The three main components of Russian happiness have become known

Russians consider themselves happy if they are not alone, healthy and have sufficient income. Valery Fedorov, Director General of the VTsIOM Analytical Center and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told about this in the new issue of the Izvestia podcast.

"If you feel more healthy, then this is the first component of happiness. If you have sufficient sources of income to lead a normal lifestyle, then this is the second component of happiness. The third ingredient is love, relationships, and family. If you don't feel lonely, being socially isolated is a plus to being happy," the source said.

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Fedorov recalled that the VTsIOM Analytical Center has been calculating the happiness index of Russians since 1991. According to him, if we compare with the nineties, now, despite all the difficulties, Russian citizens feel much happier. He stressed that after serious shocks, such as a pandemic, the index decreases, but then, as adaptation progresses, it gradually recovers.

"People understand that this is, of course, horror, but not horror-horror-horror. This is the main mechanism of our adaptation to changing circumstances, we adapt. We understand that it is possible to live in a pandemic situation. The same thing happened to us after the start of the SVR: 2022 was a very difficult year, in 23-24 everything started to grow again," says the guest of the podcast.

Various factors can also affect the feeling of happiness. For example, the time of year: so, in August, Russian citizens are a little happier than in September, when the holiday season ends, and in February because of winter fatigue.

Earlier, Kirill Dmitriev, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for cooperation with foreign countries and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said that by the end of summer 2025, the level of life satisfaction among Russians had reached its highest level in the last 32 years.