Euromaidan and Ukrainian Subjective Well‐Being
European Journal of Social Psychology
Published online on July 20, 2026
Abstract
["European Journal of Social Psychology, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThe 2013–2014 Euromaidan in Ukraine was the largest series of pro‐European protests in history. Peaceful civilian protests were met with state violence, resulting in widespread civil unrest, over 100 deaths, and nearly 2000 injuries. The Russo‐Ukrainian War broke out shortly after. We examined the immediate and long‐term changes in Ukrainians’ subjective well‐being (e.g., life evaluation, hope, positive affect, negative affect) during the Euromaidan using serial cross‐sectional data from the Gallup World Poll. Probability samples collected from 2006 to 2021 of 16,404 Ukrainians revealed that subjective well‐being declined substantially during the Euromaidan but increased beyond pre‐Euromaidan levels in the following years. Ukrainians’ approval of Russian leadership drastically dropped during the Euromaidan and remained low in the years after. Comparing across 118 countries from 2014 to 2021, the post‐Euromaidan increase in life evaluation in Ukraine ranked 14th globally despite the outbreak of the Russo‐Ukrainian War following the Euromaidan. Our findings underscore the initial detrimental association with population well‐being, and more importantly, highlight Ukrainians’ historical resilience in subsequent years despite major social upheaval and political strife.\n"]