[Humanitarian aid in the current social context]: 52% of Romanians say they have been involved in supporting and helping Ukrainian refugees , and 61% say they intend to get involved.

February 24, 2022.  Russia began the war against Ukraine, in which several major cities were attacked, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens crossed the borders into neighboring countries, especially the Republic of Moldavia, Romania and Poland, using them as transit countries to western European countries.

Therefore, in the context of the current events in Ukraine, Reveal Marketing Research conducted a study to find out the Romanians’ perception of the current reality, but also if they got involved or intend to get involved in mutual aid actions.

• 87% of respondents say they have carried out charitable actions in the last year, independently of the current social conext.
• The level of optimism about the future and safety of Romania (21%), Ukraine (13%).
• Intention to get involved in helping Ukraine’s refugees: 51% of Romanians say they have already been involved in charitable actions, and of those who have not yet been involved, 61% say they intend to provide help, of any kind, to Ukrainian refugees on the territory of Romania.

Charity actions carried out by Romanians in the last year

 According to the study, eight out of ten respondents say that they have carried out charitable  actions in the last year, in particular young people and people with medium and high incomes.  When it comes to how they got involved, more than half (55%) said they helped by donating clothes, sanitary products, non-perishable food and other essentials, and 43% helped by filling out the form to redirect 3.5% of the income tax.

The Romanians’ aid was also directed towards donating money for humanitarian causes (38%) and helping disadvantaged people in the community (31%).  The last places are volunteering in an NGO (13%) and political/social activism (8%).  The annual budget allocated by people who choose to donate money is 453 lei.  The allocated budget is raised among active people aged between 35 and 44 but also among people with high incomes.

Charity actions carried out by Romanians in the context of the current events in Ukraine. Top support categories

Food (72%), accommodation services (70%) and medical assistance (55%) are the categories of assistance considered to be the most important for refugees in Ukraine.  To the greater extent, people over the age of 55 consider these types of assistance to be important. Young people aged between 18 and 24 consider it a significantly higher measure that refugees need translation services (35%), compared to the total sample (18%).

In addition, 13% of respondents believe that refugees in Ukraine need financial assistance,  to a  higher extent that people between the ages of 25 and 34.

Perceptions of humanitarian aid

81% of the interviewees believe that Romania has been proactive in helping refugees in Ukraine and 74% consider that the  countries neighbouring Ukraine have provided the necessary help to them.  In fact, a percentage of 55% of the respondents consider that the countries neighboring Romania would help us in a similar context.

6 out of 10 Romanians say they would offer their place for accommodation for refugees if they had the necessary space, and 57% say they would be willing to volunteer their time to help the situation of refugees in Ukraine.

People   over the age of 55 say they  feel slightly less social pressure to help the situation of refugees in Ukraine.

People aged 45 and 55  say that Romania has been proactive in helping  refugees in Ukraine to be  significantly greater. People aged 35 and 44 would be willing  to take a  significantly greater measure to volunteer  to help in the situation of refugees in Ukraine. These categories of respondents consider that the countries neighboring Romania would offer us support in a similar context.

Involvement of the non-governmental sector

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the non-governmental sector has been involved in supporting refugees from Ukraine.  Many of the NGOs started new campaigns or modified the programs they had in progress, in order to be able to support in this new context.

When asked if they have heard of NGOs that are currently carrying out a series of actions to support Ukrainian refugees, 80% of the respondents to the study say they have heard of such NGOs, among which, in the top of those mentioned are the Red Cross, Unicef and Save the Children.

“It is admirable how quickly  Romanians,  associations and organizations have mobilized  since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine to come to the aid of families in Ukraine, by providing food, providing transport services, accommodation and translation.   It is equally the merit of all Romanians, NGOs and the Romanian Orthodox Church who get involved as volunteers in the cities near the border crossing points. ”

– Marius Luican, CEO of Reveal Marketing Research

The future and safety of Romania from the Romanians’ perspective

The Reveal Marketing Research study also aimed to assess the level of optimism and certainty regarding the future of Romania, but also of Ukraine, in the current context.  Thus, almost half of the respondents (45%) declare themselves as being pessimistic regarding the future and safety of Romania.  The level of optimism  is placed at 21%, with a higher level among men (25% vs. 16% women)  and among people aged between 25 and 34 years (25%).

Regarding the situation of Ukraine, half of the respondents (55%) are pessimistic about the future and safety of Ukraine, especially people over  the age of 55 (63%). Optimistic about the future and safety of Ukraine are just 13%, especially young people between the ages of 25 and 34 (18%).

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About Reveal Marketing Research

Reveal Marketing Research is a full-service market research company, specialized in marketing research, sociological studies, customer insight, business strategy, market development. With expertise in over 20 industries, Reveal Marketing Research believes that market research is the basis for the right decisions and brand positioning. Qualitative and quantitative solutions have been helping companies in Romania and Europe for 13 years.

Methodology: The Reveal Marketing Research study was conducted online between March 7th and  March 10th,  2022, on a representative sample for the universe of people aged 18+, from urban and rural areas. The sample size was 1,004 respondents, and the maximum sampling error is +/-3.1% at a 95% confidence level.

The data belongs to the market research company Reveal Marketing Research and is used to put into context the commercial studies conducted in the future for the company’s customers.