Top 5 global worries: February 2025

It's often said tragedy plus time equals comedy.

But almost five years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 crisis a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, almost no one is laughing.

While concern about the coronavirus now sits at just 3% (on average across 29 countries) the reverberations of such a seismic event are still being felt today.

In the spring of 2020 the price of everything from toilet paper to hand sanitizer to stationary bikes was spinning out of control yet only 9% thought inflation was a top concern for their country. Minds were focused on the immediate threat.

Eventually, though, the growing cost and shrinking size of consumer products became an increasing focus with inflation becoming a defining issue in the years since hard lockdowns threw the global economy into chaos.

In February 2025, the top five worries in the world are: inflation (31%), crime/violence (31%), poverty/social inequality (28%), unemployment (27%) and financial/political corruption (27%).

In comparison, when Ipsos first added coronavirus as a concern to its monthly What Worries the World polling in April 2020 61%, on average globally, said COVID-19 was a top issue followed by unemployment (35%), healthcare (28%), poverty/social inequality (27%) and financial/political corruption (22%).

Out of the closet and into the light

The early days of masking and isolating were very scary.

Mental health suddenly moved from the fringe to center stage. Everyone from CEOs to celebrities started talking openly about both the physical and emotional impacts.

During the first year of the pandemic the coronavirus (72% on average globally) overtook cancer as the top topic in 2020 and remained for three years. When concern about COVID-19 eventually fell, worry about mental health (44% globally) took the top spot in 2023.

As these capital "S" stressful times wore on worry about emotional health rose to 45% by 2024, well up from the 27% who said it was a top issue in 2018. And younger people, in particular Generation Z women, are finding life hard.

There's been a lot of talk about feelings for almost half-a-decade now, yet it appears more actual action needs to be taken to support those struggling in this unsteady era.

From WFH to RTO

Another abrupt change in 2020 was remote work.

Overnight, white-collar workers went from schlepping to the office to walking to their couch in a bid to flatten the curve.

By 2021, talk of returning to the office (RTO) was building and our polling found 25% (on average across 29 countries) wanted to continue working from home (WFH) all of the time, 25% wanted to fully RTO, while the rest wanted a mix of workdays at the office and at home post-pandemic.

In 2025 many laptop warriors work in a hybrid model; lately a slew of bosses have decided enough is enough.

Amazon's CEO announced its latest RTO plan last fall and other employers soon followed suit with stricter in-person mandates. Then, earlier this year U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear he expects all federal government employees to return to in-office work all of the time.

Ipsos in the U.S. has been doing long-term tracking on this issue and finds there is an uptick in the proportion of the American public who want to return to completely in-office work (32% in January 2025 versus 21% in January 2021).

But, as President Trump and other leaders have shown it's ultimately up to employers, not employees, if WFH will stick around or be thrown in the garbage can of history along with all those over-priced spinning bikes bought during the height of social distancing.

From unity to skepticism

Remote work isn't the only pandemic-era topic President Trump and his administration are weighing in on these days.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chair of the new Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, has come under repeated fire by some for his skeptical views on vaccines.

Public-health figures like Anthony Fauci were initially praised for keeping people safe in 2020 until high-profile critics like RFK Jr. stoked fierce debate over personal freedom vs. the common good.

The Ipsos Health Service Monitor 2024 finds in 2018 67%, on average globally, agreed "vaccinating against serious infectious diseases should be compulsory"; by 2024 agreement had fallen eight percentage points to 59%. The U.S. saw a nine point drop in support for compulsory vaccines, down to 42% in 2024 from 53% in 2018.

Mandatory vaccinations became a flash point in 2020 and the MAHA movement signals this will remain a polarizing topic even as the pandemic fades further into the past.

Continuing to feel the pinch

While the height of the outbreak is now well behind us, economic scars remain.

The health emergency was also a financial emergency that threw a harsh spotlight on pre-existing class divides.

Those that already owned real estate and stocks saw their net worths soar as those on a budget struggled to buy increasingly costly groceries.

The latest edition of the Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor reveals in the long run all the upheaval ended up being good for some and bad for others with 33%, on average across 32 countries, saying they're better off than they were pre-pandemic while 37% say they're worse off.

And the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit vulnerable people the hardest with 41% of lower-income people saying in late 2024 they were finding it difficult to manage financially, up slightly from the 38% who said the same in mid-2022.

From a bubble to a boil

Of course, the pandemic is far from the sole cause of income inequality or price hikes or emotional struggles but it didn't help these long-standing issues.

The initial shock of lockdowns seems to have metastasized over time into fury about the unfairness and randomness of life. And that anger is being harnessed by populist politicians to drive the recent anti-incumbent wave.

Five years can feel like a long time ago and like it was five minutes ago.

Perhaps we'll all be ready to wryly laugh at what COVID-19 wrought one day, though it seems tragedy hasn't become comedy quite yet.

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.