Skip to Content

Water Aid Public Perceptions of Aid Spending

Public priorities of the UK’s foreign aid budget

  • One third of British adults think ‘humanitarian disasters and emergencies’ currently receives the greatest investment from the UK’s foreign aid budget (32% rank 1st, mean score: 3.22), with one in five who say the same of ‘water, hygiene and sanitation’ (21% rank 1st, mean score: 3.24).
  • Consistent with 2015, climate and the environment is the sector, of those tested, which British adults believe currently receives the least investment from the UK’s foreign aid budget (4% rank 1st, mean score: 5.84).
  • A quarter (24%) of British adults rank ‘water, hygiene and sanitation’ as the sector which should receive the greatest investment from the UK’s foreign aid budget, with a similar proportion (23%) say the same of humanitarian disasters and emergencies.
  • The climate and environment appear to be more highly prioritised as a sector which should receive the greatest investment than four years ago (mean score of 5.03 out of 8 in 2019 vs. 6.01 out of 8 in 2015, where 1 = receives the greatest investment and 8 = receives the lowest investment).
  • Those that say they intend to vote Conservative or the Brexit Party are significantly more likely than those who intend to vote Labour or Lib Dem to rank ‘water, hygiene and sanitation’ as the sector which should receive the greatest investment from the UK’s foreign aid budget (29% Cons, 30% Brexit Party, 21% Lab, 20% Lib Dem).

Date Published: 14/11/2019

Categories: GB | International | Politics | Public and communities | Social | Third Sector

Client: Water Aid

Methodology

Savanta ComRes interviewed 2,006 GB adults online between the 4th and 6th October 2019. Data were weighted to be representative of all British adults by age, gender, region and social grade.

  1. Water-Aid_Savanta_ComRes_Perceptions-of-Aid_Tables_Oct2019 0.02 MB.

View Polls

Read More
Explore