Special Eurobarometer 367: Harmonised numbers for services of social value-116

In light of the low availability of 116 services, and with a view to the enhanced requirements of the revised Universal Services Directive to raise awareness, in May 2011, the Commission carried out a Eurobarometer survey to assess the level of awareness in the Member States. The strong support expressed across the European Union for the five types of helplines (85-91% of Europeans think that these numbers are fairly or very useful) demonstrates the importance of providing these services and of unifying them under a single numbering range throughout the EU. Across the EU, three out of four people feel that their Government does not provide enough information about the 116 helplines. The low level of awareness of those 116 services that are operational (seldom exceeding 1% and never exceeding 7% for any number in any Member State) strongly suggests that people are quite right to report a lack of information. As the European Union steadily becomes more integrated and barriers between Member States continue to be dismantled, more and more EU citizens are spending time in Member States other than their home country, whether as tourists, students or workers. Recognising this ongoing change in European society, the European Commission adopted a decision in 2007 requiring Member States to reserve all six-digit telephone numbers starting with 116 for services of social value. As with the pan-European emergency services number, 112, which was established in 2003, the purpose of the 116 numbers is to give EU citizens a common set of free phone telephone numbers that they can use when in need or distress no matter where they happen to be within the EU2. #####The results by volumes are distributed as follows: * Volume A: Countries * Volume AA: Groups of countries * Volume A' (AP): Trends * Volume AA' (AAP): Trends of groups of countries * Volume B: EU/socio-demographics * Volume B' (BP) : Trends of EU/ socio-demographics * Volume C: Country/socio-demographics ---- Researchers may also contact GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences: [https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer](https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer)