"Fight for your own country" is such a vague concept that will mean vastly different things to different people.
It's not a surprise that in Eastern Europe the percentage is significantly higher, because there it means "fight against an authoritarian invader who will strip us of our freedoms and will destroy much of what our country stands for".
In Western Europe it means ... what exactly? There are no immediate obvious threats and it's nothing more than a vague expression of patriotism lacking any sort of concrete meaning.
I bet you'd get very different answers with "if Russia would invade your country, then would you be willing to serve in the army to defend it?" And even that would be biased, because such a hypothetical question comes off as very different if it's not all that hypothetical.
> I bet you'd get very different answers with "if Russia would invade your country, then would you be willing to serve in the army to defend it?" And even that would be biased, because such a hypothetical question comes off as very different if it's not all that hypothetical.
Sorry, I don't quite understand – what do you mean, “biased”? Are you saying it should be "if Russia would invade your country...”, or what? If so, then that's silly. Asking the question in the shape of what might happen in stead of what with overwhelming likelyhood won't isn't “bias”, it's just common sense. Or realism, if you will.
It's likely that the countries with the lowest percentage are just coddled by the prolonged time of peace in Europe. The Finnish populace's willingness to fight for their country ("maanpuolustustahto") has increased from 68% to 83% between 2021 and 2022.
Meaningless when most people didn't expect war to ever happen in Europe again. A German defense minister once famously said the Bundeswehr was defending Germany at the Hindu Kush - of course no one wants to sign up for that.
It's not a surprise that in Eastern Europe the percentage is significantly higher, because there it means "fight against an authoritarian invader who will strip us of our freedoms and will destroy much of what our country stands for".
In Western Europe it means ... what exactly? There are no immediate obvious threats and it's nothing more than a vague expression of patriotism lacking any sort of concrete meaning.
I bet you'd get very different answers with "if Russia would invade your country, then would you be willing to serve in the army to defend it?" And even that would be biased, because such a hypothetical question comes off as very different if it's not all that hypothetical.