I suspect it's more about public perception than hard facts: There's a huge difference in opinion about the EU in its member states, even those in ostensibly si

I suspect it's more about public perception than hard facts: There's a huge difference in opinion about the EU in its member states, even those in ostensibly similar economic circumstances. Take some of its smaller members with a similar GDP per capita (entries 37-42 of [1]), and compare their agreement with the statement (OUR COUNTRY) could better face the future outside the EU according to Special Eurobarometer 415 from 2014 [2][3]: Agree Disagree Czech Republic 42% 49% Slovenia 42% 48% Slovakia 28% 64% Estonia 21% 74% Lithuania 22% 71% Portugal 37% 52% The Eurobarometer poll had the UK at 47% agree / 41% disagree, so one could have predicted a result of 53% in favour of leaving the EU, which is not far off and likely influenced by common anti-EU rhetoric among British media and politicians. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita#List_of_countries_and_dependencies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)... [2] http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_415_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_415_en.p... [3] http://i.imgur.com/2kNwdtf.png http://i.imgur.com/2kNwdtf.png