Poll: Just 12% of Ukrainians only speak Russian at home

When asked which language they speak at home, 12% of Ukrainians said they speak only Russian, while 59% said they speak only Ukrainian, according to a poll by the Sociological Group Rating published on April 4.

A similar survey conducted by Rating in 2022 showed that 18% of respondents spoke exclusively Russian at home. At the end of 2021, shortly before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, 26% of respondents said they spoke only Russian at home.

The latest survey also showed that 28% of respondents said they speak a mix of both languages at home.

Among those who only speak Ukrainian, 9% of respondents said they had recently switched to Ukrainian.

In the west of Ukraine, 93% of respondents said they speak exclusively Ukrainian at home. The results were more mixed in the east of Ukraine, where 23% speak only Ukrainian, 25% speak only Russian, and 51% speak a mix of both at home.

The poll was conducted via telephone interviews with 2,000 respondents living across Ukraine, except in areas under Russian occupation.

Ukraine's Culture Ministry recently launched a program aimed at bolstering the Ukrainian language's role in everyday life, with the aim that by 2030, 80% of Ukrainians speak Ukrainian at home.

A poll in March showed that Ukrainians are widely opposed to the use of the Russian language in official settings, with 81% against Russian being used as an official language in their region or as a state language.