The democratization and economic indices have increased slightly compared to the last poll of November 2010 A rather significant increase has happened to the economic confidence index from 0.92 in November to 1.65 on average.

Both of these increases may be understood as rather positive trends. The higher the democratization index (max value = 3), shows higher trust of citizens into democratic processes and institutions of Kosovo. The higher the economic confidence index shows higher confidence in developments of Kosovo’s economy.

· As opposed to the previous poll of November 2010, the current poll results of June 2011 show a general increase in people’ satisfaction with the work of Kosovo’s key executive, legislative, and judicial institutions.

· According to the Public Pulse Poll, over half of Kosovo’s population seems to be quite concerned with Kosovo’s political direction. Public dissatisfaction is even higher in regards to Kosovo’s economic direction. Some 70% of respondents were dissatisfied with current Kosovo’s economic direction. Overall, more than half of respondents expressed their readiness to join public protests for political reasons, and nearly 70 % would protest for economic reasons.

· But, what are Kosovans’ expectations in regards to the country’s economic situation? In the rather medium term, namely over the next two years, Kosovans continue to remain somewhat optimistic.

· According to the survey data, Kosovans identify unemployment and poverty as the paramount problems Kosovo faces. Corruption continues to be ranked as one of the key problems Kosovo faces. In terms of people’s perceptions about large scale corruption, Kosovo Energy Corporation, Customs and Courts are the top three institutions with the highest public perception of large scale corruption.

· One of the most discussed and debated current issue is the dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade that has been taking place in Brussels under the auspices of EU. Respondents had mixed perceptions. Nearly 30 % saw it as beneficiary for Kosovo and a similar percentage had an opposite opinion.

These results are based on an opinion poll conducted during May- June 2011 and a sample that has included 1580 citizens of Kosovo over 18 years of age, of both sexes, all age groups and from all municipalities and regions of Kosovo, covering rural and urban areas.

The primary aim of Public Pulse is to provide a platform of perceptions and mechanism to facilitate the public policy making process in Kosovo. It has two components: (a) the Survey Fast Facts - based on people’s perceptions and (b) the Report Analysis and follow-up assistance - based on discussions with experts from diverse areas and institutional settings.Public Pulse is co-funded by United States International Development Agency (USAID) and UNDP.

A more detailed presentation of Kosovo public opinion trends on politics, economy, social challenges, security and inter-ethnic relations is accessible below or by visiting www.ks.undp.org