest in East Siberia and the Central Black Earth region. It is lowest in Volgo-Vyatka, and in the North-west, where St Petersburg is the leading city, and in the Central region, with Moscow, the capital.