This technical report gives an overview of a large project on vaccination acceptance and demand and illustrates its outcomes and lessons learnt. The overarching objective of the project, started in 2019 and completed in 2022, was to facilitate and execute research on vaccine confidence by identifying behavioural determinants of vaccine hesitancy across different subgroups of the population, like parents and healthcare workers, for specific categories of vaccines in several Member States of the European Union. Furthermore, the project seized the opportunity to take stock of the progress made in understanding the behavioural determinants of vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. This invaluable knowledge is fundamental to improved health emergency preparedness, response plans and infrastructures.
COVID-19
This report takes stock of the literature in behavioural sciences about COVID-19 misinformation. It covers issues such as who was most likely to believe or share COVID-19 misinformation, the consequences of being exposed to or believing COVID-19 misinformation, and which behavioural policy interventions to counter COVID-19 misinformation are effective. The report also provides a snapshot of the prevalence and spread of Covid-19 misinformation as well as its narratives. It generates insights into policies that can help foster societal resilience against misinformation beyond the specific case of COVID-19. This contributes to preparation for future crises.
The second edition of the Atlas of Demography contains data on mortality, fertility and migration, population projections, new thematic stories, and a more user-friendly look. The Atlas of Demography is a living tool created by the Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (KCMD) to support the integration of demographic analysis into EU policymaking.
Two thematic stories in the Atlas of Demography focus on return migration as well as depopulation and brain drain. Depopulation and ageing are two intertwined factors affecting the future of Europe and particularly its rural areas where 30% of the total EU population live.
A new JRC Technical Report looks at the labour market participation trends for natives, EU-born migrants and non-EU born migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report confirms that the pandemic had an unequal impact on the employment rates among native and migrant workers.
A report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) shows that when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in 2020, the support for national governments initially rose in several European countries. Then, as the pandemic dragged on, people’s support for their governments started to decline. The decline was the sharpest among women, the self-employed and students.
One in four EU citizens reported feeling lonely most of the time during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic. This is more than double the levels of loneliness reported in a similar survey conducted in 2016. The report “Loneliness in the EU: Insights from surveys and online media data” explores how loneliness evolved during the pandemic as compared to previous years, for Europeans of all ages.
Sustainable food systems, the situation in the European agricultural market as well as specific challenges related to COVID-19 and African swine fever were the main items discussed during the informal videoconference meeting of the agricultural and fisheries ministers. Ministers also touched upon the EU forest related policies and the EU forest strategy.
On 23 October 2020 the online symposium on “Managing the Green Transition”, organised by the EC Competence Centre on Behavioural Insights took place. The symposium addressed policymakers and behavioural scientists, and discussed learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic for the climate crisis with a focus on the individual behavioural level.
An article by former European Commissioner Janez Potočnik.
Cleaner air since the start of coronavirus restriction measures could lead to a global increase in wheat yields this year of between 2% and 8%, according to a study led by the JRC.
This Policy Brief focuses on the vital role of biodiversity for human life and the importance of integrating biodiversity considerations into the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
The bioeconomy could play a significant role in Europe’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, if governments and industries capitalize on shifting demands and priorities, adapt to the new funding realities and learn some lessons regarding prevention rather than adaptation.
One of the chief recommendations made at a workshop was the important role for regions in realising the green transformation of the European bioeconomy.
The Biofuture Platform, a twenty-country, multi-stakeholder initiative, designed to take action on climate change and support the Sustainable Development Goals by promoting international coordination on the sustainable low-carbon bioeconomy, announced the launch of a set of voluntary principles.
Household food waste in the UK has increased by nearly a third as coronavirus lockdown restrictions have been eased and could spiral further, new research has warned.
New studies published today by the JRC explain the relationship between human mobility and the spread of coronavirus, as well as the effectiveness of mobility restriction measures to contain the pandemic. The findings, based on aggregated and anonymised mobile phone location data, will support policymakers in formulating the best data-driven approaches for ending confinement, mapping the socio-economic effects of lockdown measures and informing early warning systems for potential new outbreaks.
COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of our economies to shocks, with governments desperately looking for recovery options that deliver new jobs and growth. The pandemic has also laid bare glaring inequalities in our societies, threatening to derail achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The agricultural development sector has stalled as field work has been restricted. In discussions held online from their homes around the world, researchers have observed a new vista emerging of a changed world, one to which they, too, must adapt, finding new ways of working and new systems that are more resilient to the current and future pandemics.
The ongoing health crisis around COVID-19 has raised global concerns on food and nutrition security. India has not seen immediate serious disruptions in the food system during the pandemic primarily because of good harvests in the previous crop seasons; sufficient buffer stock of grains, and a slew of welfare measures declared by the Government to protect vulnerable populations e.g. smallholder farmers, agricultural laborers, migrant workers, etc.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Food Programme (WFP) are warning that severe underfunding, conflict and disasters – as well as supply chain challenges, rising food prices and loss of income due to COVID19 - threaten to leave millions of refugees across Africa without food.