However, when looking at the old EU member states alone, respondents are more critical in countries where welfare systems are perceived to be effective in preventing widespread poverty.

The report found that people in the Nordic countries are quite confident that social benefits will lead to more equality, whereas people in the Eastern European countries are at the other end of the scale. Only 24.4% of Russians think that social benefits and services will lead to more equality - the lowest of any country. Finnish respondents (69%) are most likely to believe that the opposite is true.

In Eastern Europe and Russia, people’s perceptions of the living standards of the unemployed are low, but this does not necessarily lead to support for increasing benefits for those who are currently out of work.

Eastern Europeans and Russians are amongst the most reserved about the social rights of immigrants, with at least 40% of respondents thinking migrants should never be given the same social benefits as native born citizens or only be granted to them after becoming citizens.

Over 73% of Russian respondents supported the introduction of a basic income scheme - the second highest level of support, behind Lithuania (80.6%). This compared to under 40% of respondents in Norway (33.7%), Switzerland (34.7%) and Sweden (37.6%) - places where rates of financial insecurity were comparatively low.

The report found that both perceived financial insecurity and support for basic income are high in Eastern Europe and Russia compared to other European regions.

The report - Russian versus European welfare attitudes - reveals that Russian respondents are strongly in favour of welfare systems that benefit the entire population, such as a proposed universal basic income or old-age pensions, but are considerably less supportive of programmes aimed at specific groups of people in need, such as the unemployed, working parents and migrants.

Monitoring Social Change in Europe since 2002

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