Over half of UK ‘ feel less safe’ than five years ago

MORE THAN half of people in the UK feel less safe than they did five years ago, compared to roughly a third of the world, according to a global study into worry and risk.

Some 53 per cent of UK respondents feel less safe and a larger proportion are worried about climate change than the proportion across 142 countries and territories, the poll of 150,000 people found.

The survey, by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, was carried out in 2019 and included 1,000 UK respondents.

As it was carried out before the coronavirus outbreak, it provides a snapshot of pre- pandemic attitudes toward risk and safety, which the charity will use as a benchmark for three further global surveys from 2021.

The UK was ranked 10th for fears about online fraud, 18th for experiencing serious harm from mental health conditions and 37th for feeling less safe than five years ago.

Some 70 per cent of those polled in the UK said they consider climate change to be a very serious threat in the next 20 years, compared to 41 per cent of the global responses.

Twice the proportion of UK respondents ( 40 per cent) said they had experienced serious harm from mental health conditions in the last two years compared to 20 per cent of global responses.

People in the UK were less likely than the world average to have experienced serious harm from severe weather or unsafe food or water, the report found.

Professor Richard Clegg, chief executive of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, said: “Knowing what people think will help us to identify gaps between people’s thoughts about risk and their experiences of threats to their safety. We can use this data to work with communities and empower people to take action most likely to reduce harm.”