Cypriots believe help should be given to developing countries

Cyprus is among the countries in which most people think it is important to help people in developing countries, according to a Eurobarometer report on EU citizens and development cooperation published on Tuesday.

Almost all respondents in Luxembourg (97 per cent), Sweden (96 per cent) and Cyprus and Portugal (both 95 per cent) think this way, compared to 68 per cent in Estonia, 72 per cent in Bulgaria and 74 per cent in Latvia.

However, the proportion of respondents in each country that think it is ‘very important’ to help people in developing countries varies widely, from 66 per cent in Sweden, 64 per cent in Cyprus and 61 per cent in Luxembourg to 15 per cent in Estonia and 20 per cent in Latvia and the Czech Republic.

In 26 member states, at least half of all respondents agree tackling poverty in developing countries should be one of the main priorities of the EU, with respondents in Cyprus (93 per cent), Malta (82 per cent) and Spain (81 per cent) the most likely to think this.

Respondents in each member state are more likely to agree tackling poverty in developing countries should be one of the main priorities of the EU than they are to agree it should be one of the main priorities of their national government. In most cases the margin between the two levels of government is considerable. 

The largest differences are observed in Greece (39 percentage points) and Cyprus (38 percentage points). At the other end of the scale the smallest gap is in the UK (9 percentage points).