Sociological survey - Attitudes of Georgian population with regard to democratic indicators
By Levan Abramishvili
Thursday, April 4
The research intends to highlight democratic state in Georgia, reveal and study the level of trust of our citizens towards state agencies and attitudes towards political parties, corruption, media, social justice, religious unions, and other issues.
A sociological survey was conducted among 1786 respondents (599 in Tbilisi, 1187 in regions) in the period of November 16-27, 2018 in Tbilisi and regions. Respondents were chosen on the “random selection” principle using the Kish grid. It was for the first time when attitudes of the population towards various issues were revealed by questions formulated in the process of the survey that was unknown before and represents absolutely new information on attitudes of our citizens concerning specific spheres, like corruption, education, labor, health, political parties, and religion.
We present the key findings in each field:
Corruption
58,6% of the population believes that public officials back businesses in exchange for money.
77,2% of the population believes that members of the government have their own businesses. That being said, 68,5% believe that owning a business along with being a government official is a big problem or not a big problem.
Education
80,1% of the Georgian population thinks that quality education requires good financial standing. Around the same amount (78,8%) agrees that for getting good education talent is required.
31,6% of the respondents said that they have received higher education, 46,8% mentioned that they have only completed secondary education.
The results of the research have shown that there's a regional disparity in terms of higher education: only 24% of the people living in the regions hold a higher education diploma, while 50,2% of Tbilisi population answered positively to the same question.
58,9% agrees that for succeeding in Georgia good education is required.
Health
Only 9% of the Georgian population is very satisfied with the country's healthcare system and 40,6% is more satisfied than not. 72% benefit from universal healthcare, while 11% use private insurance.
For medical consultation, 48% of the population refers to a family doctor, 26,3% - to a specialized doctor and 18,3% to a pharmacy.
Labour
According to the survey, the most common violation of labor rights in Georgia is improper salary (71% of the population), violation of labor safety rules (64% of the population) and breach of the length of working hours standards (57% of the population).
17,8% (Tbilisi 26,9%, regions - 14%) of the population thinks that sexual harassment happens in the workplace; it is noteworthy that 21,2% of women agree with the statement, while only 13,7% of men share this belief.
Political Parties
55,2% of the Georgian population thinks that there is no political party in Georgia that would solve problems that are important for them. Only 10% is pleased with the work of the political parties.
66% of the respondents have never read a party program. To the question - when voting which is more important - electoral program or the party leader, 38,5% answered favored the first one, while 45,8% selected the second choice.
60,7% of the population thinks that men have higher chance of winning in elections than women do. Only 17% of the respondents would like their daughters to pursue a career in politics.
52% fully agrees and 35% agrees that people get into politics for their own welfare.
Religion
To a question - which religion or confession do you belong to - 82,5% of the population answered that they are Orthodox Christians. It is noteworthy that 93,4% of Tbilisi population belongs themselves to this religion, while 78% does so in the regions.
After Orthodox Christianity, most people belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church (5,9% of the population) and 3,4% belong to Sunni Islam.
There's a difference in the number of people that trust the Georgian Patriarchate and the Patriarch himself:
Results of the survey presented yesterday are a voluminous part of the comprehensive state of the democracy assessment report, which is slated to be published in late spring of 2019. Besides this particular sociological survey, the final report on the assessment of the state of democracy will be underpinned by the results obtained through surveying up to 10 focus groups and other sources. The assessment instrument will cover spheres such as justice, citizenship, civil and social rights, media, political parties, an operation of executive and legislative branches.
For years IDEA is involved in preparing democracy audit reports in many countries worldwide; in Georgia, this report is being elaborated for the first time. Work on this publication unites up to 15 authors who are well-established experts of the focus spheres.