Over 40% of Estonian Russians see no chance for self-realization in Estonia - poll
TALLINN. Jan 10 (Interfax/BNS) - Estonian Russians estimate their chance for self-realization in Estonia as slightly worse than that of ethnic Estonians, according to a survey published on Monday.
As many as 48% of respondents, who mostly speak Russian, said their chance for self-realization in Estonia was good, and 41% disagreed. The indicators stood at 68% and 28%, respectively, for ethnic Estonians, analyst Art Johanson from the Institute of Social Studies, which ordered the survey from Turu-Uuringute AS, said.
Twelve percent of Estonian-speaking respondents said their chance for self-realization was extremely high; 56% said the chance was rather high than low, 25% believed the chance was rather low than high, 3% said the chance was low, and 4% were undecided.
Eight percent of Russian-speaking respondents believe that their chance for self-realization is extremely high; 40% believe it is rather high than low, 36% think it is rather low than high, 5% say it is low, and 10% are undecided.
At the same time, Estonian- and Russian-speaking respondents did not differ much as to whether the Estonian state was treating them fairly.
The question "has the Estonian Republic ever treated you unfairly?" was answered 'yes' by 10% of Estonian-speaking residents, while 15% answered 'rather yes than no', 28% said 'rather no than yes', 44% said 'no', and 4% were undecided.
As to Russian-speaking respondents, 10% said 'yes', 13% said 'rather yes than no', 30% said 'rather no than yes', 43% said 'no' and 4% were undecided.
Turu-Uuringute AS polled 800 Estonian citizens older than 18 in the second half of 2016 on the orders of the Institute of Social Studies. The republic also has a population of 'non-citizens', predominantly Russian-speaking persons.