What status should the Russian language have in Ukraine: 2024 survey

The majority of Ukrainians (66%) believe that the Russian language should be eliminated from official communication. This is the highest indicator since the 1990s, because in 1997 only 18% of Ukrainians supported this idea, and in 2015 – 21%.

Only 3% of those surveyed in February 2024 said that the Russian language should receive the status of the second state language, according to a study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

Simultaneously 24% respondents believe that this language can become official in regions where the majority of residents want it.

Among the respondents who support the official status in certain regions, 15% against the Russian language becoming official in their region.

Only 7% of them support this idea (and 1% are undecided).

In general, in 2024, there are only 10% of those in Ukraine who would like to see Russian either as an official language in their region, or even as a second state language.

Instead, 81% either want it removed from official communication throughout the territory, or are against its use in their region.

Who is more active “against” Russian as the official language

The younger the respondents, the more actively they insist on eliminating the Russian language from official communication. Among the youngest respondents (18-29 years old) 84% insist on the complete elimination of the Russian language from official communication.

Among people aged 30-59, the indicator is 66-69%, among people aged 60-69 – 56%, and among respondents aged 70+ – 50%.

What do different regions think?

On to the west 80% advocate complete elimination from official communication. Among the 15% who are ready to allow official status in individual regions, 14% are against official status in their region.

IN center of Ukraine 69% of respondents are in favor of complete elimination from official communication, and 18% do not want to see Russian official in their region.

As for changes in the attitude towards Russian since the 1990s, sociologists note the greatest dynamics in the south and east.

Now most of the residents half of the day (54%) advocate the complete elimination of the Russian language from official communication. Only 6% believe that the Russian language should receive state status.

Also, 30% of respondents from the south believe that the Russian language can become official in some regions, but 15% of them are against the Russian language being official in their region.

Only 12% of people would like to see Russian official in their region, and 3% are undecided.

In the east of Ukraine, there are now more people who support the elimination of the Russian language from official communication throughout the territory (from 3% in 2015 to 40% now).

At the same time, from 31% to 6%, those who advocate for the state status of the Russian language have decreased.

Now 52% respondents from the east support either the complete elimination of the language of the aggressor from the official sphere, or at least oppose Russian being the official language in their region.

43% believe that the Russian language can be official in some regions, where the majority wants it. But 12% of them are against the Russian language becoming official in their region.

“It is important to pay attention to the fact that it is very possible that if we separately emphasized that we are not talking about banning everyday everyday communication in the Russian language, then even fewer people would talk about a certain official status of the Russian language.

In any case, in fact, in all regions, the majority of the population does not support the granting of official status to the Russian language.”say sociologists.

How the attitude towards Russian has changed since the 1990s

Since the 1990s, sociologists have been asking Ukrainians what the status of the Russian language should be in Ukraine.

In 1997, only 18% of Ukrainians advocated eliminating the Russian language from official communication.

At the same time, 36% believed that the Russian language should be official in regions where the majority want it, and 39% believed that it should be made the second state language in the country.

Until 2013, the share of those who advocated the elimination of Russian from official communication practically did not change (19%).

After the Revolution of Dignity, there were even fewer people who advocated the state status of the Russian language (19%), and the share of those who supported the official status in certain regions, where the majority wanted it, increased slightly (up to 52%).

The share of those who advocated the complete elimination of Russian from the official sphere remained almost the same as before the Revolution (21%).

However, after the full-scale invasion, the attitude towards the status of the Russian language has undergone significant changes. In all regions, there has been a sharp increase in those who believe that the Russian language should not be studied in schools at all (in 2019, there were only 8% of them, and in 2023 – 52%).

As of February 2024, the vast majority of Ukrainians believe that the Russian language should be eliminated from official communication.

The new KMIS survey was conducted on February 17-23, 2024. It was attended by 1,052 respondents aged 18+ living in all regions of Ukraine (except the Autonomous Republic of Crimea).

The sample did not include residents of territories that are temporarily not controlled by the authorities of Ukraine, as well as citizens who went abroad after February 24, 2022.