The English polling organization “Savanta ComRes” surveyed – on behalf of the association “Cruelty free Europe” – 5653 people aged 18 and over, via an online questionnaire, between June 9 and 19, 2020, in 12 countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal, Denmark, Croatia).

At country level, data were weighted to be representative of demographic criteria: age, gender, region. At European level, data were weighted to be representative of the population characteristics of the 12 countries.

Results

For all countries :

• 76% of respondents agree that animal testing for household cleaning products should be banned in the EU.
• 75% think that the EU should invest more in developing alternative methods to animal testing.
• 74% agree that animal testing for cosmetics and their ingredients is unacceptable under any circumstances.
• 72% think the EU should set binding targets and deadlines for phasing out animal testing.
• 71% agree that animal testing not required by law (e.g. basic research experiments) should not be allowed.
• 70% agree that enabling the complete replacement of all forms of animal testing by non-animal methods should be a priority for the EU.
• 66% agree that the EU should immediately end all animal testing.

These rates vary from country to country. France is on a par with the European average for all questions. The highest rates are observed in Portugal and Croatia, while in Belgium, Denmark and Spain, they are below the European average for all questions.

For all questions, women’s rates are higher than men’s for the sample as a whole. The difference is of the order of 10 points. For example, when asked whether “all animal testing should be stopped immediately” (last question), 71% of women agreed, compared with 61% of men.

There is also a gradient according to age, with older people having higher rates than younger people, for all questions and for the sample as a whole. The gap is widest for the question on the development of alternative methods: 81% of the over-55s surveyed think that the EU should invest more in this area, while only 66% of 18-34 year-olds think so.

Finally, it should be noted that the majority of those questioned admit to being unfamiliar with EU regulations on animal experimentation: 28% say they know them very well or well enough, 46% say they know them a little, 22% say they know nothing at all, and 4% don’t reply. These figures vary from country to country: the percentage of people who say they know the regulations very well or well enough ranges from 20% (Germany, Spain) to 35% (Italy), with France at 31%.