On the 3rd of May, 2023, the Kazakhstan institute for strategic studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a briefing for the representatives of mass media, during which the results of a regional sociological research «To people about people: public perception of the country’s development course» were presented. 8,000 respondents over the age of 18 from different regions and cities of the country participated in the survey.
According to the deputy director of KazISS Alua Zholdybalina, the survey was conducted in the format of face-to-face interviews in 17 regions, as well as in such cities of republican significance as Astana, Almaty and Shymkent.
«According to the results of the sociological survey, 72.0% of respondents believe that Kazakhstan is developing in the right direction (answers «Definitely in the right» and «Rather in the right»). The opposite position is shared by 19.6% of respondents. There is a correlation between the answers and the level of income – the higher the level of material prosperity, the more often respondents tend to perceive the general direction of the country’s development as correct, and vice versa – with a decrease in the level of income, the share of more critical assessments increases,» Alua Zholdybalina said at a briefing in the CCS.
In the regional context, respondents of the Kyzylorda region (85.5%), Ulytau region (79.0%), West Kazakhstan and Kostanay regions (77.3% each) give a positive assessment of the direction of the country’s development.
«Among all political institutions, respondents trust the President of the country the most – 84.2% (the answers «Yes, I trust» and «I rather trust»). Ulytau (91.8%), Kyzylorda (91%) and Pavlodar (90.3%) regions have the highest level of confidence in the President of the country. Most of the time, distrust of the institute of the President is demonstrated in Akmola region (19.8%), Zhetysu region (17.0%) and Almaty (17.0%),» A. Zholdybalina shared.
According to the head of the Department of strategic analysis of the KazISS, Yermek Toktarov, about half of the respondents (47.2%) note the dynamics of improving their own financial situation over the past year. The reverse position is held by 13.8% of respondents. 37.8% felt that their financial situation has not changed over the past year. 1.2% of respondents found it difficult to answer the question.
«The level of social optimism (expectation of a better life in the coming year) looks encouraging. In total, 63.8% expect a significant (35.6%) or moderate (28.2%) improvement in their family’s life in the coming year. 21.5% believe that their situation will remain unchanged in the coming year. Not more than 5.9% of respondents expect their situation to worsen, 8.9% found it difficult to answer the question,» Y.Toktarov said.
In addition, during the briefing it became known that the main sources of news in the country for the population are television (46.3%) and social networks (46.1%) with almost equal frequency. At the same time, there is a clear age differentiation of media preferences of Kazakhstanis. Representatives of the older generation more often choose television as a source of news (77.0%), young people – social networks (58.9%).
In general, the results of the survey show that 46.7% follow the news about events in the country on a regular basis. A slightly smaller proportion of the population (43.0%) follows the news rarely, from time to time. Every tenth respondent (10.0%) is not interested in news at all. Сitizens with a low level of material wealth are more common among the latter.
