According to sociologists of the Levada Center, Russians began to believe less in mysticism, go to psychics for advice and see “prophetic dreams”.
The experts compared data from three surveys that were dated 2000, 2006 and 2013. The respondents were 1,600 people aged 18 and over in 45 regions of Russia. The researchers were interested in whether all respondents believed in omens, in so-called prophetic dreams, in astrologers' predictions, in the fact that aliens appear on our earth, in "eternal life." The Russians also told whether they turned to magicians, fortune-tellers, "folk healers" or psychics.
And it turned out that there were more sober-minded Russian rationalists in 13 years. If, for example, in 2000 about 57% believed in omens, today it is only 52%. More than half of the citizens of the Russian Federation - 52 percent - saw prophetic dreams before. Now these prophets have diminished, they have become a minority - 44 percent.
Previously, astrologers were held in high esteem - every second Russian believed them. Now they "leave the fair", as their horoscopes are read and tried on by only 29 percent of citizens. If earlier every second Russian believed in alien visits to our land, now there are 27% of such “amateur ufologists” in Russia.
In 2000, every fourth citizen of Russia believed in eternal life, and in 2013 - 17%. Most of all they believe in the eternal existence of women. According to the sociologists of the Levada Center, women also believe in omens, astrological forecasts and prophetic dreams - 62% of the respondents.
The fact that aliens sometimes appear on Earth is more often believed by Russians from 25 to 55 years old - 28%. One of the Twitter bloggers Eleanor writes: "It is true that women become clients of fortune tellers and magicians three times more often than men, namely 19 and 7%, respectively."
In the opinion of the editorial board, of course, today magicians and fortune-tellers cannot be called omnipotent magicians. But prophetic dreams are probably still worth believing.
