Public awareness and trust in European statistics : summary

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.