Table of contents
- Why fake news statistics matter
- The core numbers at a glance
- How people judge the problem
- Who people think should respond
- What people trust when they want reliable news
- Where misinformation feels most visible
- Democracy, concern, and satisfaction
- News literacy and uncertainty
- What the figures suggest
Fake news statistics are useful because they show both perception and exposure: people can believe misinformation is widespread even when they feel confident spotting it, and those two ideas can coexist in the same survey. Across the available survey results, the pattern is consistent: fake news is widely treated as a problem, trusted news brands still matter, and many people remain unsure where to verify suspicious claims (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018; Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
Why fake news statistics matter
The phrase “fake news” can mean different things to different audiences, but the statistics in this dataset focus on a simple question: how often people encounter misleading information, how serious they think the problem is, and what they believe should be done about it. That makes the numbers more practical than abstract debate. They show attitudes toward misinformation, trust in news, and the connection between concern and democratic satisfaction across countries and regions (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018; Pew Research Center 2025; Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
A few of the clearest signals stand out immediately:
- 85% of respondents said fake news are a problem in their country (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 83% said fake news represent a danger to democracy in the EU survey and 83% said fake news are a problem for democracy in general (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 58% of respondents worldwide said they are worried about what is real and fake online when it comes to news (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 13% of respondents said they do not know where they would check suspicious information (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
Those four figures define the tension at the center of the topic: broad concern, uneven confidence, and a real information gap.
The core numbers at a glance
Here is a compact view of the most cited figures in the dataset.
| Metric | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fake news are a problem in respondents’ country | 85% | European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 |
| Fake news are a danger to democracy | 83% | European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 |
| Fake news are a problem for democracy in general | 83% | European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 |
| Respondents who come across fake news every day or almost every day | 37% | European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 |
| Respondents confident identifying fake news | 71% | European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 |
| Respondents who say journalists should mainly be responsible for stopping fake news | 45% | European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 |
| Respondents worried about what is real and fake online | 58% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 |
| Respondents who do not know where to check suspicious information | 13% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 |
| Adults across 35 countries who said made-up news is a very big problem | 59% | Pew Research Center 2025 |
| Adults across 35 countries who said made-up news is a big problem | More than 80% | Pew Research Center 2025 |
The table shows a recurring pattern: many people see the problem clearly, but the infrastructure for checking claims is still incomplete.
How people judge the problem
The European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 data is especially direct because it asks respondents whether fake news is a danger, a problem, and something they encounter frequently.
- 37% of respondents said they come across fake news every day or almost every day (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 83% said fake news represent a danger to democracy in the EU survey (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 85% said fake news are a problem in their country (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 83% said fake news are a problem for democracy in general (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
Taken together, those figures suggest a public that does not see fake news as a fringe issue. The scale of concern is not limited to a single complaint about bad content. It is tied to democratic risk, local conditions, and repeated exposure.
The Pew Research Center 2025 figures point in the same direction. Across 35 countries, 59% of adults said made-up news is a very big problem in their country, and more than eight-in-ten adults said it is a big problem (Pew Research Center 2025). That difference matters: even when people do not rate the issue as “very big,” the broader category of concern still captures a large majority.
A useful way to interpret the two surveys together is that the language changes, but the underlying sentiment stays strong. Whether people are asked about fake news, made-up news, or fabricated news, they tend to classify the problem as serious rather than trivial (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018; Pew Research Center 2025).
Concern is not evenly distributed
The Pew survey also shows variation by country. Among the places listed in the dataset:
- 51% of Americans said made-up news is a very big problem (Pew Research Center 2025).
- 43% of Canadians said the same (Pew Research Center 2025).
- 36% of Australians said the same (Pew Research Center 2025).
- 19% of Singaporeans said the same, while 49% said fabricated news is a small problem or not a problem at all (Pew Research Center 2025).
That spread matters because it shows the issue is both global and local. The topic is shared across countries, but public intensity is not uniform.
Who people think should respond
The European Commission Eurobarometer 2018 results are also useful because they ask who should be responsible for stopping the spread of fake news.
- 45% said journalists should be mainly responsible (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 39% said national authorities should be mainly responsible (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 36% said press and broadcasting management should be mainly responsible (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
Those three answers imply a distributed responsibility model rather than a single gatekeeper model. People place the strongest responsibility on journalists, but they still expect institutions and media leadership to play important roles.
That distribution makes sense in the context of the rest of the numbers. If 37% of respondents say they encounter fake news daily or almost daily, then the response cannot rely on one actor alone (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018). The problem is recurring, and the responsibility is shared.
Trusted news sources still matter
The same Eurobarometer dataset shows which news channels are still seen as trustworthy:
- 70% named radio as a trusted news source (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 66% named television (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 63% named printed newspapers and news magazines (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
These results matter because they show that trust is not fully collapsed. Even in a conversation dominated by misinformation anxiety, established media formats still retain major credibility.
