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U.S. in the World: Talking Global Issues With Americans -- A Practical Guide

America is facing critical choices about who it is and wants to be in an increasingly interconnected world -- choices that will have a profound impact on Americans, on other peoples and countries, and on future generations. This guide pulls together facts and arguments and the most effective ways to put them across for advocates of pragmatic, principled, effective and collaborative U.S.


Summary of Surveys on Development Aid, Global Hunger, and Poverty: Eurobarometer / European Commission Attitudes towards Development Aid (2005)

Report Date: February 2005
Data Collected: November-December 2004
Survey Population: Residents of each nation, aged 15 and over
Learn more about this survey.

Background
The survey assesses citizens’ awareness of the Millennium Development Goals and their views on government development aid at both the national and European Union levels.

Key Findings

  • 88% of citizens have never heard of the Millennium Development Goals four years after they were adopted.
  • Citizens are skeptical that the target set for the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger will be achieved (29%).
  • Between 1995 and 1998, citizens’ perceptions of the importance of development aid decreased. However, this trend has since reversed with 91% currently recognizing the importance of helping people in poor countries to develop.
  • One in three EU citizens believes that their government dedicates too small a share of the national budget to development aid.
  • One in two in the European Union believes that development aid provided by the national government helps improve the lives of poor people in developing countries.
  • An increasing number of citizens (5 percent more since 2002) believe that the level of aid should be linked to recipient country’s efforts to encourage and sustain democracy (74%).
  • 66% of EU citizens believe that the United States is best placed to help Latin America develop, while a plurality of 39% considers Japan best placed to help Asia develop. One in two EU citizens considers Europe best placed to help Africa’s poor.

Key Advice

  • Citizens who believe that government assistance to developing countries is successful are more inclined to believe that the Millennium Development Goals are achievable by 2015.
  • Geographical proximity is generally a strong factor affecting preferences for choosing which poor countries to assist.

Methodology
Between November 22nd and December 19th 2004, the TNS Opinion & Social, carried out wave 62.2 of the EUROMAROMETER, on request of the European Commission. The basic sample design applied in all Member States is a multi-stage, random (probability) one. In each EU country, a number of sampling points was drawn with probability proportional to population size and to population density among residents aged 15 years and older. With samples of about 1000 interviews, the real percentages vary within the following confidence limits:

Observed Percentages10% or 90%20% or 80%30% or 70%40% or 60%50%
Confidence Limits+/- 1.9 points+/- 2.5 points+/- 2.7 points+/- 3.0 points+/- 3.1 points

Return to Index of Surveys.