Eurobarometer 84.4 (2015)

Since the early 1970s the European Commission´s Standard & Special Eurobarometer are regularly monitoring the public opinion in the European Union member countries. Principal investigators are the Directorate-General Communication and on occasion other departments of the European Commission or the European Parliament. Over time, candidate and accession countries were included in the Standard Eurobarometer Series. Selected questions or modules may not have been surveyed in each sample. Please consult the basic questionnaire for more information on country filter instructions or other questionnaire routing filters. In this study the following modules are included: 1. Development, cooperation and aid, 2. Animal welfare, 3. Tobacco black market, 4. Nature-based solutions.<br>Topics: 1. Development, cooperation and aid: importance to help people in developing countries; awareness of 2015 being the European Year for Development; self-rated knowledge with regard to development aid compared to 2014; most important challenges in development countries; attitude towards increasing development aid; willingness to pay more for products from development countries in order to support people living there: no willingness, up to 5 % more, between 6 to 10 % more, more than 10 % more; attitude towards the following statements regarding tackling poverty in development countries: individual can influence the process, should be a main priority of the EU, should be a main priority of the national government, has a positive influence on EU citizens, is in the EU’s own interest, is a moral obligation for the EU, contributes to a more peaceful and equal world, is an effective way to tackle irregular migration; personal engagement in helping developing countries: political engagement, volunteering in an organisation, giving money to an organisation, giving money directly to projects (crowdfunding), no engagement; assessment of selected measures to reduce poverty in developing countries: donating to organisations, volunteering in organisations, official development aid; awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals agreed by the international community.

2. Animal welfare: understanding of animal welfare; importance to protect the welfare of farmed animals; importance to better protect the welfare of farmed animals in the own country; preferred level of decision making about laws regulating the protection of farmed animals in the own country: EU, national, jointly; approval of a legal obligation with regard to the protection of animals for commercial purposes within the EU; responsibility of businesses and / or of public authorities to protect the welfare of farmed animals; willingness to pay more for products from animal welfare-friendly production systems: no willingness, up to 5 % more, between 6 to 10 % more, between 11 to 20 % more, more than 20 % more; desire for additional information on the conditions of the treatment of farmed animals in the own country; awareness of labels on animal welfare-friendly production in purchasing; assessment of the choice of animal welfare-friendly products in shops; assessment of the influence of information campaigns on the attitude of children and young people towards animals welfare; importance to better protect the welfare of companion animals in the own country; attitude towards the following statements on building internationally recognized animal welfare standards: imported products from outside the EU should meet EU standards, importance to establish worldwide standards, EU should do more to promote awareness of animal welfare internationally; best method of guaranteeing that imported animal products respect EU standards: certifications by private companies in exporting countries, certifications by public authorities in exporting countries, certifications by the EU.

3. Tobacco black market: smoking status; offers to buy or smoke black market cigarettes; place of offer; main reasons for smoking black market cigarettes; most important sources of revenue for organized crime; main problems of the black market in cigarettes.

4. Nature-based solutions: Ecological and social problems in living area, benefits and concerns of having more natural features/parks and gardens/green roofs or walls, supporting nature -based solutions, barriers towards nature-based solutions.

Demography: nationality; left-right self-placement; marital status; sex; age; age at end of education; occupation; professional position; type of community; household composition and household size; possession of durable goods (entertainment electronics, internet connection, possession of a car, a flat/a house have finished paying for or still paying for); financial difficulties during the last year; internet use (at home, at work, at school); self-reported belonging to the working class, the middle class or the upper class of society; life satisfaction; frequency of discussions about political matters on national, European, and local level; own voice counts in the own country and in the EU; general direction things are going in the own country and in the EU; opinion leadership; EU image.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; date of interview; time of the beginning of the interview; duration of the interview; number of persons present during the interview; respondent cooperation; size of locality; region; language of the interview (only in BE, LU, ES, FI, EE, LV, MT); nation; nation group; weighting factor.