Climate change surprisingly emerged as Germany’s greatest fear as 71 percent of respondents designated it as a particular source of serious personal concern, the poll conducted by the Kantar Emnid opinion research center on commission from the German Funke Media Group revealed.
The future state of the environment left behind such pressing issues as the threat of terrorist attacks or the possibility of new wars, which were identified as reasons for unease by 63 and 65 percent of respondents respectively.
The massive immigration and subsequent refugee crisis that repeatedly hit the headlines in the German and international media turned out to be even further behind (45%) on the list of the Germans’ anxieties, surpassed by old-age poverty.
Potential unemployment turned out to be the least worrisome problem for Germans, as only about one third of respondents said it gave them cause for concern. Slightly more than 60 percent of those polled said they were concerned with the present crime rate in Germany.
Supporters of the populist anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party were the only ones who described the immigration and refugee crisis as their primary concern as 90 percent of them called it their biggest fear, the survey found. The backers of the Left Party seemed to be less concerned about the environment and more about potential poverty in old age.
“Environment and climate protection have already greatly mattered to people in Germany for years,” Torsten Schneider-Haase, head of the political research department at Kantar Emnid center told the Funke Media Group, commenting on the survey results.
