Undue attachment to territory

The region people identify with -- the place where they live and feel at home -- more often than not is a smaller geographical area than their country, regardless of the latter's size. It is a physical, social and cultural area with which they identify. However, regional or local or national attachment are not mutually exclusive.

The great majority of the EEC/EU population see themselves as "very" or "fairly" attached to their region (87 %), their town or their village (85 %) -- almost as many as those who feel attached to their country (88 %). Among those who feel "very attached", the region comes first (55 %), with town or village coming second (54 %) and country third (53 %). Regional attachment within the EC is most marked in the three southernmost countries: Greece (97 %), Portugal (94 %), and Spain (93 %)/ These are also the countries where people are most attached to the town or village (94 % for Portugal, 93 % for Spain and Greece). Attachment to the country is strongest among the Danes (98 %), Greeks (97 %), Irish (95 %) and Portuguese (94 %). Those seeing themselves as "quite" or "very" attached to Europe as a whole scores highest in Denmark (61 %), Italy (59 %), Spain and Greece (52 %) and France (50%). Whatever the degree of attachment, it increases with age and media consumption. There is little variation according to gender or political opinions.