What Do Kiwis Think About The European Union?

  • Just over two thirds of New Zealanders (69%) say they have heard of the EU. Awareness of the UN (94%) and WTO (81%) is higher. Nearly half (45%) say they have heard of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union.
  • Among countries asked in the poll, Australia has the most positive image (77%), followed equally by Japan (45%) and the EU (44%). Almost twice as many are positive rather than negative about the USA while China’s image in New Zealand is more finely balanced.
  • Most New Zealanders say they get their news about the EU as a whole more or less weekly or monthly (53% combined). When asked about specific media, almost everyone (99%) indicated they are plugged into international news. More than half (58%) say they recall something being mentioned about the EU as a whole in specific media in the past 2-3 months.
  • Only 15% of New Zealanders say they are able to hold a conversation in a language other than English. However four out of five (79%) say they would like to have the opportunity of learning another language. The most popular language to learn would be French (31%), followed by Spanish (20%). German scores the same as Maori (14%). Then come individual Asian languages – Japanese and Chinese – as well as Italian.
  • The profile of persons very interested in knowing more regularly about what the EU is doing are predominantly the 50+ age group, highest income and top socio-economic quartile, smallest household size, managers/professionals and also  interestingly come more from rural (NZ farming community) than urban areas.
  • The younger generation shows the lowest level of interest of all age groups. Just over half of 15-29 year olds (53%) say they have heard of the EU although they are more positive about the EU than average.
  • Managers/professionals are more aware (82%) and more positive (61%) than average about the EU. They have a higher propensity in wanting to hear more about the EU, albeit those very interested are still small in number
    (11%).

Click here for the full results from the survey in pdf format.

1 A nationally-representative random sample of 500 New Zealanders 15+ age group was interviewed by telephone during the period 6-12th December 2007.  The data was weighted by age within gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status The maximum margin of error is 4.4%. Field work was undertaken by Consumer Link coordina