Growing feeling of safety among the population in Germany

With increasing vaccination rates and decreasing numbers of infections, the population's feeling of safety is also rising. As the results of the 37th edition of the BfR-Corona-Monitor, a regular survey conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), show, the majority of the population in Germany thinks it can control its risk of an infection well. "62 percent are confident that they can protect themselves from an infection with the coronavirus," says BfR-President Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel. "We see that the feeling of safety has increased considerably. At the end of March of this year, only 40 percent of the respondents felt they could protect themselves from an infection."

At the same time, fewer people consider the probability of contracting the coronavirus through proximity to other people to be high. A difference can be seen in the age groups: While 70 percent of those under 40 consider an infection through proximity to others to be likely, only 55 percent of those over 60 do so - possibly because more people in this age group have already been vaccinated.

The greater perceived safety from an infection also seems to have an impact on the population's leisure behaviour. For example, 59 percent of respondents say they have left the house less often in the past two weeks and 71 percent say they have limited personal contacts. At the end of March 2021, when infection rates were starting to increase again, these figures were both 10 percentage points higher.

In addition to increasing contacts and more activities outside the home, it is evident that the population is also less concerned about their social relationships. Since the end of April 2021, the proportion of respondents who are worried about this has fallen from 40 percent to currently 24 percent. Concerns about the economic situation and physical and mental health are also slowly declining among the population.

INFORMATION:

About the BfR-Corona-Monitor The BfR-Corona-Monitor is a recurring (multi-wave) representative survey on the risk perception of the population in Germany towards the novel coronavirus. Every week between 24 March and 26 May 2020, around 500 randomly selected people were asked by telephone about their assessment of the risk of infection and their protective measures, among other things. Since June 2020, the survey is continued every two weeks with about 1,000 respondents each. A summary of the data is regularly published on the homepage of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. More information about the method and sample can be found in publications about the BfR-Corona-Monitor.

About the BfR The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a scientifically independent institution within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in Germany. It advises the German federal government and German federal states ("Laender") on questions of food, chemical and product safety. The BfR conducts its own research on topics that are closely linked to its assessment tasks.

This text version is a translation of the original German text which is the only legally binding version.