Healthcare has emerged as the 4th biggest concern for urban Indians – pushing Poverty and inequality to the 5th spot, displacing it from the 4th spot of July 2020

The Ipsos What Worries the World global monthly survey findings for August 2020, almost mirror the findings of July 2020 - Joblessness continues to be the 2nd biggest worry of urban Indians and global citizens alike; and COVID19 continues to sit right at the top, though slowly, the concern is receding.   

Similarities end there                                                                    

Interestingly, the pecking order of global and local list of other set of worries are different and highlight the concerns the citizens feel towards these glaring issues, by their markets. Healthcare has emerged as the 4th biggest concern for urban Indians – pushing Poverty and inequality to the 5th spot, displacing it from the 4th spot of July 2020  

Top four global issues   
1) COVID-19 (46%)                                                                                                  
2) Unemployment & Jobs (51%)
3) Poverty and social inequality (30%)                                                                    
4) Financial/ political corruption (27%)                  

Top four issues in India
1) COVID-19 (56%)
2) Unemployment & Jobs (40%)
3) Financial and political corruption (30%)
4) Healthcare (26%)

“Unemployment or joblessness continues to be the biggest worry after COVID19 and job creation needs to be prioritized by the govt on a war footing, especially for those who’ve lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Over half of urban Indians polled (51%), continue to worry about lack of jobs, the issue definitely is glaring. And while concern around COVID19 in Aug 2020 has seen a drop of 5%, compared to July 2020 (61%); all other worries have further shot up in intensity, and should be addressed,“ said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India.   

Indians continue to be optimistic. Global citizens beset with pessimism

All the worries notwithstanding, Indians globally remain one of the most optimistic – 3rd in the pecking order, after Saudi Arabia (75%) and Malaysia (65%) – with at least 60% urban Indians believing their country is headed in the right direction. 61% of global citizens on the contrary believe their country is on the wrong track. And the markets most pessimistic included South Africa (84%), Belgium (82%), Chile (76%), US (74%) and Hungary (73%), among others.   

“India is young and a growing market. Indians are highly resilient people and the optimism reflects this. How this optimism translates into action (demand or growth) is not only a function of how the COVID19 situation evolves, but also on the job/ employment outlook,” added Adarkar. 

Technical Note 

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. 

18,505 interviews were conducted between July 24th, 2020–August 7th, 2020 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 17 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.