Data Set
10
Attitudes Toward Stalin and the Soviet Past in Ukraine, 1991–2024
Merged data from nationwide public opinion surveys conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
Version 1.0, published: Aug. 11, 2025.
Description
This dataset presents survey data collected by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) between 1991 and 2024, reflecting changes in public attitudes in Ukraine toward Joseph Stalin and selected aspects of the Soviet past.
It combines responses to the following questions:
• Was Stalin a great leader? Asked in 1991 and then regularly included in surveys from 2002 to 2023; assesses views on Stalin through respondents’ level of agreement with the following statement.
• General attitude toward Stalin. Included in surveys from 2013 to 2023, with several years between waves; captures overall positive or negative views of Stalin.
• Willingness to live under a leader like Stalin. Asked between 2013 and 2019, at intervals of several years; measures personal acceptance or rejection of Stalin-type leadership.
• Evaluations of Stalin’s role and legacy. Asked between 2013 and 2019, at intervals of several years; includes both positive and negative statements about Stalin’s historical role (a wise leader who brought prosperity; a cruel tyrant responsible for mass repression).
• Perceptions of the Soviet past and the USSR’s breakup. Asked in various phrasings in the 1990s and again in 2020, including views on the USSR’s collapse and general evaluations of the Soviet era.
• Views on whether Ukraine had statehood during the Soviet period. Asked in 2024.
The dataset also includes socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, education, nationality, occupation, self-assessment of financial situation, and place of residence (oblast, type of settlement).
To facilitate analysis, the results of individual surveys have been harmonized and combined into a single dataset. The merged dataset includes 18 surveys, with a total of 30,841 respondents. However, since not every question was asked in each survey, response counts vary across questions.
The data is available in an SAV format (Ukrainian, Russian, English) as well as a converted CSV format (with a codebook).
The Data Documentation includes a short overview and discussion of survey results (with tables in Annex 1).
Countries
Keywords
Ukraine Soviet History Stalin Soviet Past Political Leadership Authoritarianism Ussr Breakup Soviet Union
Language of data
Disciplines
History Political Science Sociology