Joblessness tops world's worry list: global BBC poll

The fear of losing jobs has become the fastest-rising worry for people around the world, reveals a BBC survey conducted among 11,000 people across 23 countries

The annual BBC World Service survey, called The World Speaks, asked people to indicate, from a list of concerns they had discussed most with family and friends in the past month.

Though corruption and poverty were at the top, 18 per cent said they were worried about unemployment. This stands at six times the rate which was cited in the first survey in 2009.

The poll, conducted by Canadian opinion research agency Globescan International, reveals that the growth in concern over unemployment was seen among people from all countries surveyed, while corruption emerged as the most talked about global concern, which had been a subject of discussion for over a quarter of those polled in the past four weeks.

Extreme poverty was next in the list with one in five having discussed the subject recently.

Issues associated with inflation, such as rising food and energy prices, came in at the third spot with unemployment, with both topics mentioned by 18 per cent of those surveyed.