Worries apart, 71% Indians feel India is moving in the right direction

New Delhi, June 26, 2019: Unemployment (42%), financial and political corruption (38%), and terrorism (36%) are the top three issues that worry Indians most. Interestingly, globally too at least two of these issues are popping up in the top three issues of Unemployment (33%), Poverty and Social Inequality (32%) and Financial and Political Corruption.  

Worries notwithstanding, at least 71% Indians feel that as a country, India is headed in the right direction. India is placed third in the pecking order in optimism, preceded by China (91%) and Saudi Arabia (82%). Globally, on the contrary, the mood is more pessimistic and somber, with at least 58% global citizens believing that their country is on the wrong track; only 4 in 10 global citizens (42%) feel that their country is moving in the right direction.

“India is billed as a promising emerging market with a stable democracy and economic growth; all this positivity is getting manifested in the overall optimism of Indians. At the same time, the glaring issues (top three) of unemployment, graft and terrorism are distressing Indians to a large extent and are taking the sheen off to some extent; these issues need to be addressed on priority. In fact, terrorism has reappeared as a major concern, post the Pulwama attack. Earlier on, Terrorism had dropped way low on the worry list,” says Parijat Chakraborty, Country Service Line Leader, Ipsos Public Affairs, Corporate Reputation and Customer Experience.  

Unemployment – top issue across most markets

While Unemployment has emerged globally and India’s key worry, the top 10 markets where unemployment is a key concern are – Spain (64%), Italy (63%), South Africa (61%), South Korea (59%), Argentina (52%), Serbia (48%), Turkey (46%), India (42%), Brazil (39%) and Malaysia and Saudi Arabia are tied at the 10th spot (38%).

How about Political and Financial Corruption?     

The top markets beset by this malaise: South Africa (66%), Peru (58%), Hungary (56%), Malaysia (52%), Russia (52%), South Korea (49%), Serbia (45%), Chile (39%), Brazil (38%) and India (38%).

Terrorism – and the markets most concerned

Some of the global markets most dismayed with terrorism are those that have confronted incidents in the recent and not so recent past and are still singeing from the impact. The top markets worrying about terrorism include Israel (39%), India (36%), France (27%), Turkey (26%), Great Britain (24%), US (22%), Saudi Arabia (21%), Belgium & Germany tied at the 8th spot (20%), Sweden (17%) and Australia (15%).   

Note to Editors

The survey is conducted monthly in 28 countries around the world via the Ipsos Online Panel system. The countries included are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America.

An international sample of 19,529 adults aged 18-64 in Canada, Israel and the US, and aged 16-64 in all other countries, were interviewed between April 19, 2019 to May 03, 2019.

Approximately 1000+ individuals participated on a country by country basis via the Ipsos Online Panel, except Argentina, Belgium, Hungary, India, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey, where each have a sample of approximately 500+.

Weighting has been employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to the most recent country census data.

A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points for a sample of 1,000 and an estimated margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points for a 500 sample 19 times out of 20.

In 17 of the 28 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, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Great Britain and United States. Brazil, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey have lower levels of internet penetration and so these samples should not be considered nationally representative, and 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.