What people trust when they want reliable news
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 gives a broader picture of news trust across many countries. The numbers vary widely, but the range itself is informative.
| Country or group | Trust most news most of the time | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Finland | 69% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| Denmark | 57% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| Norway | 53% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| Canada | 40% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| United States | 32% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| France | 30% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| Greece | 19% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
| United Kingdom | 33% | Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 |
The dispersion is striking. Finland sits far above Greece, and several countries cluster in the middle rather than at the top. The U.S. figure, at 32%, sits below Canada’s 40% and below many European countries in the dataset, while the U.K. sits at 33% (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
Trust and misinformation worry move together imperfectly
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 shows that worry about truthfulness online is still high:
- 58% of respondents worldwide said they are worried about what is real and fake online when it comes to news (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 73% in Africa said they are worried (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 73% in the United States said they are worried (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 54% in Europe said they are worried (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
Those numbers do not line up neatly with trust in news most of the time. That is the point. A person can distrust the digital environment while still trusting some news sources overall. The data suggests layered trust: people may trust specific brands or channels while remaining cautious about the online information ecosystem as a whole.
Where misinformation feels most visible
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 also asked respondents whether they had seen false or misleading information about specific topics in the last week.
- 18% of U.S. respondents said they saw false or misleading information about the war in Ukraine (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 12% of U.S. respondents said they saw false or misleading information about climate change (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 17% of U.S. respondents said they saw false or misleading information about COVID-19 (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 26% of U.S. respondents said they saw false or misleading information about politics (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 30% of UK respondents said they saw false or misleading information about the war in Ukraine (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 21% of UK respondents said they saw false or misleading information about climate change (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 45% of UK respondents said they saw false or misleading information about COVID-19 (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- 31% of UK respondents said they saw false or misleading information about politics (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
This is one of the clearest parts of the dataset because it shows topic sensitivity. The share who notice false or misleading information changes depending on the subject.
Topic comparisons that matter
The contrast between the U.S. and U.K. figures is especially revealing:
- For COVID-19 misinformation, the U.K. figure is much higher at 45% versus 17% in the U.S. (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- For politics, the U.K. figure is slightly higher at 31% versus 26% in the U.S. (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- For climate change, the U.K. figure is higher at 21% versus 12% in the U.S. (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
- For the war in Ukraine, the U.K. figure is also higher at 30% versus 18% in the U.S. (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023).
The message is not that one country is immune and another is not. The message is that the visibility of misinformation depends on the topic and the information environment around it.
Democracy, concern, and satisfaction
One of the most important findings in the dataset comes from Pew Research Center 2025: in 22 of 35 surveyed countries, people very concerned about made-up news were less likely to be satisfied with democracy (Pew Research Center 2025).
That finding does not prove simple cause and effect, but it does suggest a strong relationship between anxiety about misinformation and how people evaluate their political systems.
A few country-specific examples make the contrast visible:
- In Hungary, 34% of people very concerned about made-up news were satisfied with democracy, compared with 60% of those less concerned (Pew Research Center 2025).
- In Greece, 15% of people very concerned about made-up news were satisfied with democracy, compared with 36% of those less concerned (Pew Research Center 2025).
Those are large gaps. They imply that concern about misinformation may be part of a broader package of dissatisfaction, not an isolated digital worry.
Why the democratic angle matters
The Eurobarometer 2018 results already framed fake news as a democratic danger, and Pew 2025 extends that frame with satisfaction data. The overlap is important:
- 83% said fake news represent a danger to democracy in the EU survey (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- 83% said fake news are a problem for democracy in general (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- In 22 of 35 countries, stronger concern about made-up news lined up with lower democratic satisfaction (Pew Research Center 2025).
That combination means fake news statistics are not just about media hygiene. They are also about civic trust, institutional legitimacy, and how people interpret the health of their democracies.
News literacy and uncertainty
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 adds an important practical dimension: not everyone knows where to verify suspicious claims.
- 22% of the global sample said they had news literacy training (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 36% of under-35s said they had news literacy training (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 17% of people aged 35+ said they had news literacy training (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
- 13% of respondents said they do not know where they would check suspicious information (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
These numbers suggest a gap between awareness and action. Many people are aware of the problem, but fewer have structured training, and a nontrivial share do not know where to check suspicious claims at all.
That is important because confidence is not the same as competence. In the Eurobarometer 2018 survey, 71% of respondents said they feel confident identifying fake news (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018), yet 37% still said they encounter it every day or almost every day, and 13% in the Reuters 2025 data said they do not know where to verify suspicious information (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).
The combination suggests a familiar pattern in digital media literacy: people may feel capable in principle while still lacking a dependable verification habit in practice.
What the figures suggest
The full dataset paints a consistent picture across several years and survey programs. Fake news is widely seen as a serious problem, but the public response is uneven.
A few themes stand out clearly:
- Concern is broad. Large majorities say fake news or made-up news is a problem (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018; Pew Research Center 2025).
- Exposure is frequent. 37% said they come across fake news every day or almost every day (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- Trust remains selective rather than absent. Radio, television, and newspapers still score strongly as trusted sources (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- Responsibility is shared. People expect journalists, national authorities, and media leadership to help stop the spread (European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
- Democratic concern is real. In many countries, stronger concern about made-up news lines up with lower satisfaction with democracy (Pew Research Center 2025).
- Verification gaps persist. A meaningful minority do not know where to check suspicious information, even as many respondents say they are confident spotting fake news (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025; European Commission Eurobarometer 2018).
The most important takeaway is not that the public is helpless or misinformed by default. It is that fake news is now part of a broader trust problem. People are trying to navigate a news environment where warnings are high, trust is uneven, and verification is still not equally accessible to everyone (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025).