Eurobarometer 46.0: Personal Health, Energy, Development Aid, and the Common European Currency, October - November, 1996

The Eurobarometer (EB) survey series is a unique programme of cross-national and cross-temporal comparative social science research. Since the early seventies representative national samples in all European Union (EU) (formerly the European Community (EC)) member states have been simultaneously interviewed in the spring and autumn of each year. Starting with EB 34.1 (autumn 1990), separate supplementary surveys on special issues have been conducted under almost every EB number. The EB is designed to provide regular monitoring of public social and political attitudes in the EU through specific trend questions. More information about the series may be found on the Zentralarchiv fuer Empirische Sozialforschung (ZA - Central Archive for Empirical Social Research, University of Cologne) Eurobarometer Survey Series web pages. Background Work on European survey series began in early 1970, when the Commission of the European Community sponsored simultaneous surveys of the EC. These surveys were designed to measure public awareness of, and attitudes toward, the Common Market and other EC institutions, in complementary fashion. They also probed the goals given top priority for each respondent's nation. These concerns have remained a central part of the EC's research efforts - which were carried forward in the summer of 1971 with another six-nation survey that gave special attention to agricultural problems. The nine EC member countries were then surveyed again on the same topic areas in September 1973. After 1973, the surveys took on a somewhat broader scope in content as well as in geographical coverage, with measures of subjective satisfaction and the perceived quality of life becoming standard features of the EC public opinion surveys. Over time, the member states of the EC/EU have increased in number, and the coverage of the EB surveys has widened accordingly. In 1974, nine countries were surveyed: France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg. Greece has been included since the autumn 1980 survey (EB 14) onwards, Portugal and Spain since autumn 1985 (EB 24), the former German Democratic Republic since autumn 1990 (EB 34), Finland since the spring of 1993 (EB 39), and Sweden and Austria since the autumn of 1994 (EB 42). Norway has been included in some surveys since 1991, from EB 36 onwards. In 2004, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the EU, and in 2007, Bulgaria and Romania (some of these countries participated in the Candidate Countries Eurobarometer survey series (see under GN 33343) before full accession). Some surveys are also conducted in Turkey, and in the Turkish Cypriot Community (Northern Cyprus). The Eurobarometer public opinion surveys are conducted on behalf of and co-ordinated by the European Commission, DG Press and Communication - Opinion Polls Sector (European Commission Public Opinion Analysis). Special topic modules are carried out at the request of the responsible EU Directorate General. Main Topics: This round of Eurobarometer surveys queried respondents on standard Eurobarometer measures such as public awareness of and attitudes toward the European Union (EU), and also focused on personal health issues, the Common European Currency, energy questions, development aid, and the rights of EU citizens. Respondents were asked if they thought exposure to the sun was good or bad for their health, how best to protect themselves from the sun, what type of skin, eye, and hair colour they had, and what information they had received about the Europe Against Cancer campaign. In regard to the Common European Currency, they provided information about their attitudes toward having one currency for all member states, how well-informed they were about this issue, if they knew about the conditions that member countries must meet in order to join the European Economic and Monetary Union, if their own country would be able to meet the requirements and what the consequences would be if it did not, when Euro coins and notes might be introduced, how the introduction of the single currency should proceed, and how it would affect economic policies and transactions. Questions about energy use and consumption covered problems that could affect the environment, if respondents had made attempts to conserve energy use in recent years and how they might do so in the future, how effective public bodies were in saving energy, and whether energy investment decisions should be left to market forces or to public bodies. Views regarding the availability and cost of energy resources over the next ten years, the importance of nuclear energy, the role of taxes in energy consumption, and whether public or private transportation should be favoured in traffic planning decisions were also elicited. A battery of questions about developing countries focused on whether respondents thought there was a need to help poorer countries to develop, whether their own governments provided development aid, whether the European Commission provided such aid and if so, how much, and whether such aid should be increased or decreased. Other questions probed for opinions on whether developing countries used aid money to purchase goods from the EU, whether the Community's aid should be made better known, and how profitable it was to invest in developing countries. Respondents were also asked if they thought Europe, the United States, or Japan was best placed to help poor people, where Europe's exports were sent, if development aid helped to solve certain social and economic problems, and if they felt they received accurate accounts about developing countries from newspapers and television news programs. A few questions also focused on perceptions of the rights of citizens of the EU and where information could be located about such rights. Citizens from Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom were asked about their attitudes toward other EU countries, which countries should join the Monetary Union, how important the introduction of the single currency by January 1, 1999, was, and how likely they thought that date would be met. Demographic items included age, gender, marital status, household size, monthly income, education, size of community, region, and occupation.