A survey conducted in July 2025 found that the most important issue for ***percent of Americans was inflation and prices. A further ***percent of respondents were most concerned about jobs and the economy.

According to a 2024 survey, about 49 percent of chief information security officers (CISO) of companies in the United States reported that the leading cybersecurity concern for the board of directors (BOD) was the disruption to operations following a cyberattack. Furthermore, approximately 49 percent of respondents said the impact on business valuation was possible consequences of cyberattacks that the board of directors (BOD) is worried about.

In December 2024, 11 percent of survey respondents said that the most important problem facing the United States was the high cost of living and inflation. Another 20percent said that the government and poor leadership was the most serious concern for the nation.

In this 2018 survey, eight percent of respondents stated they think the biggest problem for the United States today is Donald Trump. In fact, most of the important problems mentioned are somehow related to the current POTUS – the most mentioned one being immigration and racism.

A country divided

Since Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, political camps in the United States are deeply divided and global politics is in turmoil; Trump’s job approval ratings are notoriously low, and in fact, they are lower than Reagan’s or Nixon’s averages ever were. Trump’s leadership is controversial at best and his executive orders often cause protests, especially among Democrats and liberals – like the travel ban for Muslims.

On the other side

One of Trump’s main campaign promises was a wall on the border with Mexico in order to keep potential illegal immigrants out and enhance security for American citizens. When he did not get the majority for this plan, he declared a national emergency to force the budget to be allocated, even though the majority of Americans did not support this idea, and it is unclear if the situation at the Mexican border actually warrants it. In fact, the total number of unauthorized immigrants has decreased over the last few years and today, many Americans believe that their country benefits from immigrants and their work .

According to a 2023 survey, young adults in the United States were divided when it came to important political issues. However, more than half of Americans between 18 and 34 considered the cost of living and inflation the most important political issue.

In 2024, ** percent of healthcare organizations in the United States surveyed reported risk concerns and considerations to be the greatest challenge for their organization in pursuing generative AI. Furthermore, approximately ** percent of respondents believed that lack of capabilities in their organization was a large challenge for implementing generative AI technologies.

Inflation was the most worrying topic worldwide as of May 2025, with ********* of the respondents choosing that option. Crime and violence, as well as poverty and social inequality, followed behind. Moreover, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza, *** percent of the respondents were worried about military conflict between nations. Only *** percent were worried about the COVID-19 pandemic, which dominated the world after its outbreak in 2020. Global inflation and rising prices Inflation rates have spiked substantially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. From 2020 to 2021, the worldwide inflation rate increased from 3.5 percent to 4.7 percent, and from 2021 to 2022, the rate increased sharply from 4.7 percent to 8.7 percent. While rates are predicted to fall come 2025, many are continuing to struggle with price increases on basic necessities. Poverty and global development Poverty and social inequality were the third most worrying issues to respondents. While poverty and inequality are still prominent, global poverty rates have been on a steady decline over the years. In 1994, 64 percent of people in low-income countries and around one percent of people in high-income countries lived on less than 2.15 U.S. dollars per day. By 2018, this had fallen to almost 44 percent of people in low-income countries and 0.6 percent in high-income countries. Moreover, fewer people globally are dying of preventable diseases, and people are living longer lives. Despite these aspects, issues such as wealth inequality have global prominence.

The primary concerns for the alternatives' industry for the next five years by asset managers and investors worldwide were the expectation of a global recession, with ** percent of investors and ** percent of asset managers expecting to face this challenge within the next five years. The ****** most anticipated concern is geopolitical risks.

According to a survey from late December 2024, the two most important issues among Republican voters in the United States were inflation and immigration, with ** and ** percent ranking it their primary political concerns respectively. In contrast, only *** percent of Democrats considered immigration their most important issue. Inflation and healthcare were the leading issues among democrats in the U.S.

A 2024 survey found that over half of U.S. individuals indicated the cost of accessing treatment was the biggest problem facing the national healthcare system. This is much higher than the global average of 32 percent and is in line with the high cost of health care in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries. Bureaucracy along with a lack of staff were also considered to be pressing issues. This statistic reveals the share of individuals who said select problems were the biggest facing the health care system in the United States in 2024.

