New Delhi: The pandemic is far from over. And while the world combats the virus via measures and vaccinations, the Ipsos What Worries the World, global monthly July 2021 report shows at least 6 in 10 Urban Indians (60%) believe India is moving in the right direction. A 3% improvement from the June wave. In May the sentiment had lowered due to the strong, infectious Second Wave of the Coronavirus. For global citizens, the sentiment has been downbeat all through the pandemic, and in this wave too, at least 63% of global citizens believe their country is on wrong track.
“India has taken tighter measures by imposing weekend and night curfews, banning mass rallies, and increasing the pace of the vaccination drive to cover urban and rural citizens. There is an increased level of accountability on the part of the Central and the state governments and with the infections lowering, the overall belief is showing improvement. We still cannot throw the caution to the winds yet,” said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.
Global citizens on the contrary have only 37% believing their country is moving in the right direction. 63% of global citizens believe their country is on wrong track.
World Worries; India’s worries
Global citizens worry most about the Corona Virus (36%), Unemployment (32%), Poverty and Social Inequality (31%), Financial & Political Corruption (30%), and Crime and Violence (26%).
While Urban Indians worry most about the Corona Virus (44%), Unemployment (41%), Financial and Political Corruption (32%), Poverty and Social Inequality (25%), and Healthcare (23%). Worry levels for the Corona Virus have dropped by 18% over June and worry around Unemployment has dipped by 3%.
“These issues continue to perturb Urban Indians. But worry levels around COVID19 receding by 18% is a positive sign and actions of tighter controls and increased vaccination is working, though there is vaccination of children and combating the virus completely still to be tackled. These worries are inter-related and a byproduct of the pandemic,” added Adarkar.
COVID19 is the biggest worry for Malaysia (76%) and Japan (59%) – Japan is hosting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and there is a concern as infections have been steadily rising.
And Unemployment is the biggest worry in South Africa (62%).
