About 80 percent of Belarusians are satisfied with their lives

Such data was demonstrated by the ‘Social Thinking under the Sanctions Regime’ sociological study, which was conducted by the Belarusian EcooM think tank. Western sanctions have not achieved their goals. 78.7 percent of citizens answered positively, when asked whether they are satisfied with their lives. 

High opinion

“This is a wonderful response and a high assessment of the activities of the President, the government, the President Administration, and the entire state apparatus. Fortunately, we did not feel the consequences that were prepared for us. Agree, the sanctions were imposed against us, the citizens of Belarus, in order to worsen our situation. But thanks to the competent actions of the authorities, we do not feel these consequences in full, to the extent that we could feel, according to the idea of those who introduced them,” noted director of the EcooM think tank Sergei Musiyenko. 

Director of the EcooM think tank Sergei Musiyenko,
“The sanctions regime, selectively, has been in effect against Belarus for almost 30 years. Recently, it has been intensified. Therefore, it is important to understand how people feel under the sanctions pressure unleashed against the ordinary people of Belarus.”

More than enough

Respondents were also asked to assess the financial situation of their family. Sergei Musiyenko comments on the results, “We do not have such a rigid stratification into rich and poor in society, as in the West or among our neighbours. We meet all the criteria of a social society that demonstrates a fairly good condition in terms of financial situation. The average financial situation, which was mentioned by more than 50 percent of the respondents, is also very indicative. This means living with dignity in accordance with the opportunities that a person and the state have, which ensures this position, guaranteeing security and providing access to gas, heat and electricity.”
“The size of wages of our citizens guarantees the receipt of sufficient social benefits, such as food products that are produced in our country, access to gas, heat and electricity. Today, the state is undertaking a policy of regulating the domestic market, which makes it possible to prevent speculation on food and ensure access to it for all categories of the population.
One must not forget that our citizens have the opportunity to receive free education, medical care, visit libraries and various cultural and social facilities. We have equal social standards for all categories of citizens, they are supported today at the highest state level,” emphasises Doctor of Economics and Professor at BSATU Natalia Kireenko. 

A move in the right direction

Another question posed to the respondents: ‘In what direction, in your opinion, are events in Belarus currently developing?’ 
The overwhelming majority of the population considers the state policy to be correct in general.  
“The development of events in Belarus is very dependent on the perception and development of events in the world, not only in Europe. And such a high score — over 60 percent — about the ‘In the right’ and ‘Rather in the right’ direction indicates that our state is maintaining its course and finding a balance. And that’s no small feat. We pursued the correct policy, reflecting the interests of the majority of the population,” Sergei Musiyenko commented on the results of the study.

Good neighbourly understanding

The second part of the ‘Social Thinking under the Sanctions Regime’ large-scale sociological study concerns the attitude of our citizens towards the Russian Federation and sanctions of the collective West.
When asked about the attitude towards the Russian Federation, the vast majority of Belarusians answered ‘Good’. Director of the EcooM think tank Sergei Musiyenko is sure that this result speaks not only about the attitude towards the country, but also about the actions that it takes,
 “We not only see the attitude of the citizens of our country towards the Russian Federation as a state in these answers, but also interpersonal relations at the level of people. 
I would like to pay attention to the ‘Bad’ and ‘Rather bad’ options — 1.5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively — not even 3 percent. Here I would like to emphasise that this question was asked after six months of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. In fact, this is not just an assessment of our economic, political, cultural, and other relations with the Russian Federation and attitudes towards its policy. This includes the attitude to a special military operation. Therefore, this is interesting data that speaks volumes.”

Respondents were also asked to evaluate the current interstate relations between Belarus and Russia. Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed find them good. Sergei Musiyenko explains the reasons for such high rates, 
“Most people understand that if it weren’t for our current relations, the level of trust with the Russian Federation, if, God forbid, we faltered in 2020, we would have received incoming strikes as well. Therefore, this is a comprehensive assessment of the work of the authorities, the state, the Government and the President Administration.”
According to the expert, the results also indicate an unconditional assessment of the many years of work that the countries are doing to build good neighbourly relations.

Destructive purposes

The centre’s analysts also asked citizens how they feel about the sanctions of the collective West against Belarus and Russia. The overwhelming majority of the study participants answered ‘Negative’, while almost one in ten was neutral about this, and almost 2 percent were found to perceive such actions from the West positively.
“It is difficult to say how one can positively assess something that violates one’s rights, restricts and prohibits something. We have been hearing from the West about freedom of speech and expression for decades. But now there is not even freedom of movement, not to mention the closure of a number of telegram and TV channels. 
How can one be positive about sanctions? And I want to look in the face of those people who perceive the sanctions ‘Positive’ and ‘Rather positive’. There are not many of them, but there is such a category, and we must also take this into account,”  specified the director of the EcooM think tank.



