Study title

Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence 2023

Dataset ID Number

FSD3856

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3856

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Advisory Board for Defence Information

Abstract

The annual Finnish Opinions on Security Policy National Defence survey charted Finnish public opinion on foreign policy, defence policy, security, military alliances, military service, and international armed conflicts at the time of the survey. Some questions examined views on factors affecting safety and security. Some questions examined views on factors affecting safety and security. This survey round also included questions about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Opinions were charted on the success of foreign policy in the previous few years, funds allocated to the Defence Forces, whether Finland should resort to armed defence in case of any sort of attack, whether the respondents would be prepared to participate in national defence according to their abilities, and how the global security situation would develop in the next five years. Views were probed on the current, conscription-based defence system and whether women should also participate in conscription. Satisfaction with defence policy in the previous few years was also investigated.

The respondents were asked to evaluate the impact of several countries and organisations, such as Russia, China, US, UN, NATO and EU, on Finland's security. The respondents were asked to evaluate Finland's preparedness for the prevention of various security threats, such as armed attack, energy supply issues, infectious diseases and epidemics, environmental hazards, political pressure from other states, economic crisis, terrorism, and attacks against information systems and networks. Views on how the military situation in nearby regions would develop during the next decade were also examined.

Next, the respondents were asked whether their trust in the future of the European Union had weakened, strengthened or stayed the same. Views on co-operation between EU and NATO to increase security in Europe were also investigated. Additionally, the respondents' trust in the ability of the Finnish Defence Forces to defend Finland against military threats was examined. The respondents were asked how different issues affected the safety and security of Finland. These included, among others, Finland's EU membership, Finland's NATO membership, participation in the EU defence and in international crisis management. Views were also charted on Finnish military cooperation in the EU, with NATO, other Nordic countries, and the United States.

Concerns caused by certain phenomena and issues were charted, such as withdrawals from arms controls agreements, climate change, various infectious diseases and epidemics, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organised crime, international terrorism, inflation, cyberthreats, political extremism, racism, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and current developments in Russia, the US, the Middle East and Afghanistan. On the topic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the respondents were asked whether the EU and its member states should continue to offer military and financial support to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. The respondents were also asked whether other NATO states should be ready to defend Finland in case of an armed attack on Finland and whether Finland should be prepared to defend other NATO states in case of an armed attack on another NATO state.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, economic activity and occupational status, household composition, ages of children living at home, gross annual income of the household, level of education, type of accommodation, region of residence, number of inhabitants in the municipality of residence, political party choice in the previous parliamentary elections, and political party choice if the parliamentary elections were held at the time of the survey.

Keywords

armed forces; conscription; defence; defence and state security policy; foreign policy; foreign relations; international alliances; international conflict; military operations; national security; war

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Conflict, security and peace (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• International politics and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Time Period Covered

2023

Collection Dates

2023-11-08 – 2023-11-28

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 15-79 residing in mainland Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Quota

The sample was formed using quota sampling with quotas based on age, gender, region and type of municipality. The sample was weighted to represent the target population.

The research was conducted through a combination of face-to-face interviews by Omnibustutkimus and an internet panel by Taloustutkimus. The face-to-face interviews were conducted between 8 and 26 November 2023. 23 interviewers who had been trained by Taloustutkimus in conducting interview research took part in the interviews. The face-to-face interviews were conducted in 184 municipalities, of which 91 were cities and 93 were other municipalities. In total, 544 face-to-face interviews were conducted. During the face-to-face interviews, the interviewer read the questions to the interviewee and recorded their answers. For some questions, the answer options were shown to the interviewees on display cards. The online survey was open to members of the internet panel between 15 and 28 November 2023. 653 responses were received for the online survey distributed to the internet panel.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, the variables denoting municipality of residence and number of children living in the household (bv11) were removed from the data. Additionally, the variable denoting household size (bv13) was top-coded. In the variables denoting the ages of the children in the household (bv10_1-bv10_18), the answers of respondents with more than four children were recorded as missing.

Weighting

The data contain a weight variable (paino), matching the sample to the distributions of the of the 15-79-year-old population in Finland (in thousands) (SVT 31.12.2022).

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Advisory Board for Defence Information: Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence 2023 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2024-02-22). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3856

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Suomalaisten mielipiteitä ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikasta, maanpuolustuksesta ja turvallisuudesta (2022). Helsinki: Maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunta MTS. Tiedotteita ja katsauksia 2022:4. Joulukuu 2022. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-663-372-8

Related Publications

Suomalaisten mielipiteitä ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikasta, maanpuolustuksesta ja turvallisuudesta 2023 (2024). Helsinki: Maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunta MTS. Tiedotteita ja katsauksia 2024:1. Tammikuu 2024.

Finns' opinions on foreign and security policy, national defence and security 2023 (2024). Helsinki: Advisory Board for Defence Information. Bulletins and reports. 2024:3. January 2024.

Finländarnas åsikter om utrikes- och säkerhetspolitiken, försvaret och säkerheten 2023 (2024). Helsingfors: Planeringskomissionen för Försvarsinformation PFI. Pressmeddelanden och översikter, 2024:2. Januari 2024.