The Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas was very pleased with the results of the poll. "It is remarkable that an absolute majority of Lithuanian citizens have a positive opinion both on the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and NATO membership. It is particularly encouraging to know that people in Lithuania feel very positive towards our allies. We may actually sense a really strong desire of the Lithuanian citizens to see our allies involved in the security of Lithuania in an even more active fashion," Minister J. Olekas said.
The Minister also highlighted the increased public visibility of the armed forces. "The Lithuanian Armed Forces conducted numerous exercises in cities and other urban areas and actively developed relations with local communities last year. Now we have clear results – the number of people who have never seen Lithuanian soldiers in military uniform has decreased significantly," the Minister says.
„We can see that security and defence matters greatly to the society of Lithuania – the vast majority of the citizens understands the importance of increasing defence budget and the collective defence commitments to other members of the Alliance," J. Olekas stated.
Highly positive attitude towards NATO allies
According to the opinion poll, roughly 81% support or fully support Lithuania's NATO membership. Only one in ten Lithuanian citizens claimed the opposite, while another 9% were not sure.
Roughly 82% of the citizens speak in support or fully support permanent presence of NATO allies on the territory of Lithuania. 13% of respondents disapprove and 5% are not sure.
According to the survey, 72% of the Lithuanian population feel that NATO should send in more personnel and equipment to Lithuania. Roughly 19% would object, while 9% were not sure.
Lithuanian residents support allocation of 2% of GDP for national defence
Two thirds of the population of Lithuania (approx. 67% of the respondents) approve or fully approve the need to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP. One in ten of the respondents could provide no opinion and roughly 23% of the respondents opposed.
Deployment of Lithuanian troops to operations abroad is strongly supported
Roughly 65% of the respondents indicated that they would support deploying Lithuanian soldiers to operations abroad in case of a request from NATO. 26% claimed that Lithuania should not send soldiers abroad, and 9% of the respondents were not sure about the issue.
The number of Lithuanians who see Lithuanian soldiers in military uniform has increased
As compared with the survey results of 2014, the number of Lithuanian residents saying they had never seen Lithuanian soldiers in military uniform in their living area decreased by 15%. The number of those saying they saw Lithuanian soldiers in military uniform at least once a year went up by 7%, of those saying it happened at least once a month - by 3%, and at least once a week - by 5%.
The poll was commissioned by the Ministry of National Defence and carried out by public opinion polling company RAIT Ltd on 5-16 December 2015. The sample was 1,038 permanent residents of Lithuania at the age of 18–74. Margin of error in the data is ±3%. The data concerning visibility of Lithuanian soldiers wearing uniforms is obtained through analogous surveys carried out by RAIT Ltd. and Spinter Tyrimai Ltd. in December 2014 and November 2015 respectively.
