You're reading: 71.5% of Ukrainians plan to listen to Ukrainian president’s New Year speech, 38.1% to listen Russian president’s speech

Kyiv, Dec. 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A total of 71.5% of Ukrainian citizens are planning to listen to a New Year speech of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and 38.1% will listen to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, according to a poll on attitude of Ukrainians to New Year holidays conducted by the Razumkov center's sociological service in December 2011.

Some 63.9% in the Ukrainian central regions, 71.6% in the west, 75.6% in the east, and 79.3% in the south will listen to Yanukovych’s greetings. A total of 11% in the western regions, 29.3% in the center, 53.9% in the east, and 58% in the south will listen to Medvedev’s greetings, reads a press release issued by Razumkov center.

The release says that 73.4% of respondents are planning to celebrate the New Year only Kyiv time, 22.9% – both Kyiv and Moscow time, 0.9% – only Moscow time and 0.6% – another time.

In addition, 76% of Ukrainians are planning to celebrate the New Year holiday at home: 64.6% respondents will stay at home as they think it is a family holiday, and 11.4% – they have no money for celebrating the holiday in another way; 15.7% will celebrate it at someone else’s party, 2,1% – at a restaurant or bar, 0.4% – abroad, 0.4% – at a tourist camp in Ukraine, 0.9% – at work, and 0.8% – in other places.

According to the poll, 92.5% Ukrainians will celebrate Eastern Orthodox Christmas using the older Julian calendar, while 61.3% of respondents will celebrate New Year using the older Julian calendar. 10.3% of those polled planned to celebrate Orthodox Christmas on the Gregorian calendar, while 49% of respondents consider it a holiday too.

Western region residents traditionally celebrate the New Year holiday more rarely than the average figure for the country (85.1%), while they celebrate Christmas (97.4%) and New Year holiday (77.6%) on the Julian calendar more often than on average in the country.

People aged over 60 (82.7%) celebrate the New Year holiday more rarely. The younger respondents the more often they celebrate New Year using the older Julian calendar.

The poll was conducted by Razumkov center from December 9 to December 16, 2011. A total of 2,008 respondents aged over 18 from all of the regions of Ukraine, Kyiv city and Crimea were interviewed. Respondents from 131 towns and settlements were polled, including 79 towns and 52 rural settlements. The poll’s margin of error is 2.3%.