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Greatest Worry for 2005

While ‘an increase in terrorism’ was mentioned by 22% of people from around the world as their greatest worry for 2005, the global economy was the basis for the next two greatest worries, with 21% of people saying a ‘failure of the economy’ was their greatest worry, and 19% saying a ‘loss of jobs in their country’.

Comparatively, the economy did not rate as a big source of worry for Australians and New Zealanders. A ‘failure of the economy’ was only mentioned by 8% of both Australians and New Zealanders, while a ‘loss of jobs in my country’ was only mentioned by a low 5.5% of New Zealanders and 4% of Australians.

These are the results of a survey conducted exclusively for the World Economic Forum by Gallup International, interviewing more than 60,000 citizens in over 60 countries, representing over 1.3 billion of the world’s population at the end of last year but before the Asian Tsunami Disaster.

The ‘Top 3’ worries for 2005 for Australians were an ‘increase in terrorism’ (31%), ‘the expansion of the War to other parts of the world’ (25.5%) and ‘a serious disease threat or epidemic’ (14%).

Similarly, the three greatest worries for New Zealanders in 2005 were the ‘expansion of the war to other parts of the world’ (26.5%), ‘an increase in terrorism’ (25%) and ‘a major environmental disaster’ (16.5%).

Most Important Priorities for Leaders in 2005

The ‘War on Terrorism’ and ‘eliminating extreme poverty and hunger’ (both 14%) were considered the most important priority for world leaders by people around the world, followed by ‘reducing wars and conflicts’ (13%), ‘encouraging economic growth’ (13%) and ‘protecting the environment’ (8%).

Locally, people felt marginally more strongly on these issues, with 26% of Australians and 20% of New Zealanders nominating the ‘War on Terrorism’ as the most important priority for world leaders, and 19.5% of New Zealanders and 16.5% of Australians said ‘eliminating extreme poverty and hunger in the world’ was the second most important priority .

‘Protecting the environment’ (NZ 17%, Australia 14%), ‘reducing wars and conflicts’ (Australia 13%, NZ 9%) and ‘closing the gap between rich and poor countries’ (NZ 11%, Australia 9.5%) made up the ‘Top 5’ most important priorities for world leaders for Australians and New Zealanders.

Progress on Global Issues

Nearly 9 out of 10 Australians and New Zealanders feel not enough progress is being made on crucial global issues such as ‘closing the gap between rich and poor’ (Australia 88%, NZ 87%), compared to 73% of people globally. ‘Eliminating extreme poverty and hunger’ was also mentioned by 73% of people across the world ( Australia 88%, NZ 85%), with slightly fewer — 68% globally, 84% of both Australians and New Zealanders — feel not enough is being done to reduce war and conflict.

While ‘encouraging economic growth and improving the global economy’ was the issue Australians (49%) felt the world had made the most progress on, ‘promoting full equality for women’ was the issue nominated by New Zealanders (42%) and globally (41%). While it is still considered that not enough progress has been made on these issues, they are not considered an important priority when measured against other global issues.

The Australian and New Zealand surveys were conducted by Roy Morgan Research on behalf of Gallup International. In the Australian survey, an Australian-wide cross-section of 602 men and women aged 14 or over was interviewed by telephone on November 24/25, 2004. In the New Zealand survey, a New Zealand-wide cross-section of 974 men and women aged 14 or over was interviewed by telephone on November 17-30, 2004.

For further information:

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1 . Biggest worry for 2005

 Respondents were asked: "From the following issues, which one would be your greatest worry for 2005?"

	Australia	New Zealand	World
	%	%	%
An increase in terrorism	31	25	22
Expansion of the War to other parts of the world	25.5	26.5	16
A serious disease threat or epidemic	14	9.5	10
A major environmental disaster	11.5	16.5	7
A failure of the economy	8	8	21
Loss of jobs in my country	4	5.5	19
Something else/ Can't say	6	9	5
Total	100	100	100

2. Most important priority for the leaders of the world

Respondents were then asked: "And which of these do you think should be the most important priority for the leaders of the world?"

	Australia	New Zealand	World
	%	%	%
The War on Terrorism	26	20	14
Eliminating extreme poverty and hunger in the world	16.5	19.5	14
Protecting the environment	14	17	8
Reducing wars and conflicts	13	9	13
Closing the gap between rich and poor countries	9.5	11	7
Overcoming the drug problem and drug trafficking	4	2	5
Overcoming AIDS and other serious health issues	3.5	3.5	5
Improving/maintaining human rights	3	2.5	4
Encouraging economic growth and improving the global economy	2.5	3.5	13
Restoring trust and honesty in Government, in business and in international institutions	2	3.5	7
Promoting full equality for women around the world	1.5	1	1
Integrating more social issues into the agenda	1	1	2
Reducing global organised crime	0.5	2	2
Can't Say	3	4.5	5
Total	100	100	100

3. Making progress on global issues

Respondents were asked: "Do you think the world is making enough progress or not enough progress in resolving each of the following global issues?"

	Australia				New Zealand				World
	No, not enough progress	Yes, enough progress	Can't say		No, not enough progress	Yes, enough progress	Can't say		No, not enough progress	Yes, enough progress	Can't say
	%	%	%		%	%	%		%	%	%
Closing the gap between rich and poor	88	9	3		87	9	4		73	17	10
Eliminating extreme poverty and hunger in the world	88	10	2		85	12	3		73	19	8
Reducing wars and conflicts	84	12	4		84	12	4		68	23	9
Restoring trust and honesty in government, business and in international institutions	79	17	4		73	20	7		66	21	13
Overcoming the drug problem and drug trafficking	78	20	2		77	19	4		67	24	9
Reducing global organised crime	73	22	5		73	15	12		65	23	12
The war on terrorism	69	25	6		72	22	6		60	30	10
Protecting the environment	67	31	2		73	25	2		57	36	7
Improving/maintaining human rights	65	33	2		58	37	5		54	36	10
Overcoming AIDS and other serious human rights	63	34	3		61	34	5		54	37	9
Integrating more social issues into the agenda	53	38	9		49	39	12		51	32	17
Promoting full equality for women around the world	56	39	5		53	42	5		49	41	10
Encouraging economic growth and improving the global economy	45	49	6		50	40	10		54	34	12

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