RIGA, Dec 18 (LETA) - The job approval rating of Riga City Council has improved at the end of the year, a survey by SKDS research center shows.

While in May this year the approval index was minus 8.2, in the November survey it rose to minus 0.9. Overall, 44 percent of respondents had positive opinions about the Riga City Council's performance, while 41 percent voiced negative opinions.

The municipality's performance index is calculated according to a rather complex formula, in which the difference between "rather positive" and "rather negative" assessments is multiplied by a factor of 0.5, and the difference between "very positive" and "very negative" assessments is multiplied by a factor of 1, and then the two differences are summed.

In the November survey, 14.5 percent of respondents said that they had no opinion on Riga City Council's performance.

The surveyed Latvian citizens tended to rate the city council's performance higher than respondents without citizenship.

Respondents aged 18-24 and 65-75, people with higher education, those who speak mainly Latvian in the family, those with low, medium-low or medium-high incomes, as well as those living in the city center and the Kurzeme district were more likely than average to give a positive assessment of the city council's performance.

Respondents aged 55-64, Russian-speakers, and those living in the Vidzeme and Latgale districts were more critical of Riga City Council's performance than average.

The survey was conducted from November 7 to November 23, with 801 respondents aged 18-75 years interviewed at their places of residence.