The study, whose findings were published on Monday, shows that Europeans are becoming increasingly conscious of the risks associated with buying counterfeit goods and accessing content from illegal sources.
The study comprised 25,824 online interviews across the EU conducted from 30 January to 15 February, with respondents aged 15 and over.
According to the study, 80% of Europeans believe that criminal organisations are behind counterfeit products and acknowledge that such purchases harm businesses and employment. Moreover, 83% think that buying counterfeits supports unethical behavior, and two-thirds recognise the potential threats to health, safety, and the environment.
When it comes to digital piracy, 82% agree that accessing content illegally poses risks such as scams and exposure to inappropriate content for minors.
Despite these findings, the study shows that 31% of Europeans find it acceptable to buy counterfeit products if the price of the genuine product is too high. Among consumers aged 15-24, this figure jumps to 50%.
In the last year, only 9% of respondents from Croatia and 8% from Finland bought counterfeit goods. The EU average was 13%. Bulgaria and Estonia led the way in the purchase of fakes.
Moreover, 46% of Croats asked themselves if they had bought an original product, which was seven percentage points above the EU average.
With 45%, Croatia was also above the EU average of 43% in legally accessing, downloading and streaming online content, but was, at 7%, below the EU average of 11% in uploading protected content.
When it comes to intentional illegal access to online sports, Croatians were at the EU average of 12%, but were, at 16%, above the EU average of 14% in intentionally accessing online content via illegal sources.
Asked if they thought that it was acceptable to access online content via illegal sources, 8% of Croatians said they fully agreed with that statement, 27% agreed in part, 38% disagreed in part and 26% fully disagreed. The results are similar to the EU average. Danes were the most numerous among those who disagreed with the statement, while Slovaks were the most numerous among those who agreed.