![[Previous]](/gifs/previous.gif)
![[Contents]](/gifs/up.gif)
![[Next]](/gifs/next.gif)
|
|
|
Eighty-four per cent of the population support Norwegian development assistance, against 80 per cent in 1995. At the same time, many would like to see aid spending cut, according to a new survey Statistics Norway has carried out on behalf of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The highest support for Norwegian foreign aid was recorded in similar surveys in 1993 and 1986, when fully 85 per cent said that they had a favourable opinion of development assistance.
In the latest survey, which covers 1996, half of the population said that the size of allocations to development assistance was about right. Twelve per cent felt appropriations should be higher, 30 per cent said they should be lower and five per cent recommended eliminating all programmes. Over the last 10 years, there has been an increase in the percentage of people who think that the amount spent on development aid should be less than it is today. In 1986, 12 per cent held this opinion, while today the proportion has grown to 30 per cent, up from 26 per cent in 1993. In the past, the majority of those who said that spending should be cut were opponents of foreign aid. Today, however, this view is found to an increasing degree among supporters of development assistance.
Support for development aid is still high among the young, the well educated and city and town dwellers. The figures now show greater gender differences than before, with women more positive to foreign aid than men.
Weekly Bulletin issue no. 17, 1997