What Worries the World – August 2026

Conducted monthly in 30 countries among around 20,000 adults for over a decade, the Ipsos What Worries the World study offers an exceptional snapshot of world opinion on pressing global issues.

Our monthly What Worries the World survey explores what the public thinks are the most important social and political issues, drawing on more than ten years of data to place the latest scores in context. Full breakdowns of findings for each country and each worry are also available on request. Please contact Joseph Nadler for more information.

August 2026 key findings at a glance

47%

in Peru say the country is heading in the right direction – up 21pp since last month

33%

in Thailand are concerned about crime – the highest level since February 2024

49%

in Australia are worried about inflation – up 4pp since last month

27%

in Israel say the country is heading in the right direction – 4pp lower than July 2026

39%

in Spain are worried about immigration control – 11pp higher than last month

40%

in Poland are concerned about military conflict – up 9pp compared to last month

 

World Worries: Long-Term Trends

Q: Which three of the following topics do you find the most worrying in your country?

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Focus on the UK

The United Kingdom has recently changed Prime Minister again, making the total seven in 10 years. Michael Clemence, from Ipsos Strategy3, UK, highlights there has been some positivity for Prime Minister Andy Burnham since starting the role, but there is a big job ahead of him to make a long-term impact.

Michael Clemence - Ipsos
Michael Clemence,
Ipsos Strategy3, UK
A change of Prime Minister has provided some respite for the ruling Labour party, who have pulled narrowly ahead of the right-wing Reform UK party in opinion polling since Andy Burnham took over. The public are also showing signs of a lift in mood, with the proportion who feel the country is headed in the right direction up by eight percentage points since last month. However, this improvement does little to dent the overall mood of despondency felt by many Britons. People have felt a loss of the future for some years now and failure to remedy this has had a corrosive effect on trust in institutions and politics. To rebuild public positivity and avoid the fate of a chain of recent Prime Ministers who have been ejected from office after only a relatively short term, Andy Burnham will need to make demonstrable progress on the key worries that have been top of the British public mind for some time - immigration control, healthcare, poverty, and inflation.

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Download What Worrries the World Survey Report for August 2026

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