OREANDA-NEWS. February 20, 2014. The Eurobarometer survey indicates that Estonians are hopeful about the economy and their own futures, have strong support for the Euro, and are receptive to internationalism.

According to the survey, which was released today, 74 percent of Estonians are satisfied with their lives as a whole, which is on average with the other European Union nations surveyed. However, that postive outlook by Estonian citizens is the highest it was been since autumn of 2008.

More than half of Estonians believe that the economic situation will remain as-is in the next year, 30 percent believe that it will improve, and 15 percent predict that it will get worse. Estonians are much more optimistic when it comes to the union, as 30 percent of EU citizens believe the economic situation will grow worse.

This pattern continued in household economics. Only 9 percent of Estonians feared hardship at home, while 19 percent of EU citizens did so.

Support for the Euro has grown among Estonians, with 76 percent of the citizens in favor of the single currency. Only in Luxembourg (79 percent), Slovakia (78 percent), and Slovenia (78 percent) was support stronger. Half of Estonians believed that inflation is the biggest current problem, while one-third listed unemployment.

Thirty-one percent of Estonians were "very open" to international experiences, such as visiting member states, learning a foreign language or reading or watching foreign sources, or buying foreign goods through the internet. This was higher than the European average.

Eurobarometer is a series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the European Commission since 1973. These surveys address a wide variety of topical issues relating to the European Union throughout the EU Member States. The Estonian survey was conducted November 17, targeting EU citizens and that were able to respond in Estonian or Russian.