Top 5 global worries: August 2024

Inflation is the No. 1 concern for the 29th month in a row.

The cost of living has emerged as the defining problem of the first half of the 2020s, looming larger than even the COVID-19 pandemic.

In over a decade of tracking worries around the world the cost of living has remained the leading concern longer than the coronavirus, which was the No. 1 issue for 18 months in a row (April 2020 - September 2021).

When inflation took the top spot back in April 2022 both the ongoing pandemic and the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine supercharged costs for everything from gas to groceries. Now that those economic shocks have receded, so too has concern for rising prices, down to 32% (on average across 29 countries) from a high of 43% in February 2023.

But, people clearly are still feeling the sting of soaring prices as inflation and other, often interconnected, issues continue to be top of mind, with poverty/social inequality (31%), crime/violence (29%), unemployment (27%) and financial/political corruption (24%) rounding out the top five worries at a global level right now.

An imperfect storm

Inflation is currently the leading concern in eight countries, down from 12 countries in August 2023, though worry has eased year-over-year in Argentina (52%, -17 percentage points), Türkiye (50%, -8pp), Canada (50%, -8pp), Australia (50%, -4pp) and Poland (43%, -10pp).

While worry is falling inflation continues to dominate Ipsos' What Worries the World monthly polling and the question is why. The answer, of course, is complex and is likely due to a mix of factors ranging from lagging wages, central banks raising interest rates and companies shrinking products.

And our global polling reveals people have been feeling persistent financial pain.

The latest wave of the Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor finds 59% (on average across 33 countries) saying they were either just about getting by or finding it quite/very difficult to manage financially in March/April 2024, unchanged from almost two years earlier in May/June 2022.

Hot topics

Lingering anxiety about the economy, inflation and a possible recession has been particularly stubborn in the U.S. While several countries have seen their level of worry about inflation fall in the last 12 months, Americans’ concern has risen in that time (+3pp versus last August) despite the U.S. Consumer Price Index falling to 2.9% and it remains the top concern in the country with 46% saying it's one of the three biggest issues affecting the U.S. At the same time, slightly more Americans think the current economic situation in their country is good (39%) vs. last August (36%) — but that remains well off the 68% who said the same in January 2020 right before pandemic lockdowns hit.

Many across the U.S. have struggled to make ends meet in recent years, with just over half (55%) of Americans saying they were either just about getting by or finding it quite/very difficult to manage financially in March/April 2024, up from 41% in April 2022.

Rate hikes have been a pinch point for some. And almost two in three (72%) Americans say the interest rate level in their country is contributing to the rising cost of living in the U.S. today. Economic stress caused by higher rates looks like it could be easing soon with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently saying the "time has come" for cuts.

The race is on

Only time will tell what impact cuts may have on average Americans between now and election day, but Ipsos U.S. polling finds the economy (89%) and inflation (86%) are the issues that people say will be most important in their choice of which candidate to support.

Upcoming debates between Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will give both the chance to convince voters they have the winning strategy to solve the defining problem of this decade (so far) as the race to win the White House on November 5th enters its final stretch this fall.

Check out our latest What Worries the World report for a deeper dive on how concerns have changed over time everywhere from Australia to the United States of America: https://www.ipsos.com/en/what-worries-world.