Interest rates and cost of capital emerged as the biggest issue among real estate professionals in North America in 2024. Approximately ** percent of survey respondents chose interest rates as the most pressing challenge in the industry. Construction costs for labor and materials were other leading causes of concern.

The economy was seen by 49 percent of people in the UK as one of the top three issues facing the country in June 2025. The ongoing cost of living crisis afflicting the UK, driven by high inflation, is still one of the main concerns of Britons. Immigration has generally been the second most important issue since the middle of 2024, just ahead of health, which was seen as the third-biggest issue in the most recent month. Labour's popularity continues to sink in 2025 Despite winning the 2024 general election with a strong majority, the new Labour government has had its share of struggles since coming to power. Shortly after taking office, the approval rating for Labour stood at -2 percent, but this fell throughout the second half of 2024, and by January 2025 had sunk to a new low of -47 percent. Although this was still higher than the previous government's last approval rating of -56 percent, it is nevertheless a severe review from the electorate. Among several decisions from the government, arguably the least popular was the government withdrawing winter fuel payments. This state benefit, previously paid to all pensioners, is now only paid to those on low incomes, with millions of pensioners not receiving this payment in winter 2024. Sunak's pledges fail to prevent defeat in 2024 With an election on the horizon, and the Labour Party consistently ahead in the polls, addressing voter concerns directly was one of the best chances the Conservatives had of staying in power in 2023. At the start of that year, Rishi Sunak attempted to do this by setting out his five pledges for the next twelve months; halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting times, and stop small boats. A year later, Sunak had at best only partial success in these aims. Although the inflation rate fell, economic growth was weak and even declined in the last two quarters of 2023, although it did return to growth in early 2024. National debt was only expected to fall in the mid to late 2020s, while the trend of increasing NHS waiting times did not reverse. Small boat crossings were down from 2022, but still higher than in 2021 or 2020. .

According to a 2023 survey, inflation and gas prices were the most important issues for Gen Z and Millennial voters in the United States. Additionally, about ** percent of voters between 18 and 34 years old considered abortion a top political issue heading into the 2024 election.

According to a survey conducted in 2023, ** percent of Americans with a household income of ******* U.S. dollars or more shared concerns about the impact of the government in the United States. ** percent were also concerned about the impacts of inflation and the economy in that year.

In a 2024 survey, one-third of respondents among IT and security professionals from organizations worldwide stated that the biggest obstacle they faced when getting started with artificial intelligence in security implementations was the lack of skills when recruiting new staff or the lack of knowledge of their current employees. Resource allocation, notably compute capabilities, ranked second, mentioned by over ** percent of respondents.

A 2023 survey among board members of worldwide organizations showed that 36 percent are concerned that their internal data will become public due to a cyber attack. Respondents also stated that reputational damage and disruption to operations were among the most concerning outcomes a cyber attack could have on their organization. In an earlier survey, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) of worldwide organizations mentioned significant downtime as the most concerning consequence of a material cyberattack.

During a survey conducted among marketers worldwide in September and October 2024, approximately ** percent of marketers worldwide included concerns about the reliability of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) among the biggest challenges to the use of that technology in marketing. Around ** percent mentioned a lack of skills or training, while ** percent cited security risks. According to the same study, around ** percent of participating global marketers expected marketing budgets to increase in the following two years.

In a survey conducted in 2024 among respondents from India, ** percent said that unemployment was the primary concern for the country. ** percent believed that inflation was a key challenge, followed by development. For * percent of respondents Ram Temple in Ayodhya was a concern.

According to a survey carried out during May 2020 in Mexico, for approximately ********* of respondents the biggest concern as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak was the economic situation. In comparison, **** percent stated being more worried about the health crisis, while the largest share of respondents (**** percent) were most concerned about both. The first cases of COVID-19 in Mexico were confirmed on February 28, 2020.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

According to a 2024 survey of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) worldwide, the board of directors' three leading cybersecurity concerns were disruption to operations, loss in revenue, and reputational damage. Reputational damage appeared to be the main concern for business leaders in Japan, Spain, and Germany, with over 50 percent of CISOs of each market choosing that answer.