The survey charted Finnish opinions on and knowledge of the country's development cooperation, its importance, content, objectives, and allocation. Some questions focused on the UN Millennium Development Goals. The respondents were asked whether they considered development cooperation important, and why. Views on the effectiveness of development cooperation were charted as well as its greatest challenges. Familiarity with the UN Millennium Development Goals and views on the most important goals were surveyed. Opinions on the most important goals, activities (e.g. education, health care, industry), and key geographical areas for Finnish development cooperation were charted. The respondents were asked about the areas/activities in which Finland has something to offer to developing countries. Factual knowledge was charted by asking how much the respondents thought Finland was going to spend on development cooperation in 2012 (as percentage of the GNI and in euros). Opinions were probed on how much Finland should spend on development cooperation in 2015 (as percentage of the GNI). The respondents were also asked whether Finland should increase the amount of funding allocated to development cooperation in the light of the current financial situation. Those who thought funding should be increased were asked how the increase should be financed (e.g. by cutting other state expenditure or by increasing tax revenue). Some questions pertained to whether there was enough information available on development cooperation, development policy and developing countries, from which information sources the respondents had received information on these topics and from which of them they would like to receive more, whether more information should be available on some topics, and how reliable public authorities, voluntary/civic organisations and the media were as sources of such information. Views were surveyed on what the four most important forms of development cooperation are (e.g. bilateral, multilateral, cooperation through the EU) as well as how the respondents as individuals could best help developing countries. The respondents were presented with a few statements charting their opinions on the impact of development aid in general and asked who should help developing countries to survive the global financial crisis (e.g. rich countries, EU countries, the private sector, every country should manage on its own). Opinions on the importance of humanitarian aid and satisfaction with Finland's actions in different crises and natural disasters were investigated. Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, economic activity and occupational status, marital status, economic activity and occupational status of the household head, household composition, age of children living at home, education, gross annual income of the household, newspaper reading and television viewing habits, type of accommodation, municipality size and type, province and region (NUTS3) of residence, ownership of car, home, holiday home, consumer durables and mobile phone, and Internet use.

2012