Belarusians mainly worried over price growth, impoverishment and unemployment
What are Belarusians worried about the most today? Are there any similarities between Belarus and our neighbors to the East and West? The European Radio for Belarus talks to local and foreign commentators.
The recent poll, conducted by the Independent Institute for Social, Economic and Political Studies, displayed that Belarusians are mainly worried about the economy, which is undergoing a serious crisis. Price growth stands out among the problems, according to the poll results.
“Price growth tops the list, with 82 percent of the respondents mentioning as a major problem. Almost 38 percent said they were worried over the impoverishment of the population. Unemployment is next on the list mentioned by almost 36 percent of the respondents. 32 percent mentioned the setback in production”, says sociologist Alexander Sasnou.
Earlier polls showed that people in different countries would usually be worried about different problems. But the global financial crisis has now united people around the world over common problems.
The situation in Russia is almost the same as in Belarus, according to a poll conducted in January by Levada Center, the Russian non-governmental think tank.
Levada Center’s Denis Volkov says: “Today, Russians are worried about several problems: firstly, the price growth (75 percent of the respondents); unemployment (57 percent); economic crisis and the setback in production (48 percent); impoverishment (42 percent); a sharp division between the rich and the poor (28 percent). Compared with January 2008, Russians are increasingly worried over the unemployment growth”.
The crisis has changed the situation even in countries like Great Britain and the United States. Britons mention unemployment, price growth, inflation and taxes as their major concerns. In the United States, people have become increasingly more interested in the economic challenges rather than a terrorism threat as it was before.
Photo: photo.bymedia.net
