An opinion poll on development issues was participated by 1017 respondents selected via quota sampling method (by sex, age, education, nationality, size of settlement and county). From 7 to 13 November 2017, they answered 6 survey questions. Three of them had the same or similar wording as the questionsasked in the polls made by our project partners and in the Special Eurobarometer no. 441 conducted in autumn 2015 to see how the opinion of Slovak pubic has changed and to be able to compare the results obtained in different countries. The rest of questions were related to Slovak ODA, migration and Slovak education system.
1. Have you ever heard about the Sustainable Development Goals?
Opinion poll 2017 [ % ] | |
Yes and I know a lot about it | 0,6 |
Yes, but I only have partial information | 5,1 |
Yes, but I know almost nothing about it | 8,6 |
No, I never heard of it | 85,7 |
Eurobarometer 2015 [ % ] | |
Yes, I know what they are | 5 |
Yes, but I do not really know what they are | 22 |
No, I do not know | 73 |
The number of Slovaks who do not know what SGDs are has risen. It can be interpreted as the influence of EYD 2015 and SDG and Paris climate summits that had high media coverage that time. Afterwards this quite technical agenda slid out of the most media and thus out of public focus.
2. In your opinion, is it very important, fairly important, not very important or not at all important to help people in developing countries?
Eurobarometer 2015 [ % ] | Opinion poll 2017 [ % ] | |
Very important | 22 | 9,0 |
Fairly important | 57 | 50,7 |
Not very important | 15 | 21,3 |
Not at all important | 4 | 10,8 |
I do not know | 2 | 8,1 |
There was a significant drop of 20 % in number of people that find important (both, very and fairly) to help people in developing countries important. The number of those who have the opposite opinion (help is not very/not at all important) has risen by 13%.
3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? As an individual, you can play a role in tackling poverty in developing countries.
Eurobarometer 2015 [ % ] | |
Totally agree | 38 |
Totally disagree | 58 |
I do not know | 4 |
Opinion poll 2017 [ % ] | |
Totally agree | 5,9 |
Fairly agree | 29,0 |
Fairly not agree | 33,9 |
Not at all agree | 23,3 |
I do not know | 7,9 |
Although we used a bit different scaling of the answers the opinion of people have not changed. The difference is at the level of statistical deviation.
4.The Slovak Republic provides developing countries with development and humanitarian aid under the Slovak Aid brand. This form of assistance is also a tool for building a reputation of Slovakia in the world. Having this in mind, which of the following statements describes your opinion best?
Opinion poll 2017 [ % ] | |
We should increase the amount on ODA | 13,3 |
We should decrease the amount on ODA | 13,8 |
We do not need to change the amount on ODA | 54,6 |
I do not know | 18,4 |
5. What is the most important role of the education system nowadays? You can select more answers.
Opinion poll 2017 [ % ] | |
prepare students for life in fastly changing world | 63,1 |
prepare students for specific employers | 51,5 |
teach students to work with finances | 35,2 |
teach students to think critically | 26,5 |
other | 2,2 |
I do not know | 2,7 |
6. To what extent are you afraid of migrants and migration to Slovakia?
Opinion poll 2017 [ % ] | |
very afraid | 30,2 |
fairly afraid | 42,3 |
fairly not afraid | 20,3 |
not at all afraid | 5,0 |
I do not know | 2,3 |