Brits worry about the 'wrong' things
7 June 2006
We are a nation of worriers – but we worry about the ‘wrong’ things. That’s the conclusion of the first ‘National Risk Report’ from savings giant Prudential and the Social Issues Research Centre.
More Brits say they are worried about being a victim of terrorists, bird flu or superbugs than they are about house price falls, stress in the workplace or slipping into serious debt.
This is despite the UK facing a £1.1 trillion personal debt mountain and the well-publicised savings gap that threatens many people’s retirement. The result is that we are focusing on events that are unlikely to happen instead of those we can influence or make practical and financial plans for.
The main findings of the ‘National Risk Report’ include:
The things that Britons say they worry about most include terrorist attacks (38 per cent) violent crime (31 per cent) superbugs (18 per cent) and bird flu (18 per cent).
Nearly two out of five people (38 per cent) admit to worrying a lot, with only 18 per cent saying they hardly ever worry.
Britons blame their heightened levels of anxiety on a combination of TV (32 per cent) newspapers (30 per cent) and Government warnings (26 per cent).
But experts are urging people to focus instead on the issues they can control or make reasonable plans for, such as their savings, debts and job security.
Paul Cowman, Head of Protection at Prudential, said: “An age of fear is gripping the country and it is entirely irrational. You’re far more likely to lose your job and struggle with debts than be a victim of terrorism or superbugs.”
But despite the sheer weight of statistical evidence, the nation is fretting about these extreme occurrences while not realising that their financial future could be hanging by a thread.
Paul Cowman continued: “Many people are focusing on unlikely events but not worrying about how they would meet the payments on their mortgage if they were to become seriously ill or lose their job.”
While Brits obsess about risks that are unlikely to befall them, they are far more blasé about the more common risks:
Only 10 per cent worry about rising levels of personal debt / bankruptcies
Only 12 per cent say they worry about job security
Just 27 per cent say they have sufficient savings to tide them through emergencies such as losing their job.
And even common risks such as house price falls (4 per cent) and stress at work (4 per cent) rank low in the things that concern the nation.
Despite saying they worry about media stories and Government announcements regarding perceived risks, 40 per cent of Britons say they feel most media stories are just sensationalism, with a further 19 per cent claiming that we’d ‘go mad’ if we believed even a small number of the stories in circulation.
Dr Peter Marsh, Co-Director, Social Issues Research Centre, said: “Today we have little to fear and our lives are rarely at serious risk yet we seem compelled to worry, perhaps even to invent things about which we can fret and express anxiety.
“The result is that we lose a proper focus on risk and get diverted away from real threats. It is however such fanciful risks that most often lead to changes in our behaviour. For example, after a disaster on public transport systems people may decide to drive their cars instead to avoid the perceived risks but such a change from public to personal transport increases the likelihood of being killed or injured by over tenfold.”
