Majority of adults think that accessing digital tools, training or technology will improve in the next 12 months, according to a survey polled across 28 countries conducted jointly by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Ipsos.
Ipsos, which is the world’s third-largest market research company, interviewed a total of 23,004 adults aged between 16 to 74 among the countries between Dec 23, 2020 and Jan 8.
The survey also found that the participants have “serious concerns” about the state of the climate, job market and global health.
According to results released by the survey, the percentage of those expecting the availability of digital tools and technology to improve in 2021 exceeds the percentage of those who think it will get worse across geographies.
This applies to most parts of the world, especially in Saudi Arabia (by 57 percentage points), Peru (55 percentage points) and India (48 points).
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Italy is the only country out of the 28 countries where the number of optimists almost equal the number of pessimists with a mere 3 percentage point difference.
Significantly, larger proportions of people expect opportunities for training and education to improve in 2021 than to get worse in 12 countries.
Saudi Arabia was once again in the lead with 45 percentage points, Peru at 44 percentage points, and Mexico and China at 36 percentage points each.
Through the survey, WEF also found that three out of five adults around the globe also perceive deteriorating health, the loss of income or employment, and the high frequency of weather-related natural disasters as a “real threat”.
On that, the number of pessimists outnumber optimists on the other five issues measured.
This was led by the pace of climate change by 20 percentage points, employment opportunities at 15 percentage points and general health conditions at 5 percentage points.
Issues such as inequality and relations between their country and other countries rounded up the top five issues that adults in these countries were concerned about.
On the Davos Agenda, Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF commented, “In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems have been growing stronger around the world”.
“Rebuilding trust and increasing global cooperation are crucial to fostering innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery. This unique meeting will be an opportunity for leaders to outline their vision and address the most important issues of our time, such as the need to accelerate job creation and to protect the environment,” he added.
