Kyiv, August 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – More and more residents of Ukraine consider themselves citizens of the country and speak the Ukrainian language, according to a new survey.
Director of the SOCIS Center for Social and Marketing Research Mykola Churylov said the results of a relevant Omnibus study conducted by the center in 2009 match the results of a previous survey.
"A total of 54% of residents of the country consider themselves citizens of Ukraine, compared to 40% in 2004. The number of those who called themselves citizens of the Soviet Union fell from 12% to 6% over this period of time," Churylov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
He also noted the positive tendency in the growth of numbers of citizens speaking Ukrainian.
"Previously, in 2004, some 36% spoke Ukrainian, at present this rate is over 40%," Churylov said.
The director of the SOCIS Center also released data about the preferences of Ukrainians for the methods of development of the state at the international level.
"The number of people who consider relations should be developed with CIS countries has dropped from 41% to 10% since 2004. Some 34% of respondents support the reinforcement of the east Slavonic bloc (Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia), while in 2004 there were 24% of such people," Churylov said.
According to him, a total of 14% of those polled support the establishment of relations with western countries. The percentage of people who support Ukraine’s joining the European Union has fallen from 56% to 42% since 2004, and for Ukraine’s joining NATO from 25% to 21%.
A total of 1,800 respondents from around Ukraine participated in the Omnibus survey.
