Attitudes towards Norwegian development aid, 2010

In 1972, seven out of ten were positive to Norwegian development aid to countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Almost 40 years later, nine out of ten think the same. The share of the population that supports development aid has been high and stable throughout the 20th century.

In earlier surveys women have been more positive than men. In this survey it would appear that men and women have become more similar in their attitudes.

Fewer want to reduce the development budget

Twenty-two per cent believe that the budget should be smaller . This is a reduction of ten percentage points since 2006. On the other hand, one out of ten think that this amount should be higher , while half of the population believes it is an appropriate amount. In the survey carried out in 2006, one out of four thought the same. A very small group thinks that Norway shouldn’t have a development budget at all.

Decline in the proportion that believes development aid produces good results

Since 2006 the proportion that believes development aid produces good results has fallen by 13 percentage points, and in 2010 six out of ten believe that development aid gives good results. It is particularly in the younger age groups that this proportion has fallen the most. The differences between the age groups are more even in 2010 than in 2006.

Norwegians believe in voluntary organisations and the UN…

Norwegian development aid is given through different channels, and in the survey we ask people about which channel they think is most effective. The two channels most people mention are voluntary organisations and the UN , with one out of three mentioning these two. In comparison, 14 per cent of the population mention government channels . The channels the people have little faith in are The World Bank and similar banks and private cooperations .

… while the proportion that believes in voluntary organisations has fallen

Even though a high proportion believes in voluntary organisations, the proportion has fallen since the last survey. In 2006, 44 per cent mention voluntary organisations, compared to 30 per cent in 2010.

One out of three are interested in issues about development in the media…

One of the aims of the survey is to investigate how interested the Norwegian population is in development politics in the media. Five per cent state that they are very interested , one out of three say they are quite interested , half of the population are somewhat interested and 14 per cent are not interested at all .

… but interest has waned

We have included questions about this since 1996, and the results have been quite stabile since that time, but in 2010 we observe a change. The proportion that states that they are very or quite interested has fallen by 20 percentage points.