The polling was carried out from March 16-23. This was before the latest airspace breaches by Ukrainian drones on March 25 and then again a week later on March 31.

The Government Office put the change down to "global events" but did not specify any particular event. However, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues.

"The survey shows that people's sense of security has declined. Likely due to global events, the share of residents experiencing anxiety has increased from 34 percent in December to 39 percent in March, and only 38 percent of respondents believe that the Estonian state can feel secure — the lowest figure in the past three years. It should be noted that the survey was conducted before the drone threat incidents of recent weeks," a press release states.

Rising fuel prices are also reflected in the survey results. While 58 percent of respondents were worried about a shortage of electricity or other energy resources in December, this had risen to 71 percent in March.

Support for Estonia's membership in NATO remains consistently high: 77 percent of residents either definitely or rather support membership. Compared with the last survey in December, support has risen slightly among residents of other nationalities to 52 percent.

Condemnation of Russia's military actions in Ukraine also remains high at 81 percent.

Support for sanctions against Russia has increased slightly, with 56 percent of residents backing sanctions even if they lead to a significant rise in energy and food prices.

Trust in the government (36 percent) and the Riigikogu (34 percent) has remained stable compared with December.

However, trust in the president has increased significantly, reaching 76 percent — the highest level in the past three years. This comes after several months of public arguments with the government and less than half a year before the presidential election in August.

Trust has also risen in the European Union (from 48 percent to 53 percent) and ERR (from 61 percent to 66 percent).

A sense of belonging to Estonian society, which fluctuated considerably last year, is recovering, rising from 76 percent in December to 82 percent. The increase has occurred both among ethnic Estonians (+5 percentage points) and among residents of other nationalities (+7 percentage points).

The survey was conducted by the pollster Emor from March 16–23 on behalf of the Government Office, with 1,637 participants.

The monitoring survey aims to map residents' attitudes on key societal issues, including economic coping, sense of security, trust in state institutions and international security.

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