Two-thirds of Moscow residents have been abroad, which is twice the average for Russia, according to the results of sociological research by the Levada Center, Interfax reports.
“About a third of Russians and two thirds of Muscovites have been abroad. A quarter of the country's citizens and about 56% residents of the capital have a valid foreign passport. A much smaller number of people have an open visa to enter another country in their passports: 9% and 20%, respectively," sociologists report.
According to the results of the study, the experience of staying in another country is distributed very unevenly between different groups of the population. The differences between respondents with and without higher education reach four times, between poor and wealthy Russians - five times, between Muscovites and residents of rural areas - eight times, the Levada Center reported.
Over the past 12 months, the main travel destinations abroad for Russians in general were Turkey, Thailand, Greece, Italy and Spain, and for Moscow residents - Turkey, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Thailand.
The survey results showed that the proportion of those wishing to move abroad for permanent residence, both in the country as a whole and in the capital, is low and comparable. "The majority of Russians would not like to move abroad for permanent residence. Those who want to today make up about 15% Russians (in Moscow - 17%). Over the past few years, the number of those wishing to emigrate has even decreased slightly," sociologists report.
According to the survey, those wishing to go abroad are more common in the youngest age group. Among this category of respondents, such a desire is three times more common than among the elderly respondents. Wealthy respondents want to go abroad twice as often as the poor, and the same difference in wishes is found between residents of the capital and small towns, as well as residents of rural areas.
More than a quarter of Muscovites (26%) told sociologists that among their relatives and acquaintances there are those who have moved abroad for permanent residence in the last 2-3 years. In turn, almost three quarters of the capital's residents (73%) gave a negative answer to this question.
The survey of a representative all-Russian sample of urban and rural population was conducted from April 20 to 24 among 1,600 respondents aged 18 and older in 136 populated areas in 52 regions of the Russian Federation.
The survey in Moscow was conducted from April 20 to May 3 among a representative sample of the city's population among 512 respondents aged 18 and older.
Source: trn-news.ru
