High quality European statistics and data are essential for the proper functioning of the European Union (EU). European statistics and data need to be reliable, objective, impartial and comparable between Member States. Trust in European statistics is essential given that many decisions, ranging from policy decisions that affect citizens, right down to decisions taken by the citizens themselves, are often based on official European statistics. Monitoring EU citizens’ awareness of Eurostat, the statistics and data it publishes and the level of trust in those statistics and data is therefore important. It is also essential to have a good understanding of what sources of information EU citizens use regarding statistics and data on their countries and the EU, as well as how EU citizens perceive official statistics. Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union) commissioned a Flash Eurobarometer survey in order to assess EU citizens’ awareness of its work and trust in the data and statistics it provides. In this survey, respondents were asked questions about their attitudes towards statistics and data, in general, and were asked questions to test their knowledge of Eurostat. Respondents who had some knowledge of Eurostat were then asked questions exploring the thematic areas of Eurostat, where they have come across references to Eurostat, and questions about their perceptions of and trust in Eurostat.
Authors
Directorate-General for Communication, European Commission, Ipsos European Public Affairs
- Catalogue number
- NA-09-24-068-EN-N NA-09-24-068-EN-C
- Citation
- European Commission, Directorate-General for Communication, Public awareness and trust in European statistics – Report , European Commission, 2024, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/722141
- DOI
- https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/503753 https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/722141
- ISBN
- 978-92-68-18350-2
- Pages
- 68
- Published in
- Belgium
- Themes
- Statistics , Activities of the institutions and bodies
Table of Contents
- Introduction 7
- Key findings 9
- General attitudes towards statistics and data 9
- Knowledge about Eurostat 9
- Trust in Eurostat 10
- Results for respondents who have not heard of Eurostat 10
- Section 1. General attitudes towards statistics and data 11
- 1.1. Trust in information if backed up by statistics and data 11
- 1.2. Paying attention to the source of statistics and data 14
- Section 2. Knowledge about Eurostat 17
- 2.1. Awareness of Eurostat and its work 17
- 2.2. Awareness of Eurostat’s statistics and data areas 20
- 2.3. References to Eurostat 25
- Section 3. Trust in Eurostat 30
- 3.1. Trust in statistics and data provided by Eurostat 30
- 3.2. Impartiality of statistics and data provided by Eurostat 33
- Section 4. Areas of interest and information source of respondents who have not heard of Eurostat 36
- 4.1. Areas of interest regarding statistics and data 36
- 4.2. Information source regarding statistics and data 41
- 4.3. Preferred information source regarding statistics and data 46
- Technical specifications 51
- Questionnaire 53
- Data annex 56
