UAE ranks high among countries with least worries: World Risk Poll

Even though the world is struck with the fear of COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE citizens and residents seem to be less anxious about everyday risks than the rest of the globe and is placed at 10th position among countries with least worries. 

The ranking was published in the World Risk Poll by UK-based Lloyd’s Register Foundation and the US-based analytic and advisory company Gallup.

Online risks

With the pandemic outbreak, one of the major changes that took place is the increased exposure to the digital platforms and in this effect 53 percent of the UAE internet users consider the fake news spread as their biggest worry. When coming to the world, about 57 percent of web users stated the misleading news in online space as a concern and 45 percent are worried about digital space fraud, as per the World Risk Poll survey. 

The East African countries Malawi and Rwanda’s citizens are the most worried about misleading information with 87 percent and the South American country Bolivia is in the second position with 84 percent. While the Western Europeans are most anxious about online fraud, with the most worried being in Portugal (78 percent), Malta (77 percent), France (74 percent) and Spain (71 percent).

Safe Places

In a poll regarding places that feel safe, the UAE is ranked among the  first four positions with 58 percent of the country’s citizens feels safer than they did five years ago, while the residents of the Emirates also have the same opinion.

Globally, the Singapore citizens trust their government the most and the Lebanon people have the least trust over government and experts attribute this distrust to the incidents like Beirut port blasts and constant protests that affect the daily lives of the country. 

“Knowing what people think will help us to identify gaps between peoples’ thoughts about risk and their experiences of threats to their safety. We can use this data to work with communities and empower people to take action most likely to reduce the harm that can save lives and helps them feel safe.”

World Risk Poll

The poll interviewed more than 150,000 people, including those from countries where little or no official data exists, but which often reports high risk. It includes opinions of 98 percent of the world’s population on safety and risk. 

The index includes a ranking of countries on the basis of how anxious they are about everyday risks like extreme weather, violent crime, unsafe food and water, mental health issues, electrical appliances and their experience of harm from those risks.