To the question ‘To what extent do you trust the President?’ 76.3 percent of Belarusians answered ‘In general, I trust’, 13.6 percent responded ‘In general, I don’t trust’ while 10.1 percent found it difficult to answer.
“Now, in the regime of unprecedented external sanctions, the President is generally trusted by 76.3 percent, and generally distrusted by 13.6 percent. Is it a lot or a little? In December 2021, when we conducted a large-scale study before the referendum – Belarus. Opinion about the Future — more than 10,000 people were surveyed. Then, in general, 72.3 percent of respondents expressed confidence in the President and 14.3 percent of respondents expressed distrust. As you can see, we are seeing a positive trend in the growth of public confidence in the President of the country. We see an increase of 4 percent in just six months! These were six months of overcoming the consequences of 2020 in society, anti-COVID policy, going against the global mainstream, but the real result was shown by our healthcare system. These were six months of conducting a special military operation in Ukraine, in which we did not get involved, although we are constantly predicted this. Actually, sanctions have been imposed against us for active neutrality,” Sergei Musiyenko said.
The Director of the EcooM think tank stated that all this is a well-balanced and balanced policy of the President of Belarus on external challenges, which many may dislike for various reasons. 
“His real peacekeeping initiatives began to change the agenda and interfere with third-party players,” he said. “As we see, the sanctions packages — enthusiastically adopted against Belarus and our people — naturally lead to an increase in confidence in the Head of State. For people who are not spoiled by the Bologna system and those who are still able to think for themselves, it is obvious that there is a result of his policy. We see the result on the streets of our cities, not only in the capital, in granaries throughout the country, and on store shelves, and in utility bills for heating, gas and electricity. Hence the answers of Belarusians to the question about satisfaction with life in general at 78.7 percent, and an even higher assessment of the quality of their personal financial situation.”
“Against the backdrop of widespread collapses in ratings and a stream of resignations of politicians in the EU and the US that have just begun, we see a different attitude towards our leader of the people of Belarus,” Sergei Musiyenko continued.
“Belarus has the foundations, conditions and traditions, knowledge for the implementation of a fair sociospheric strategy for the development of society. There is an understanding in our country of the need, along with food security in the state (Belarus is currently the best in the world across many indicators of food security), to take on educational and scientific security,” explained the Head of the EcooM think tank. “Now the confrontation between systems has begun, more serious than during the Cold War, and we must mobilise, taking into account mistakes and giving a powerful response to the West which has been parasitising on cheap, artificial market prices for resources for decades. Call response speed is one of the main characteristics of any system, as well as accuracy. Aleksandr Lukashenko has been personally demonstrating a positive example for many years, and many of us think: how could it be otherwise?”

Another sociological question sounded like this: ‘To what extent do you trust the army?’ 72.3 percent of Belarusians answered ‘In general, I trust’, 12.6 percent of respondents said that ‘In general, I don’t trust’ while 15.1 percent found it difficult to answer.
“In general, 72.3 percent of Belarusians now trust the army. In February 2021, this figure stood at 69.2 percent, when the EcooM think tank conducted a large study on the eve of the 6th Belarusian People’s Congress. In December 2021, when we also conducted a large-scale study before the referendum, 70.6 percent expressed confidence in the army in general and 11.8 percent expressed distrust, so we are seeing a positive trend in the growth of confidence in the country’s Armed Forces,” said Sergei Musiyenko. “In my opinion, this is natural for many reasons, especially in the light of what is happening in Ukraine.”
According to the Head of the EcooM think tank, it is impossible not to trust our army, there is an understanding among the population that this is our support and protection.


The sociological survey also demonstrates the growth of trust in law enforcement agencies. So, in general, 67.5 percent of Belarusians trust law enforcement agencies, 19.4 percent in general do not trust them while 13.1 percent of respondents found it difficult to answer.
“We can calmly walk the streets of our cities day and night and in our country I don’t even think that you can’t leave a child alone. However, all this does not happen in one day or a month; this is a long story. Especially since we conducted large-scale surveys 1.5 years ago, and less than a year ago — in December 2021. We see these dynamics: stabilisation, normalisation of the attitude towards law enforcement agencies,” Sergei Musiyenko stated.