ifo Expert Survey: Negative Effects in Northern and Eastern Europe Due to War in Ukraine

Economic experts in Northern and Eastern Europe are seeing the negative impact of the war in Ukraine on the political and economic situation in their countries particularly clearly. This is a finding of the Economic Experts Survey (EES) conducted by the ifo Institute and the Swiss Economic Policy Institute (IWP). “Since the outbreak of the war, respondents who mention the keywords ‘Russia,’ ‘Ukraine,’ ‘NATO’ or ‘War’ in their answers have a much more negative view of their country’s political and economic situation than the others,” says ifo researcher Tuuli Tähtinen

Respondents in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are particularly aware of the consequences of the war. Between spring 2022 and 2024, an average of 22 percent of the respondents in Estonia, 15 percent in Latvia, and 12 percent in Lithuania mentioned either “Russia,” “Ukraine” or “NATO” in their answers. Mentions of the war were least likely to be found among the experts in Poland and Hungary, as well as in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In Finland, the average was 7 percent.

Experts were surveyed in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Hungary, and Poland, as well as in Ukraine and Russia.