53%

Other rights in the top five include those that are directly related to the social function of the state, i.e., the right to work (48%), the right to private property (43%), the right to social security in old age (41%) and the right to life (41%).

With regard to rights that are necessary to freely engage in social and political activity and participate in government, their importance to Russians is much lower according to the survey. Those interviewed rarely rank first the right to participate in social and state governance and the right to elect public officials (6%); the right to form independent societies, unions, and associations that represent and defend the rights of citizens (4%); the freedom to distribute information in any legal way (3%); and the freedom to assemble, as well as to hold demonstrations and rallies (1%).

These results were obtained during a nationwide survey of 1,500 Russians over 18 years of age as part of a Monitoring the Status of Civil Society study conducted by the HSE Centre for Studies of Civil Society and Nonprofit Sector in 2014. The results of the study, which was supported by the HSE Basic Research Programme, will be published in the fifth issue of an informational newsletter on the development of civil society and the non-profit sector in Russia.