Many Italians still under-informed about Expo Milano 2015: survey

As the Expo Milano 2015 approaches, only a minority of Italians seemed to be well informed about its topics and goals, a survey showed on Monday.

The world exposition will run from May 1 to Oct. 31 under the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", gathering representatives from 145 countries and regions in Italy's main economic hub, Milan. Some 20 million visitors are expected.

Yet, less than eight weeks before its opening, only 23.2 percent of citizens claimed to have a "thorough knowledge" of such a major event, according to a poll by local daily newspaper, La Stampa.

Some 56.4 of those involved in the survey said they were aware of it but superficially, having heard or read something on the radio or in newspapers.

Overall, 20.4 percent of people said they either did not know about the Expo at all, or heard something but had no time to follow any further news.

The survey was carried out by Community Media Research company in cooperation with Italy's Intesa SanPaolo bank with 1,404 citizens being involved.

To further analyze the average information Italians have so far gathered, the poll explored their expectations. People in the survey were allowed multiple answers.

Over 58 percent of them said they would expect the Expo "to help ensure everyone in the world has access to enough food and water", and 56.2 percent would have experts "find a proper balance between global food availability and resource consumption" with the help of new technologies.

More questions were put to people to check the quality of information they claimed to have and, considering all responses, the average knowledge proved lower than expected.

Three different profiles of awareness in fact emerged from the survey. The first was made of a 16.9 percent of "well-informed" people, who followed the news about the Expo and were able to recall its theme and goals correctly. This minority comprised many people aged between 55 and 64, graduates, and entrepreneurs.

Some 45.8 percent of people formed the second profile: it comprised those who were at least superficially aware of the upcoming Expo, and even familiar with its theme, but with not much else. These were mainly people between the ages of 25 and 54, jobless, housewives, and again several graduates.

The third profile included a 37.3 percent of "under-informed "people, who had an incorrect knowledge of the Expo, or not at all, and were not able to identify any goal or topic. Most of them were youngsters under 24, elders over 65, housewives, and undergraduates. Endit