Estonians less positive about development aid than other EU nations
Eurobarometer’s public opinion survey on citizens’ views on development, cooperation and aid, shows that respondents from Estonia are less positive about development aid and its effectiveness than inhabitants of other EU member states. Although 71 percent say that helping people in developing countries is important, the result is 14 percentage points lower than the EU average.
Less than half of Estonian respondents said that tackling poverty should be one of the main priorities for the EU and only 19 percent found it to be a job for the national government.
However, there has been a 13 percentage point increase in the proportion of respondents who think that aid for the developing countries should be increased (now 61 percent). Yet, 21 percent of the respondents from Estonia said that it should be reduced instead. This is the third highest proportion in the EU.
Estonians are also rather unlikely to believe that individuals can help reduce poverty (19 percent) and are therefore making little personal effort - 7 percent say they are personally active in helping developing countries, compared to the 34 percent EU average.
Younger respondents (aged 15-24) in Estonia tend to be more positive about development issues than older age groups. Unlike in the EU generally, however, there are notable gender-based differences, with women more likely than men to say that it is important to help people in developing countries (75 vs. 65 percent) and more likely to agree that helping them should be one of the EU’s main priorities (51 vs. 42 percent).
Editor: M. Oll