Indians are most worried about terrorism, unemployment, and financial and political corruption, despite the optimism that the country is headed in the right direction.
According to The Ipsos’ “What Worries the World Global Survey” for March, India and Sweden exhibited the greatest month-on-month increase in positive sentiment of all 28 countries, where the global poll was conducted.
China (95%) inspires the most confidence about its national direction with more than nine in 10 Chinese citizens saying that their country is moving in the right direction. Saudi Arabia (84%) is once more in second place followed by India (73%) and Malaysia, the survey said.
Majority of people across the participating nations feel their country is on the wrong track (58% on average), with South Africa (77%), France (77%), Spain (76%), Turkey (74%) and Belgium (74%) recording the greatest levels of apprehension, it said.
The top five global issues are:
- Financial/ Political corruption (34%)
- Poverty/Social Inequality (34%)
- Unemployment (33%)
- Crime & Violence (31%)
- Healthcare (24%)
In India, terrorism (45%) was the top concern followed by unemployment and jobs (44%). People in the country are equally worried about financial and political corruption (42%).
“Pulwama terror strike has propelled terrorism to the fore. It was way down in the pecking order in the past waves. Terrorism is bothering Indians the most. Likewise, lack of jobs is weighing on the minds of Indians and the government needs to take the bull by the horns and actively needs to address job creation and tighten its stranglehold on terrorism,” Parijat Chakraborty, service line leader, Ipsos Public Affairs, Customer Experience and Corporate Reputation, told a news agency.
However, only 7% are concerned about rise in extremism in the country.
The high level of worry for financial and political corruption can be gauged from the fact that 36 businessmen, including Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, have fled the country in recent years.
A total of 33% Indians expressed concern over rising crime and violence and 27% over poverty and social inequality.
Healthcare (12%), threats to the environment (14%) and climate change (14%) have failed to catch the attention of the country’s billion population. Taxes worried 9% of the correspondent.
“What Worries the World” is a monthly online survey of adults aged under 65 in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.
