What do we fear most?

What do we fear most?

The emphasis in this article is on climate change, but I think it ignores rather interesting findings. The West fears conflicts with the Muslim world much more than the Arab countries. Saudi-Arabia ranks it in 8th place, and is far more concerned about nuclear weapons, an issue which doesn't seem to concern the West much. International terrorism, on the other hand, seems to be at the top of everybody's list.


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A large-scale international survey conducted by Norwegian weekly Mandag Morgen asked 10,000 people to rate ten different threats including terrorism, climate change, nuclear weapons and the conflict between the Muslim and Western world.

Americans don't fear climate change at all, and the Germans and Brits don't fear it much. Only the Scandinavians remain concerned.

Professor J. Peter Burgess of the Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Oslo told Mandag Morgen that people think climate change will cause fewer atrocities than terrorism. "We should distinguish between two types of fear. One type comes from an objective and real danger, such as climate change and health. Here the proximity to the problems is an important factor for the degree of fear. The other type of fear is based on an inbuilt representation of threats. This is enhanced by experiences from our daily life," says Burgess.


USA

1. International terrorism
2. Conflicts between the Muslim and Western world
3. Economic crisis
4. Nuclear weapons / mass destruction
5. Poverty
6. Imperialism / ambitions for world domination
7. Exhausting resources
8. Unjust system of world trade
9. Local conflicts - civil wars, border conflicts
10. Climate change

The Germans, like the Americans, fear terrorism the most, followed by conflicts with Muslims. The Brits fear conflicts with Muslims the most, followed by terrorism. Germans and Brits put climate change in 7th place.


Saudi-Arabia

1. Nuclear weapons / mass destruction
2. Poverty
3. Imperialism / ambitions for world domination
4. International terrorism
5. Local conflicts - civil wars, border conflicts
6. Exhausting resources
7. Unjust system of world trade
8. Conflicts between the Muslim and Western world
9. Economic crisis
10. Climate change

Arab countries are most concerned about nuclear weapons, followed by poverty and terrorism. They put climate change in the last places.


Norway

1. Conflicts between the Muslim and Western world
2. International terrorism
3. Poverty
4. Exhausting resources
5. Climate change
6. Nuclear weapons / mass destruction
7. Imperialism / ambitions for world domination
8. Unjust system of world trade
9. Local conflicts - civil wars, border conflicts
10. Economic crisis


The Scandinavian countries differ from the rest. The Scandinavian list is topped by the conflict with the Muslim world, followed by international terrorism, but climate change comes in 4th place. Norwegians put climate in 5th place, Finns in 4th place, while Swedes and Danes put it in 3rd place.

Source: Aftenposten (Norwegian)


What do you fear the most? I couldn't figure out how to build a poll that lets you rate them, so choose the four things you fear the most.