66,800 people in 65 nations, What They Think

 

TIME recently reported the results of a Gallup International poll. The following were the top five concerns

1.      Corruption Not surprising, since most of the countries surveyed have weak democratic institutions, rule of law and civil societies   

2.      Rich Poor Gap Dominates current political conversation in America. This concern is top of agenda for President Obama, Pope Francis, Warren Buffett. The divide is very visible in America and India, countries I live in and travel to. Some wealth distribution and reduction of inequality is needed to buffer the next few years of job destruction and evolution. 95% of all new wealth created in the US recently has gone to only to 1% of the population

3.      Unemployment Technology and population growth drive this concern. We’re in a race between computers and people – and we need to make sure the people win quoting Google’s Eric Schmidt. 230 million white collar jobs will be transformed or eliminated in the next ten years

4.      Environmental issues  Reached a crisis and yet there are uninformed but influential opposing forces. In a recent interview, the Dalai Lama when asked to name what issue the US could be paying more attention to he named climate change

5.      And finally Religious Fundamentalism Shia-Sunni in the Middle East,  Muslim- Christian in Africa, to name just two, resulting in millions of refugees