Spain and Italy worry about unemployment, Hungary and Poland about healthcare, France about terrorism, Germany about poverty and inequality, and Britain – predictably – about immigration.

The main concerns of people in Europe have been revealed by the Ipsos Mori study “What Worries the World.” The report contains the results of an online survey of adults aged under 65 carried out in 25 countries. These include the USA, Australia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and nine EU members. It emerges that the world’s main worries are unemployment (38%), corruption (33%) and poverty and social inequality (33%), but fears vary in significant ways in each context.

Europeans come out as the most concerned in 7 of the 17 issues analysed by the study.

Hungarians are the most worried about healthcare (59%), British about immigration control (42%) and extremism (28%), Spain and Italy about unemployment (70 and 66% respectively). Italy also tops the list of those concerned about taxation (40%), and Poland about child obesity (9%). France comes second among countries worried about terrorism (55%), after Turkey (76%),

With regard to immigration, the UK is followed in the ranking by Germany (41%), Sweden (33%) and Italy (32%).

When looking at the future, the most pessimistic of all are the French, as 88% think things are going in the wrong direction and 12% feel all is going well. The British are relatively positive, with 44% thinking things are progressing well. This is slightly above the global average, and the most optimistic response out of the European countries. In July, after the EU referendum, this percentage was only 31%.

The most optimistic countries are China (90%), Saudi Arabia (71%) and India (67%).

The three main concerns of European countries included in the study (table re-elaborated from the original).

Claudia Delpero © all rights reserved.

Photo by Francesco Malavolta © Frontex, 2015 / Source: EC – Audiovisual Service.