For the first time since the pandemic, health is the main concern of Brazilians, study reveals

Public health has surpassed crime and violence and has become the main concern among Brazilians. This is according to a new survey carried out by the Ipsos Institute, a multinational company that carries out public opinion research and released last week. This scenario has not happened since the covid-19 pandemic.

The research, called What Worries the World? (which can be translated from English as “What worries the world?”), every month questions approximately 1,000 people from 29 countries, of different ages, about their main concerns regarding their country.

Through a digital panel, participants select the three topics they consider most worrying at that moment, including: public health; crime and violence; education; inflation, financial/political corruption; poverty and social inequality; taxes; climate change; terrorism and others.

In relation to Brazilians, the latest survey, carried out from March 22 to April 5, 2024, showed public health as the main concern, according to 42% of participants. This is an increase of more than 5 percentage points in relation to the month of March, which leaves health at a level of concern only reached during the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Institute’s CEO, Marcos Calliari, this result may be associated with the dengue crisis, which has already killed more than 1,800 people and is approaching four million likely cases in the country in 2024 alone, according to the Ministry of Health. It is worth highlighting that the number of cases is already double that recorded in all of 2023.

Furthermore, the registration of a case of cholera in Bahia about ten days ago, after 18 years without any case being registered in the country, raised an alert, according to Calliari.

As a result, concerns about public health narrowly surpassed those about crime and violence, which were highlighted as the main concern by 41% of Brazilian participants. Then came the concern about poverty and social inequality, cited by 37% of those interviewed.

It is worth highlighting that, from a global perspective, public health was only the sixth topic of greatest concern, chosen by 23% of respondents. In first place, for the 25th month in a row, is inflation (34%), followed by poverty and social inequality (30%), crime and violence (30%), unemployment (27%) and political/financial corruption (26% ).

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Is your country heading in the right direction?

In addition to the main concerns about countries, the survey also asked people whether they believe that, in general, the country in which they live is going in the right direction or not.

In Brazil, the majority (53%) said they did not believe that the country was in the right direction, which had only previously happened in December 2023, when the level of dissatisfaction was 51%. In the opposite direction, 47% said they see the country heading in the right direction, a drop of 4 percentage points compared to the previous month.

Globally, the general outlook is also negative, with 62% of the population believing that their respective countries are heading in the wrong direction.