Population more worried about risk, says survey

A growing percentage of the population are increasingly risk aware and concerned about how threats such as climate change, natural disasters and even crime, disease and hunger could affect them directly in the future. They also believe governments should be doing more to deal with these risks.

That was one of the conclusions of a survey commissioned by Swiss Re and carried out by Gallup. The survey, carried out between April and May 2013, included data from 22,000 people across 19 different regions, including developing and emerging countries.

“The survey revealed that the awareness of climate change has heightened,” said David Cole, group chief risk officer at Swiss Re. “While there was no significant difference between different generations, the survey revealed that 40 percent believed that there was a high risk that something would impact on their local neighbourhood in the next three years.

“Interestingly, it also revealed that the concern was highest in countries such as Italy (59 percent), Mexico (57 percent) and Australia (54 percent).”

The survey also showed an increasing awareness of how society can mitigate these threats. It showed that 75 percent of respondents would use renewable energy if it was made available and 91 percent want governments to do more to promote energy efficiency.

Some 84 percent of people surveyed believe that climate change will be responsible for more natural disasters in the future. In Italy, a higher percentage of people had a higher perception of natural catastrophes, compared with Japan, where the number was relatively low.

Other results showed that nearly eight in 10 people fear damage from an earthquake, flood or other natural disaster within the next 20 years.

“It is interesting to draw information from the degree of consistency between generations and gender,” said Cole. “While there is a slight dip in concern from younger participants, one in three people consider climate change to be an issue.”

It also revealed that the answers given by the respondents varied depending on what was either happening around them or had recently happened.

“The results indicated that Hong Kong was most concerned about a pandemic occurring,” said Cole. “In April/May of this year there was concern over a type of virus coming out of China. Climate change and pollution was also highlighted as a concern. This is relevant as at the time there were issues in Beijing due to poor quality air. This shows that you should ask yourself, what was happening at the time? Maybe go back and ask again to see if there is consistency.”

Other findings included that crime was determined as a higher concern for younger generations, while the cost of an ageing society was felt among older generations. “It’s strange really as the younger generation are likely to be more exposed to this in 40 to 50 years’ time, however they are less worried,” said Cole.

A further 70 percent of respondents are prepared to take personal responsibility for their own retirement costs. Hunger was also revealed as a major concern, not just in the developing world.