Survey: Over 86% of Belarusians do not plan to leave Belarus

More than 86% of respondents do not plan to leave Belarus, Nikolai Sukhotsky, Deputy Director for Science and Innovations at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, said as he cited findings of a telephone poll in an interview with a BelTA correspondent.

The Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus conducted a telephone interview survey “Public opinion on issues of wide concern”. The poll was running from 8 to 22 February and covered 900 people.

Pollsters asked if respondents would like to leave Belarus.

The answers were the following: 86.5% of those polled responded in the negative; 2.6% of respondents answered “I would like to leave for good”, 8.6% said “I would like to leave for temporary work abroad”, and 2.3% found it difficult to answer.

“At the moment, these positive figures are quite objective. Let's be honest, the geopolitical situation in the world is not easy right now, a special military operation is underway in neighboring Ukraine. All this, of course, has an impact on migration plans of Belarusians, it exposes the risks associated with emigration, it increases the value of home and native land for Belarusians. It seems to me that many of those who wanted to leave for one reason or another have already done it,” Nikolai Sukhotsky said.

Today Belarus is a safe haven, a place where people can plan their future, the deputy director emphasized. “That is why the vast majority of the polled Belarusians do not plan to leave their country,” he added.