Global survey finds terrorism top fear in Turkey

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Ont. (AA) – A survey of 25 countries found 76 percent of Turkish citizens are most concerned about the threat of terrorism, while Canadians are less worried about it than residents of most countries, Canadian media reported Thursday.

The Ipsos poll conducted between Aug. 26 and Sept. 9 asked 18,014 adults around the world what they thought was most worrisome about their country.

Turkish citizens listed the threat of terrorism as their number one fear, followed by 55 percent of residents in France, Israel at 45 percent, Belgium with 38 percent and the United States stood at 35 percent.

“Concern about terrorism is highest in Turkey, and this is also the highest level of worry about any [single] issue across all the [25] countries surveyed,” Ipsos said on its website Thursday.

Only 10 percent of 1,000 Canadians interviewed online for the poll mentioned terrorism in the country as a chief concern.

Germany, which has been hit by a number of terrorist attacks in the past 12 months, listed terrorism as its third largest concern, the same as the U.K.

Concerns about poverty, social inequality and immigration control ranked higher for Germans than terrorism.

The survey noted that countries “with recent of ongoing exposure to incidents of terror are among the most worried about terrorism”.

Brazil and South Africa, at 1 percent each, rated the threat of terrorism as the least concern.

The survey also explored other concerns.

Melding figures from the 25 countries placed the top five global issues as unemployment (36 percent), financial and political corruption (34), poverty and social inequality (33), crime and violence (31) and health care (22).

Twenty-one percent of residents in China were most worried about climate change and 38 percent were concerned about threats against the environment.

The poll surveyed those aged 18-64 in Canada and the United States, and those aged 16-64 in the 23 other countries.

Ipsos is an independent market research company founded in 1975 with headquarters in Paris.