Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517531
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 MARCH 2024 NEWS JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt MALTA is one of six EU mem- ber states where over half of its citizens trust information more if it is backed by statistics and data, a Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Commission shows. Half – or more – of respondents in Finland (58%), Ireland (58%), Cyprus (56%), Estonia (55%), Swe- den (52%) and Malta (50%) an- swer that they trust information 'much more' or 'slightly more' if it is backed up by statistics and data. In the case of Malta, 21% tend to trust information backed by statistics much more than state- ments not backed by data while 29% tend to trust information backed by statistics slightly more. Disturbingly 19% tend to trust in- formation backed by statistics less, while 26% said it does not matter for them if information is backed by data or not. In contrast only 39% of all EU citizens trust information more backed by statistics while a stag- gering 23% trust such information less. The share of respondents reply- ing that they trust information backed by statistics is lowest in France where only 28% trust sta- tistics and 28% said they trust such information less. Across the EU, respondents with a high level of education were the most likely to reply that they trust information 'much more' or 'slightly more' if it is backed up by statistics and data – 46% vs 33% of respondents with a low level of education. The vast majority of respondents in Malta (74%) and the EU as a whole (71%) replied that they pay attention to the data source when searching for statistics and data on their country or Europe, Respondents were also asked whether they have heard of Eu- rostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In Malta 10% said they are well informed about Eurostat while 35% reported hav- ing some knowledge about it and 38% have heard about it but don't know much about it. Only 17% have never heard about it. Surprisingly the Maltese were the most likely in Europe to come across Eurostat statistics on Face- book. The survey shows that about a quarter – or more - of respond- ents have come across references to Eurostat on Facebook in Malta (34%), Hungary (27%), Bulgaria (27%), Romania (26%) and Cy- prus (24%). In Austria (5%) and Denmark (6%), less than one in ten respondents reply the same. In contrast, in 20 other member states, 'television' was the high- est-ranking source of information about Eurostat. Damned lies and stats Maltese among EU's most trustful of data Maltese 'trust' numbers more than most Europeans but nearly one in five still distrust information backed by statistics