Covid-19 and technology: People in Portugal and Germany see Themselves Well Prepared in Comparison to Other EU Countries
In order to meet the challenges with COVID-19, the majority of Europeans feel they are technically well equipped. 78% rather/fully agree with the statement that they are sufficiently equipped for self-isolation and have the necessary infrastructure, a new survey of the Vodafone Institute, the European think-tank of the Vodafone Group, has revealed. Portugal (87%) and Germany (86%) occupy the first places. Greece (71%) and Poland (65%) rank last. Covid-19 and technology
Inger Paus, Managing Director of the Vodafone Institute, said:Â “The COVID-19 pandemic poses enormous challenges on people. We need to understand how European citizens have perceived and managed the sometimes very drastic measures taken by national governments. Obviously, a majority sees them as necessary and effective at the national level. It is also pleasing that most Europeans seem to have access to a digital infrastructure that helps them to cope successfully with everyday life even in times of isolation.” Covid-19 and technology
Video conferences and digital collaborative applications are regarded as the most useful tools by Europeans during the COVID-19 crisis. Despite the enthusiasm for digital tools, there are big differences regarding the acceptance of corona apps for contact tracing between EU-countries: While 78% of respondents in Portugal, Spain and Ireland would use these apps, only 53% in Germany are open to this option. In an EU comparison, this is the least popular option.
Significant differences in the assessment of national crisis management
More than two-thirds of Europeans attest their national government effective COVID-19 crisis management. On a scale from 1 (“Not effective at all”) to 10 (“Highly effective”), 70% chose a score of 6 or higher, 36% even a score of 8 or higher. In contrast, only 46% of Europeans assess measures on EU level as effectively. But there are remarkable differences between the individual countries: In particular, citizens in Greece and Ireland give their governments good ratings (7,4 each). Respondents in France and Spain are least satisfied with the COVID-19 crisis management of their national governments (4,9 each).
About half of the respondents agree that the inter-European cooperation during COVID-19 has strengthened the cohesion among Europeans. People in Portugal are particularly confident about this (69% agree with this statement), scepticism prevails in Estonia (28%).
Nearly every fifth European states to be on short-time work. In this respect, Portugal (30%) has the highest rate, Estonia (7%) the lowest.
Long-term impact on quality of life
A majority of interviewed Europeans thinks that the COVID-19 crisis will have a limiting effect on their quality of life in the long term. Especially people in southern Europe like Greece (85%), Italy (83%), Spain (81%) and Portugal (80%), agree with this statement. In Germany and the Netherlands, it is “only” 50% respectively 49%.
The results are part of the “Digitising Europe Pulse 2020: Challenges in Times of Covid-19“, which will be released in the upcoming weeks. The survey was conducted by Kantar. For this purpose, 13.000 people were interviewed via online-survey. Covid-19 and technology
