Here are the things South Africans are most worried about
A new study by Ipsos finds that unemployment is the biggest worry of the world, while for South Africans, financial and political corruption is the issue that causes the most concern, followed by unemployment and crime.
The new Ipsos study “What Worries the World” is an online survey of adults aged under 65 in 25 countries, including South Africa.
It probes the issues which most worry most populations and investigates whether people think things in their country are headed in the right direction.
It finds overall that people across all 25 countries are more likely to think things in their country are off on the wrong track (63%), than headed in the right direction (37%.)
Most pessimistic are the French, 88% of whom think things are going wrong, with only 12% feeling that things are going well.
The most optimistic are countries which have seen recent sustained periods of economic growth; China, where 90% say things are headed in the right direction, Saudi Arabia (71%), and India (67%).
Looking at South Africa, the picture is not rosy, almost four-fifths (79%) of South Africans with online access believe that the country is heading down the wrong track.
From Ipsos’ last Khayabus (a large-scale omnibus study), conducted across a representative sample of the country’s total adult population, 53% believed we were going in the wrong direction.
Mari Harris, head of Public Affairs at Ipsos, said: “South Africans have moved from optimism to pessimism, especially over the last year or so. We can see the effect of this despondency in the unrest in the country, both in terms of service delivery protests and the issues in higher education and the results of the recent local government elections. Trust in the government and in the president is at an all-time low.”
Focusing on the BRICS countries, Brazil’s number one worry is healthcare, with half of the Brazilian respondents mentioning this as an issue. In Russia, poverty and social inequality is the number one worry (57%). Like the online South Africans, India is most concerned about financial and political corruption (49%), and in China, the top worry was the moral decline of the country (43%).
South Africans, when asked about their concerns, mostly mentioned financial and political corruption (67%) as their top issue. This was followed by unemployment (58%) and crime and violence (53%). Poverty and social inequality were mentioned by 31% of respondents and education mentioned by 23%.
Ipsos noted that the survey was conducted between the dates of August 26th and September 9th – prior to the current unrest at universities.
More on South Africa
This is what stressed-out South Africans are willing to sacrifice to cut costs
These are the 10 best economists in South Africa
This is how many crimes take place every day in South Africa
Loading ...