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Unemployment remains the main fear of most Europeans, but not the British! London, 17 August 2006 - The most urgent problem Europe needs to solve is unemployment, according to latest findings of the annual "Challenges of Europe" survey by GfK. The British, however, worry most about Healthcare, Crime and Immigration. More than one third of Europeans describe the problem of unemployment as the most important challenge facing politicians and business leaders. In seven out of the ten countries surveyed, the lack of jobs has been top of the list of concerns for many years. By comparison, the UK is the least concerned about unemployment, with only 5 per cent of people naming it as a major issue, making us the most relaxed by far about unemployment, with the next most relaxed being the Netherlands, with 11 per cent, and Russia, with 12 per cent. Germany was the country most affected by this issue, with four fifths (80 per cent) naming unemployment as the most urgent problem in Germany, closely followed by Poland, with two thirds of people, and France, with just under two thirds of people, considering unemployment to be the most important topic in their country. This is up 7 per cent and 6 per cent more than in the prior year, respectively. British particularly concerned about Healthcare, Crime and Immigration Healthcare, Crime and Immigration were named as the top three most important concerns in the UK. Healthcare, in particular, topped the UK list of concerns, with 33 per cent of people naming it a major challenge; a similar emphasis as in 2005, when it was also named far more than any other problems. Healthcare is also in Germany's top three (behind Unemployment and Pensions), with 15 per cent naming it a major concern. The UK and Crime
Concern about Crime, whilst a major issue in the UK, is gradually easing across Europe in general. Despite terror campaigns in several countries, the fear of crime does not appear to be crossing beyond the borders of the individual countries affected, resulting is considerable differences between the various countries. The British remain the most sensitized towards Crime of any country surveyed, with one in four people naming it a major challenge facing their country. Although this is lower than the figure for 2005, the year of the bomb attacks in central London, the recent attempted attacks on London airports last week suggest that this concern is unlikely to change in the coming year. By comparison; for Europe in general, since the attacks in New York in 2001, after which 28 per cent of Europeans regarded crime as a big threat, this figure has now dropped to 12 per cent this year, down from 13 per cent in 2005. In the Netherlands, like Britain, crime is also the biggest concern by far, although here too the situation is gradually easing. Now only one in five people in the Netherlands are worried about crime, compared to one in four the year before. By comparison with other European countries, this is still a high percentage, and obviously stems from the attacks on the politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and the director Theo van Gogh in 2004. France is the only country where there was a strong rise in the fear of crime, which was up to 22 per cent after 16 per cent in 2005. This is clearly related to the disturbances in the suburbs, which rocked France at the end of last year. The UK and immigration
The third highest topic concerning people in the UK is immigration, in which category we are well ahead of the other countries surveyed, in naming it a key challenge. However, our concerns have apparently dropped from two years ago, when this was also seen as the most urgent issue by 35 per cent. Now, despite increasing immigration, primarily from Eastern Europe, this figure has dropped to only 23 per cent. The UK also ranks in first place for concerns regarding educational policy. However, in line with the average figure for Europe as a whole, this subject is no longer as relevant as it was in the previous year. Now only 15 per cent of the UK population sees this as a worrying issue, 4 per cent fewer than in 2005. More British people than ever are concerned this year about politics and the government with one in eight people now unhappy. In 2005, this figure was only one in 20. The main reason for the sharp increase appears to be the UK government's foreign policy and its attitude to the Iraq war. The number of people worried about environmental protection as well as inflation and purchasing power has also doubled. In 2006, these are seen as issues requiring urgent action by 8 per cent and 6 per cent of the population respectively. Further findings from this survey can be found on the GfK website: www.gfk.com, or by contacting Dr. Raimund Wildner, tel. +49 911 395-2573,
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