Eurobarometer, a series of surveys initiated by the European Commission, the executive arm of what is now the European Union (EU), to measure public opinion in its member states. The Eurobarometer was created in 1973, when the European Parliament released a report requesting the establishment of a permanent research institute that would study European public opinion. After pilot studies were completed, the first official Eurobarometer survey was conducted in 1974, and its results were released later that year.
The first study was designed by the first Eurobarometer director, Jacques-René Rabier, and was conducted in the nine countries—France, West Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, and Luxembourg—that were then the members of the European Economic Community (EEC), a precursor to the EU. Over time the Eurobarometer grew from surveying the nine original countries to include new members of the EEC and its successors the European Community and EU.
In the main Eurobarometer survey, known as the Standard Eurobarometer, about 1,000 citizens from each EU country are polled through face-to-face interviews, with the exception of countries with small populations, where the sample for Eurobarometer is about 500 persons. The Standard Eurobarometer questions include those that measure attitudes toward EU institutions, attitudes toward major topics concerning European affairs, public awareness of the EU, people’s satisfaction and expectations regarding the quality of life in the EU, and how citizens of European countries perceive the other EU countries. Most questions are repeated on each survey in order to measure trends and opinion change over time. Standard Eurobarometer results are released twice a year.
In addition to the Standard Eurobarometer surveys, there are Special Eurobarometer surveys, which are in-depth treatments of specific topics; Qualitative Eurobarometer surveys, which are also in-depth and utilize a different method of data collection, such as observing subjects as they voice their opinions in a group discussion; and Flash Eurobarometer surveys, which can be targeted to specific groups, are conducted via telephone, and proceed more quickly than Standard Eurobarometer surveys.
Eurobarometer surveys allow for monitoring the evolution of public opinion in the EU member states, which helps the European Commission with decision making and in the evaluation of its work. Eurobarometer data are also often cited by mass media and are used by research scholars in communication, public opinion, and political science.