NATO | Eva’s survey: NATO membership would improve security but conscription should be maintained, majority of Finns estimate

Three Four out of four Finns believe that NATO membership will improve Finland’s military security, according to a survey commissioned by the Business and Industry Delegation (Evan).

Only seven percent of respondents estimate that membership weakens it. The rest do not know how to evaluate or do not think that membership will affect it.

The proportion of those who believe in improving military security has risen by almost 40 percentage points since 2007, when Eva last clarified the matter. At that time, more than a third believed that security would increase and a fifth believed that it would decrease.

Evan Research Manager Ilkka Haavisto estimates that the war in Ukraine has revealed a clear security deficit in Finland.

“The big change in public opinion means that Finns have been surprised,” Haavisto says in a press release.

Fin In a recent survey, it looked at citizens’ perceptions of NATO membership in terms of more than 20 different factors.

Finns widely believe that NATO membership would increase Finland’s access to information on security threats. On the other hand, three out of five respondents also believed that Finland would be more often involved as a party in international crises and participate in dangerous crisis management tasks.

Two-thirds of respondents to the survey estimate that membership would not affect the need to maintain universal conscription. In addition, more than half are of the opinion that membership does not affect the will of Finns to defend their country.

Relations with Russia, on the other hand, are expected to deteriorate widely. This is the opinion of 80% of respondents.

Based on the survey, most Finns share an assessment of whether Finland could be subjected to military force with membership. One-third of respondents believe the threat will increase with membership and another-third will decrease.

Economic research More than 2,000 Finns responded to the survey in the first half of March.

Evan the result of a survey published last week 60 per cent of Finns support joining NATO. Support was clearly highest in Eva’s follow-up since 1998.