Unemployment is world's fastest rising worry

UNEMPLOYMENT is the fastest rising concern across the globe, according to a BBC survey which found that six times more people are worried about losing their job now than they were at the height of the financial crisis in 2009.

The BBC World Service interviewed 11,000 people across 23 countries for its The World Speaks poll, which it has run every year for the past three years.

Unemployment did not top the list of concerns - that accolade was taken by corruption - but it did come third after poverty and is the fastest rising issue. The survey, carried out by Globescan, showed 18 per cent of people had discussed unemployment with their friends or family in the past month.  

It is possible this finding is related to fears of a new global recession fuelled by the eurozone debt crisis. Unemployment was of greatest concern in Spain, where 54 per cent said they were worried about the issue. Spain is one of the countries most affected by the eurozone debt crisis and has been wracked by mass protests against the political system over the past year.  

Other countries where unemployment was of particular concern included Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria and Turkey. This is where the link to the eurozone debt crisis appears to break down, because it is developed countries that have been hardest hit.

Interestingly, unemployment was of less concern in the UK and Germany, where the threat of global warming was the issue most discussed in the last month by the people surveyed. These two countries have - rightly or wrongly - been seen as 'safe havens' in the current economic storm, with the interest rate at which the countries' governments are able to borrow falling to record lows. ·