Eurobarometer Survey Series

These surveys are the products of a unique program of crossnational and crosstemporal social science research. The effort began in early 1970, when the Commission of the European Community sponsored simultaneous surveys of the publics of the European Community. These surveys were designed to measure public awareness of, and attitudes toward the Common Market and other European Community institutions in complementary fashion. They also probed the goals that were given top priority for one's own nation. These concerns have remained a central part of the European Community's research efforts -- which were carried forward in the summer of 1971 with another six-nation survey that gave special attention to agricultural problems. These themes were of central interest again in a survey of the publics of the European Community countries -- then nine in number -- carried out 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 European Community public opinion surveys. In 1974, the Commission of the European Community launched the Eurobarometer series, designed to provide a regular monitoring of the social and political attitudes of the publics of the nine member nations: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, and Luxembourg. These Eurobarometers are carried out in the spring and fall of each year. In addition to obtaining regular readings of support for European integration and the perceived quality of life, each of the Eurobarometers has explored a variety of special topics. Also, attitudes toward the organization and role of the European Parliament have been explored in many Eurobarometers, beginning with Eurobarometer 7 in spring 1977. The Eurobarometer surveys have included Greece since fall 1980 (Number 14), Portugal and Spain since fall 1985 (Number 24), the former German Democratic Republic since fall 1990 (Number 34), Finland since spring 1993 (Number 39), and Sweden and Austria since fall 1994 (Number 42). In addition, Norway has occasionally been included since fall 1991 (Number 36). The "Flash" Eurobarometer surveys represent a variant of the Eurobarometer surveys. They differ from the regular Eurobarometers in that they measure public opinion in the European Community regarding a single topic. The Candidate Countries Eurobarometer (CCEB) surveys, first conducted in 2001, gather information from the countries applying to become members of the European Union (EU) in a way that allows direct comparison with the standard Eurobarometer surveys that are carried out in existing EU countries. The surveys were conducted by EOS-Gallup Europe. Beginning with Eurobarometer 43, the archival survey titles in these ICPSR series no longer contain a hyphen separating "Euro" and "Barometer," in keeping with current usage. Other archives may follow different naming practices for this survey series.