Poles believe in conspiracy theories and trust science less than the EU average
23:03
In September this year European Commission published a report entitled Knowledge and attitudes of European citizens towards science and technology. Supporting science and innovation is one of the European Union's top priorities, as noted in the document, which was based on a quiz on natural history, demography, geography, and conspiracy theories.
In the Eurobarometer knowledge test, Poland ranks 5th from the bottom among the 27 Member States. Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Greece were the worst performers. Citizens of countries such as Luxembourg, Belgium, Sweden, and Ireland were ranked the highest.
28 percent of Poles agreed with the thesis that "the first people lived at the same time as the dinosaurs." The majority (58 percent) considered this sentence untrue, and 14 percent couldn't answer the question. As for the percentage of incorrect answers to the above question, Poland came 5th (along with Austria). The Swedes had the fewest incorrect answers (3), and the highest – Romanians and Italians (34 each).
According to the survey, almost every second Pole (44 percent) claims that the world's population has exceeded 10 billion. In turn, 43 percent of our compatriots believe that a laser works by focusing sound waves – the worst result in the EU.
More than 3 in 10 Poles (36 percent) do not agree with the theory of evolution, and 40 percent think viruses were produced in laboratories to control our freedom. 53 percent of Romanian citizens agree with this thesis, like 52 percent Cypriots and Bulgarians and every second Croat.
