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In its research, the Public Opinion Research Centre focused on the coronavirus crisis and citizens' experiences with it. In the second half of November and the first half of December, more than two-thirds (69%) of Czech citizens over the age of 15 were interested in the situation regarding the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

In connection with the spread of the new type of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, approximately four-fifths of Czech citizens over the age of 15 are concerned about health care restrictions outside COVID-19 (80%) and the health of their loved ones (79%).

A large part of the special ‘Food 2021’ survey focused on the topic of food self-provisioning and growing food in the garden. Three-fifths (59%) of people at least sometimes prepare preserves at home and around one-third (35%) of people at least sometimes bake their own bread at home. Almost one-half (49%) of people grow food in their garden, and 6% do so in their flat or on their balcony.

One-half (50%) of people regularly work, i.e. at least once a month, in a garden or allotment (in season), 29% forage for mushrooms, wild berries, or herbs, and 19% raise livestock.

More than two-fifths (42%) of respondents believe that there has been no change in their household’s food self-provisioning in the present compared to ten years ago.

In our special Food 2021 survey the Public Opinion Research Centre examined the culture of eating. Most people east three (41%) or four (30%) meals a day. The room in the home in which people most often eat their meals is the kitchen (53%), followed by the dining room (27%) and the living room (18%). 35% of people regularly, i.e. at least once every two weeks, eat at a canteen/cafeteria, 33% at a restaurant, 21% at a fast-food restaurant, and 18% each at a cafe or in another home (usually the home of a family member or when visiting someone).

The majority (71%) of the Czech public never orders food through food delivery app (e.g. Wolt, Dámejídlo, Uber Eats), 26% do so sometimes, and 2% do so regularly

In its July 2021 survey, the Our Society series included a battery of questions on issues of the energy system, with a detailed focus on nuclear energy and some aspects of handling radioactive waste. The study inquired how well informed about nuclear waste citizens themselves feel, how reliable they consider different sources of information on nuclear safety, how they think spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste are currently being handled in the country, how today’s society should respond to the problem of radioactive waste, and how they view different issues of building a deep geological repository of radioactive waste.

In its July 2021 survey, the Our Society series included a battery of questions on issues of nuclear energy. The survey examined public opinion about whether the proportion of nuclear energy in electricity production should increase or decrease in future, what people think about building a new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station (DNPS), whether or not they are concerned about the use of nuclear energy in the country, and whether they have confidence in the government’s decisions about the development of nuclear energy.

In the July survey the Public Opinion Research Centre focused on the issue of energetics. The survey dealt with a question of the future development of electricity consumption in the country, and whether or not it is possible to replace the production of electricity from conventional sources with alternative sources.

In its special ‘Food 2021’ survey the Public Opinion Research Centre at the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, examined the Czech public’s attitudes and opinions on the issue of food waste. More than two fifths (43%) of people believe that food waste is a big problem, while another approximately two-fifths (42%) believe that food waste is wrong but there are more urgent problems that need solving, and around one-seventh (14%) do not consider food waste to be a problem in society.

A more than one-half majority (53%) of respondents go shopping for food several times a week, one-quarter (25%) go grocery shopping once a week, and 10% of respondents shop every day.

The Czech public believe that food services are the biggest source of food waste, and that food production contributes the least to food waste. These results, however, are very different from EU estimates on this issue.

The most important factor the Czech public considers when shopping for food is price, followed by a food’s ingredients, while the least important factor is the food’s packaging.

For a more than one-half majority (51%) of respondents the environmental impact of how the foods they buy are produced is important to them, while for 45% this consideration is not important at all.

The absolute majority (91%) of the Czech public eat regular food without any restrictions, 3% are vegetarians and 3% are flexitarians, and the remaining 3% adhere to some other type of diet (gluten-free, health food, vegan).

One-third (33%) of respondents indicated they at least occasionally by organic food, which compared to 2020 is an increase of 10 percentage points.

The Public Opinion Research Centre’s special ‘Food 2021’ survey also explored the subject of the sorting of organic waste and composting.

Almost three-quarters of Czech households sort their organic waste (32% always, 24% sometimes, 17% rarely) and less than one-quarter (24%) never do so.

 The most common methods of sorting organic waste used by Czech households are garden composting (43%) or the ‘brown-bin’ organic waste containers provided by public services (36%).

Almost one-half (49%) of respondents indicated that they at least sometimes use substrate compost for plant cultivation and just under one-third (31%) use commercially available compost for this purpose. 

The majority (84%) of the Czech Republic has never heard of the CRISPR/Cas9 method.

 A more than one-half majority (60%) of the Czech public agrees with the possibility of using the CRISPR/Cas9 method for medical purposes. The Czech public least agrees with the possibility oof using this method to improve the performance of athletes (66% do not agree with this idea).

On the matter of treating hereditary diseases, most respondents (37%) agreed with using the CRISPR/Cas9 method only in medically justified cases and on the condition that none of the patient’s altered genetic information be passed on to any offspring.