New Delhi: According to the March 2021 wave of the Ipsos What Worries the World global monthly survey, joblessness remains India’s topmost worry and has further increased by 4% in worry levels. Likewise, COVID19 which is India’s 2nd most worry, after a major reduction last month in its intensity, has climbed up by 4% in March 2021.
Top Worries of Indians and global citizens
The top five worries of urban Indians were – unemployment or joblessness (47%) (+4%), COVID19 (38%) (+4%), financial and political corruption (32%) (+2%), crime and violence (23%) (-5%) and poverty and social inequality (23%) (-3%) are tied at the fourth spot and education (18%) (-2%).
Global citizens continue to worry most about COVID19 (45%), though it has seen a reduction of 5% over February. The other worries of global citizens included unemployment (37%) (=), poverty and social inequality (31%) (+1%), financial and political corruption (29%) (+2%), and crime and violence (24%) (=).
“India is in the recovery mode and while the job market is starting to look up, it is not keeping pace with the expectations. The pandemic was ruthless in job losses and job cuts. Further, India is amid the 2nd wave of the pandemic. Some cities have reported fresh wave of infections which is leading to increased concern among urban Indians, even though the vaccination drive is catching speed. For stability to set in, in terms of more jobs and tiding over the pandemic, while it will take time, at the same time, the solace of the vaccine is making Indians worry less of the nagging virus,” says Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.
Right direction, wrong track
The survey shows that despite all the worries engulfing them, urban Indians continue to be optimistic with majority (68%) believing, India is moving in the right direction. Global citizens on the contrary are highly pessimistic with at least 62% believing their country is on wrong track.
The top 3 optimistic markets emerging in the survey, where citizens felt their country is moving in the right direction were Saudi Arabia (86%), India (68%) and Australia (64%). And the most pessimistic markets, where most citizens felt their country was on the wrong track, were Peru (85%), South Africa (80%), Poland (80%) and Argentina (78%).
“Optimism is a big upside of urban Indians. It has helped them deal with tough times with resilience,” added Adarkar.
COVID 19 Worries
Markets most concerned about the corona virus were, Malaysia (61%), Great Britain (60%), Japan (58%), Netherlands (58%), Canada (57%), Germany (57%), Peru (57%), Saudi Arabia (57%), among others. India (38%) was placed 21st in the pecking order.
Of course, COVID 19 is still the No.1 global worry with 45% global citizens worried about it.
“Finding the vaccine has mitigated the worry element to some extent,” commented Adarkar.
The survey was conducted in 27 countries around the world via the Ipsos Online Panel system. The 27 countries included are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America. 19,011 interviews were conducted between February 19th, 2020 and March 5th, 2021 among adults aged 18-74 in the US, South Africa, Turkey, Israel and Canada and age 16-74 in all other countries. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
In 16 of the 27 countries surveyed internet penetration is sufficiently high to think of the samples as representative of the wider population within the age ranges covered: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Great Britain and United States. The remaining 11 countries surveyed: Brazil, Chile, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey have lower levels of internet penetration and so these samples should instead be considered to represent a more affluent, connected population. These are still a vital social group to understand in these countries, representing an important and emerging middle class.
The Global score reflects the “Global Country Average”: the average result for all the countries where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country and is not intended to suggest a total result.
