Other

Almost 60 % of respondents think that the ideal age for a father at the birth of his first child should range from 25 to 29 years of age. A third of the people approached gave the age over 29 and less than 9 % the age under 25. For judging the ideal age of a mother there is a prevailing opinion (51 % of respondents) that a woman should give birth to her first child before 24 years of age. 44 % of respondents stated the age range between 25 and 29 and only less than 5 % consider the age of 30 or more to be the best for the birth of the first child.

More than a quarter of respondents think that artificial insemination should be available only to married women. One fifth of respondents thought that also unmarried women living with common-law husbands should be entitled to this treatment. The largest group (40 %) was formed by respondents of the opinion that artificial insemination should be available to all women regardless of their marital status or if they live with a partner or not.

In their free time, once or more a week, 70 % of people read magazines, 49 % listen to musical recordings, 47 % are involved in a hobby, 45 % meet friends, acquaintances or neighbours, 43 % read books, 34 % are engaged in sporting activities or exercise, 27 % attempt to increase their language or professional skills, 23 % set out on trips to the countryside, 21 % visit wine bars, cafes or restaurants.

In the March survey, 47 % of respondents expressed their contentment with the environment in this country, while the same number - 46 % - were not satisfied. Greater contentment with the environment can be seen in the case of the place where they live – 76 %, while about a quarter of the respondents (23 %) are not satisfied with the environment in their neighbourhood. We also asked the people to which degree they themselves contributed to the protection of the environment with their conduct.

Respondents’ opinions showed their prevailing conviction that “human relations in the Czech Republic are more bad than good”, compared with 41 % of respondents, who said that relations between people here are “definitely good” or “more good than bad”. The negative opinion was voiced by a total of 54 %, who described it as “more bad than good” or “definitely bad”.

The most significant change since 1992 occurred in the area of relation between parents and children - in 1992 there were only two percentage points more of those saying that these relations had got worse than those thinking they had become better.

In the March survey, among other things we concentrated on the satisfaction of citizens with the environment in the place where they live. The greatest contentment was recorded for availability of wide open countryside, scoring 86 %. Approximately three quarters of citizens are satisfied with the cleanness of the countryside in their vicinity and quality of drinking water. About two thirds of respondents are content with the air quality and the noise level in their neighbourhood.

The general situation in the country is valued by people in more of a critical way (39 %) than positively (10 %), although it is most often seen as “neither good nor bad” (49 %). On the other hand, the evaluation of the current situation from the point of view of family is predominantly positive - 43 % of respondents see their current life and the life of their family in bright colours, the same number of respondents consider it to be “neither good nor bad” and only 13 % of them had a critical view in this respect.

The results of the Public Opinion Research Centre survey shows that 70 % of single women and 69 % of single men would like to get married in the future. 12 % of single women and 6 % of single men decided not to conclude a marriage in their future life. The most frequently named reasons for getting married were “children” (66 %) and the opinion that "two is better than one” (34 %), a quarter of respondents consider taking marriage vows to be “obvious and normal”.

In December 2003 Public Opinion Research Centre also included in its survey two open questions, where respondents named what they disliked most about human character and behaviour of people. The results of the survey show that as to the human character respondents dislike pretentiousness, lying and jealousy most, and with respect to the behaviour of people the first spots were occupied by pretentiousness, lying and aggressiveness.

Czech citizens rate the health care system of their country in a more favourable way than Hungarians, but simultaneously they view it significantly more critically than a year ago. At the present, 34 % of them are satisfied with the health care system in the CZ, on the other hand 36 % feel dissatisfaction with it. Every second person is content with the actual medical care, the share of those dissatisfied represent approximately one fifth of the population above 15 years of age.