Poll: What do Belarusians think about the West?

The more connections Belarusians foster with Western countries, the more frequently they embrace pro-democratic views. This uplifting conclusion was drawn by the UK-based Chatham House, following a comprehensive sociological study on the Belarusians' perception of the 'collective West'. For a deeper understanding of the survey methodology, please refer to the end of the article.

Euroradio brings you the main takeaways.

Few people go to Europe, although they would like to

Only slightly more than a fifth of Belarusians have visited Europe in the last five years. 78% of Belarusians have never visited EU countries.

The most common reason for travel (71%) was tourism, the second (37%) - visiting relatives or friends, and the third (20%) - shopping.

Most Belarusians would like to go to Europe. For example, 65% said they would like to go on a tourist trip, and 50%—on an educational trip. 8% of Belarusians would "very much" like to move to the EU permanently, and 12% would "rather" like to do so.

Only 7% of Belarusians have a valid visa. Interestingly, 22% would like to get a visa but don't think it's possible.

Western culture - is it good?

One of the issues that the sociologists wanted to study was Belarusians' attitude to Western culture. It turned out that, on average, Belarusians do not consider themselves part of it. However, they do not view Western trends as negatively as Russians.

Chatham House experts believe that Belarusians' distance from Western culture is partly explained by their low level of foreign language proficiency.

6% of Belarusians said they were fluent in Ukrainian, while 24% said they could "communicate on simple topics." The situation with English is much worse: 4% of respondents speak it confidently, while 12% chose the ability to communicate on basic topics.

The situation with Polish, German, French, and Italian is even worse.

However, Belarusians are still interested in major European events. For example, about 60% follow the European Football Championship in one way or another, while about 51% know about the Eurovision Song Contest. In both cases, the closer the connection with the West and its culture in general, the greater the interest in these events.

And how are the neighbors perceived?

Another interesting point of the study is the perception of Western countries and their level of development. Propaganda has probably done its work here because, on average, Belarus is considered more developed than Poland, including in education and agriculture.

"The evaluation of Poland's development is directly related to personal experience: those who have been to Eastern European countries are much less likely to believe that Belarus has developed more successfully than Poland," the researchers write.

Only 33% said they would like to have the same standard of living as in the EU, while 42% believe that life in Belarus is better than in European countries.

As many as 50% would like to get closer to the West and expand ties (14% - were in favor of reducing ties; the rest found it difficult to answer).

Belarusians against sanctions (?)

Several polls have observed the trend that Belarusians oppose European sanctions. They are not unanimous in their opinion as to why they are being imposed.

For instance, the actions of Lukashenko and his regime are cited by 28% as a reason for sanctions. However, 38% are convinced that this is merely a pretext and that European countries are 'pursuing their interests.'

30% strongly agree with the thesis that "sanctions are unfair to ordinary citizens of Belarus", while 32% somewhat agree.

For comparison, 7% strongly agree with the thesis "Sanctions are imposed because of human rights violations in Belarus", while 16% rather agree. But 20% strongly disagree, and another 15% rather disagree.

Belarusians generally believe the EU has become more closed than before. They asked about the time it takes to cross the border and get a visa, but not only that.

Ten percent of respondents considered the false statement that Poland has closed all border crossings true, while another 27 percent considered it rather true. The number of those who considered the thesis untrue is smaller.

With whom should Belarus make friends?

35% of the respondents had trouble answering the question of to whom it is more profitable for Belarus to get closer—to Russia or the West.
It's worth noting that the number of respondents in favor of closer ties with the EU is notably smaller, standing at 13%.

More than half of Belarusians do not believe in the possibility of Belarus joining the European Union in the next 15 years.

"In general, the stronger the personal ties of Belarusians with the EU countries, the more often they hold pro-democratic views," the authors of the study note. 

What kind of study is this?

As part of the study, Chatham House interviewed 827 respondents between June 28 and July 3, 2024. The sample is representative of the urban population.

The survey was conducted through internet interviews, as face-to-face interviews are currently not possible in Belarus. Although 92% of the country's population uses the Internet, it imposes certain limitations on the research.

"Even though the sample was weighted to reflect the structure of Belarusian society accurately, there is a possibility that support for Lukashenko's policies is slightly higher than reflected in the survey since Lukashenko's supporters are often less socially and economically active than his opponents. On the contrary, the influence of the fear factor in the survey may underestimate the share of responses critical of the current government," the study says.

According to Chatham House, the size of the statistical error does not exceed 3.4%.