Introducing Norstat Quarterly Data Q4, and a wrap-up of 2025

Mads Motrøen, Head of Political Polling at Norstat Norway, summarises a few key highlights and trends from the data over the last year:

• It is safe to say that Europe is in a time of transition. In Norstat’s data, we see that concern about international political conflicts has risen from 6th place in 2023 to 4th in 2025.
• Norstat’s data shows that support for increased national defence spending is about 20-30% across most countries. We also see that there is generally low trust in the EU’s handling of security and defence challenges, and in 2025, a larger proportion of Europeans expressed little to no trust than those who expressed trust.
• Energy costs and inflation are the biggest drivers of economic uncertainty in Europe, and Norstat’s data also shows this. Rising inflation is the third-most-mentioned concern in our data in 2025.
• In Europe, responses to questions about how their government is handling increased expenditures have shown an increase in dissatisfaction from 38% to 41% from the first to the last quarter of 2025. Although this is a moderate change, it points in the same direction across countries.
• At the same time, we see that Europeans’ view of their own quality of life has increased slightly from 2023 to 2025, with 64% now considering it good or very good, up from 60% in 2023. While this is not a major shift, it is worth noting that it is a steady increase rather than a decline.

The highlights above are just a selection; you can find more details in the local market reports and explore country-level trendlines in the interactive dashboard.

Access Norstat Quarterly Data here to feel the pulse of Europe.

About Norstat Quarterly Data
Every quarter, Norstat publishes the results of a survey carried out in 16 countries across Europe. The country reports provide data on consumer views on three recurring themes: Society, Consumer, and Health & Wellbeing.

By tracking everything from attitudes toward online shopping and stress levels to societal concerns and levels of trust, Norstat Quarterly Data can reveal the mood in each country at a given point in time, making it easier for anyone – from decision-makers to ordinary citizens, to “feel the pulse of Europe”.

In addition to publishing individual country reports, Norstat will also collect and share all the results in an online dashboard, making it possible for anyone to compare Norstat Quarterly Data across countries and track how trends evolve.

The Norstat Quarterly Data initiative covers markets in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK.