Last week was typical: In the Pew Research Center’s weekly News Interest Index, just 17% said they were following news about economic problems in Europe very closely. Just 3% cited this as their top story of the week. By comparison, 40% tracked U.S. economic news very closely and 20% said they followed it more closely than any other story.

A week earlier, nearly four times as many said the death of football player Junior Seau was their top story than cited Europe’s economic problems (11% vs. 3%).

In part, the public’s lack of interest Europe’s woes is part of a broader indifference to international news. Last year, there were a number of breakthrough foreign stories, from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to the “Arab spring.” Not this year. Aside from the deadly crash of a cruise ship off the coast of Italy in January, no international story has come close to topping the weekly news interest index.

The public does not believe Europe’s financial crisis presents much of a threat to the U.S. economy. Last December, Pew Research asked about the seriousness of several possible threats to the U.S. economy. Fully 76% said the size of the national debt posed a major threat to U.S. economic well-being. Fewer than half (46%) said Europe’s economic problems represented a major threat. In terms of foreign threats, far more viewed economic competition from China as a major concern than the European crisis.

There were wide partisan differences over several possible economic threats, but not the Europe crisis. Only about half of Republicans and independents (49% each) said Europe’s economic problems represented a major threat to U.S. well-being, as did 43% of Democrats.

Hunger Widespread

As most Americans gather for Thanksgiving November 27–traditionally a time for festive overeating and self-indulgence–about one-in-seven of their fellow citizens say they occasionally can’t afford to put food on their tables. And the problem is not getting any better.

As many as 15% of Americans said there have been times in the last year when they did not have enough money to buy food for their families. In contrast, only one-in-eleven Western Europeans (9%) and one-in-25 (4%) Japanese said they periodically go hungry. These proportions have not changed significantly between 1974-5 and 2002, when compared with data collected by Gallup International. Only in Japan, notwithstanding a decade-long economic stagnation, has the proportion of people reporting they occasionally can’t pay for food declined significantly, by 10 percentage points since 1974-5.

In other, poorer parts of the world, putting food on the table is much tougher. Majorities in seven of ten African countries surveyed–including 59% of South Africans and 56% of Nigerians–said they went without food at some point because of the lack of money. And hunger is not simply a function of absolute poverty. Half of Russians (50%) and Ukrainians (55%) also complained they occasionally could not pay to feed their families. Moreover, it has become more difficult to regularly put food on the family table in parts of Latin America. In 2002, nearly half (45%) of Brazilians reported that they skipped meals because of a lack of cash. In 1974-5, only 26% of Brazilians occasionally went hungry.

The good news: for people fortunate enough to live in poor regions that have prospered in the last generation, hunger, while still disturbingly widespread, has declined. Two-in-three (66%) Indians said they periodically went without food in 1974-5. By last year, 44% claimed such deprivation.

While an overwhelming number of people in the United States, Canada and Europe said they have enough to eat, two-in-five low-income Americans at times go hungry, the highest such proportion in the industrial world. Only one-in-four low-income Canadians and Britons are so deprived. The young in the United States are also twice as likely as the old to be unable to pay for a meal – 21% of those aged 18-29 complained that they occasionally can’t buy food, compared with only 9% of those age 65 or older. U.S. women (19%) also were more likely than men (11%) to not be able to afford the occasional meal.

In most of the rest of the world, overwhelming portions of the poor occasionally went hungry: 71% of low income people in Brazil, 66% of low-income people in Russia, 65% of low income people in India. Notably, however, a third (36%) of people who have a middle-class income by Brazilian standards also reported not having enough money for food at times, and half (52%) of middle- class Russians and a quarter (25%) of middle-class Indians faced similar deprivation. Brazilian and Mexican women, like their sisters in the United States, are much more likely than men in their societies to have faced challenges feeding their families. But elsewhere in the developing world, women were not much more likely than men to complain about not being able to put food on the table regularly.

Access to Medical Care Worsening

Access to affordable medical care is often an even tougher challenge than putting food on the table in much of the world, rich and poor. One-in-four (26%) Americans said that there had been times in the last year that they did not have enough money to pay for medical and health care that their family needed. This was twice the percentage of Canadians (13%) and Italians (12%) and five times the percentage of French (5%) who had such complaints.

Moreover, the affordability of medical care is a growing problem in much of the industrial world. In 1974-5, 15% of Americans said they periodically couldn’t afford to see a doctor. In 2002, the percentage had grown to 26%. There was a similar increase in such complaints in Canada-(from 4% in 1974-5 to 13% in 2002) in Britain (from 1% to 11%) and in Italy from 9% to 12%. Access to affordable health care also became a more widespread problem in Brazil (36% to 51%) and Mexico (39% to 45%).

In a sign that government health insurance for older Americans has improved their access to care, only one-in-five (20%) Americans age 65 and older reported they had to go without medical care at some time over the past year because of a lack of funds. Without a comparably large government program for the young, one-in-three (33%) people age 18-29 had to forego health care because they could not afford it.

Overall, there was a stark difference in people’s experience with the American market-oriented health care system and the state-funded medical care provided in Canada and Western Europe. As many as 55% of low-income Americans occasionally could not afford to pay for care, only 25% of low-income Canadians, 17% of low-income Germans and 8% of low-income Japanese faced that problem. The United States lacks a universal health care system; Canada, Germany and Japan each have such a safety net.

Women are relatively disadvantaged by the U.S. medical care system. Nearly one-in-three (31%) American women said they had occasional trouble paying for health care, but only one-in-five (22%) American men had the same complaint. There was no such gender gap in Canada or Western Europe.

As might be expected, the poor almost everywhere have trouble paying for medical care: nearly two-in-three (64%) Nigerians said they had at times lacked the funds to pay for the care their families needed, as did more than half of Indonesians (56%) and three-in-five (61%) Mexicans. Half of Russians (54%) and Ukrainians (56%) had similar complaints.

These findings are drawn from the Pew Global Attitudes Project’s surveys of 38,000 people in 44 nations, conducted during the summer/fall 2002 under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project is a series of worldwide public opinion surveys. The project has issued two major reports, “What the World Thinks in 2002″ — based upon 38,000 interviews in 44 nations — and “Views of a Changing World, June 2003″ — based on 16,000 interviews in 20 nations and the Palestinian Authority. Surveys were conducted by local organizations under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates. The Gallup trends from 1974-5 are drawn from the “Human Needs and Satisfactions” survey published by Kettering and Gallup International in 1977. Full details about the surveys, and the project more generally, are available at www.people-press.org

Religion is much more important to Americans than to people living in other wealthy nations. Six-in-ten (59%) people in the U.S. say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This is roughly twice the percentage of self-avowed religious people in Canada (30%), and an even higher proportion when compared with Japan and Western Europe. Americans’ views are closer to people in developing nations than to the publics of developed nations.

The 44-nation survey of the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows stark global regional divides over the personal importance of religion.[1] In Africa, no fewer than eight-in-ten in any country see religion as very important personally. Majorities in every Latin American country also subscribe to that view, with the exception of Argentina. More than nine-in-ten respondents in the predominantly Muslim nations of Indonesia, Pakistan, Mali and Senegal rate religion as personally very important. In Turkey and Uzbekistan, however, people are more divided over religion’s importance.

Secularism is particularly prevalent throughout Europe. Even in heavily Catholic Italy fewer than three-in-ten (27%) people say religion is very important personally, a lack of intensity in belief that is consistent with opinion in other Western European nations. Attitudes are comparable in former Soviet bloc countries. In the Czech Republic, fully 71% say religion has little or no importance in their lives — more than any nation surveyed — while barely one-in-ten (11%) say it is very important. And in Poland, the birthplace of the Pope and where the Catholic Church played a pivotal role during the communist era, just 36% say religion is very important.

The Global Attitudes study correlated views on religion with annual per capita income and found that wealthier nations tend to place less importance on religion — with the exception of the United States. This is seen most clearly in Asia, where publics in the two wealthiest nations surveyed — Japan and South Korea — are far less likely to cite religion as personally important than those in poorer nations of the region. The lone exception is Vietnam, however, where just 24% of the public view religion as very important. (Questions on the personal importance of religion were not permitted in China, and were deemed too sensitive to ask in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.)

This poll is part of the Pew Global Attitudes Project. The project’s first major report, “What the World Thinks in 2002,” focusing on how people view their lives, their countries and the world, was released Dec. 4, 2002 and is available online at www.people-press.org.

“The Pew Global Attitudes Project,” is a series of worldwide public-opinion surveys that will measure the impact of globalization, modernization, rapid technological and cultural change and the Sept. 11 terrorist events on the values and attitudes of more than 38,000 people in 44 countries worldwide. It will be conducted and released over the course of two years.

The Project is chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. Andrew Kohut, director of The Pew Research Center For The People & The Press, is the project director. An international advisory board – consisting of regional experts, academics, activists, and business and government leaders and chaired by Sec. Albright – provides guidance in shaping the surveys. Team members include Bruce Stokes, a columnist at the National Journal; Mary McIntosh, vice-president of Princeton Survey Research Associates; and Elizabeth Mueller Gross and Nicole Speulda, of the Pew Research Center. The Global Attitudes Project is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with a supplemental grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Global Gloom and Growing Anti-Americanism

Despite an initial outpouring of public sympathy for America following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discontent with the United States has grown around the world over the past two years. Images of the U.S. have been tarnished in all types of nations: among longtime NATO allies, in developing countries, in Eastern Europe and, most dramatically, in Muslim societies.

Since 2000, favorability ratings for the U.S. have fallen in 19 of the 27 countries where trend benchmarks are available. While criticism of America is on the rise, however, a reserve of goodwill toward the United States still remains. The Pew Global Attitudes survey finds that the U.S. and its citizens continue to be rated positively by majorities in 35 of the 42 countries in which the question was asked. True dislike, if not hatred, of America is concentrated in the Muslim nations of the Middle East and in Central Asia, today’s areas of greatest conflict.

Opinions about the U.S., however, are complicated and contradictory. People around the world embrace things American and, at the same time, decry U.S. influence on their societies. Similarly, pluralities in most of the nations surveyed complain about American unilateralism. But the war on terrorism, the centerpiece of current U.S. foreign policy, continues to enjoy global support outside the Muslim world.

While attitudes toward the United States are most negative in the Middle East/Conflict Area, ironically, criticisms of U.S. policies and ideals such as American-style democracy and business practices are also highly prevalent among the publics of traditional allies. In fact, critical assessments of the U.S. in countries such as Canada, Germany and France are much more widespread than in the developing nations of Africa and Asia.

A follow-up six-nation survey finds a wide gap in opinion about a potential war with Iraq. This threatens to further fuel anti-American sentiment and divide the United States from the publics of its traditional allies and new strategic friends. But even on this highly charged issue, opinions are nuanced. Iraq is seen as a threat to regional stability and world peace by overwhelming numbers of people in allied nations, yet American motives for using force against Iraq are still suspect.

Souring attitudes toward America are more than matched by the discontent that people of the planet feel concerning the world at large. As 2002 draws to a close, the world is not a happy place. At a time when trade and technology have linked the world more closely together than ever before, almost all national publics view the fortunes of the world as drifting downward. A smaller world, our surveys indicate, is not a happier one.

The spread of disease is judged the top global problem in more countries than any other international threat, in part because worry about AIDS and other illnesses is so overwhelming in developing nations, especially in Africa. Fear of religious and ethnic violence ranks second, owing to strong worries about global and societal divisions in both the West and in several Muslim countries. Nuclear weapons run a close third in public concern. The publics of China, South Korea and many in the former Soviet Bloc put more emphasis on global environmental threats than do people elsewhere.

Dissatisfaction with the state of one’s country is another common global point of view. In all but a handful of societies, the public is unhappy with national conditions. The economy is the number one national concern volunteered by the more than 38,000 respondents interviewed. Crime and political corruption also emerge as top problems in most of the nations surveyed. Both issues even rival the importance of the spread of disease to the publics of AIDS-ravaged African countries.

These are among the principal findings of the Pew Global Attitudes survey, conducted in 44 nations to assess how the publics of the world view their lives, their nation, the world and the United States. This is the first major report on this survey. The second will detail attitudes toward globalization, modernization, social attitudes and democratization. The International Herald Tribune is our global newspaper partner and conducted in-depth interviews with citizens in five nations, some of which are quoted in this report.

The primary survey was conducted over a four-month period (July-October 2002) among over 38,000 respondents. It was augmented with a separate, six-nation survey in early November, which examined opinion concerning a possible U.S. war with Iraq.

Follow-Up Survey on Iraq

Huge majorities in France, Germany and Russia oppose the use of military force to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. The British public is evenly split on the issue. More than six-in-ten Americans say they would back such an action. But the six-nation poll finds a significant degree of agreement in Europe that Iraq is a threat to the stability of the Middle East and to world peace. More people in all countries polled say the current Iraqi regime poses a danger to peace than say the same about either North Korea or Iran.

Majorities in Great Britain, Germany and France also agree with Americans that the best way to deal with Saddam is to remove him from power rather than to just disarm him. However, the French, Germans and Russians see the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians as a greater threat to stability in the Middle East than Saddam’s continued rule. The American and British publics both worry more about Iraq than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Turkish respondents differ from Europeans about the danger posed by Iraq. They are divided on whether the regime in Baghdad is a threat to the stability of the region, and just a narrow 44% plurality thinks Saddam Hussein should be removed from power.

Fully 83% of Turks oppose allowing U.S. forces to use bases in their country, a NATO ally, to wage war on Iraq. Further, a 53% majority of Turkish respondents believe the U.S. wants to get rid of Saddam as part of a war against unfriendly Muslim countries, rather than because the Iraqi leader is a threat to peace.

While Europeans view Saddam as a threat, they also are suspicious of U.S. intentions in Iraq. Large percentages in each country polled think that the U.S. desire to control Iraqi oil is the principal reason that Washington is considering a war against Iraq. In Russia 76% subscribe to a war-for-oil view; so too do 75% of the French, 54% of Germans, and 44% of the British. In sharp contrast, just 22% of Americans see U.S. policy toward Iraq driven by oil interests. Two-thirds think the
United States is motivated by a concern about the security threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

In addition, respondents in the five nations surveyed (aside from the U.S.) express a high degree of concern that war with Iraq will increase the risk of terrorism in Europe. Two-thirds of those in Turkey say this, as do majorities in Russia, France, Great Britain and Germany. By comparison, 45% of Americans are worried that war will raise the risk of terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Suspicions about U.S. motives in Iraq are consistent with criticisms of America apparent throughout the Global Attitudes survey. The most serious problem facing the U.S. abroad is its very poor public image in the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East/Conflict Area. Favorable ratings are down sharply in two of America’s most important allies in this region, Turkey and Pakistan. The number of people giving the United States a positive rating has dropped by 22 points in Turkey and 13 points in Pakistan in the last three years. And in Egypt, a country for which no comparative data is available, just 6% of the public holds a favorable view of the U.S.

The war on terrorism is opposed by majorities in nearly every predominantly Muslim country surveyed. This includes countries outside the Middle East/Conflict Area, such as Indonesia and Senegal. The principal exception is the overwhelming support for America’s anti-terrorist campaign found in Uzbekistan, where the United States currently has 1,500 troops stationed.

Sizable percentages of Muslims in many countries with significant Muslim populations also believe that suicide bombings can be justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies. While majorities see suicide bombing as justified in only two nations polled, more than a quarter of Muslims in another nine nations subscribe to this view.

U.S. image problems are not confined to Muslim countries. The worldwide polling conducted throughout the summer and fall finds few people, even in friendly nations, expressing a very favorable opinion of America, and sizable minorities in Western Europe and Canada having an unfavorable view. Many people around the world, especially in Europe and the Middle East/Conflict Area, believe the U.S. does not take into account the interests of their country when making international policies. Majorities in most countries also see U.S. policies as contributing to the growing gap between rich and poor nations and believe the United States does not do the right amount to solve global problems.

U.S. global influence is simultaneously embraced and rejected by world publics. America is nearly universally admired for its technological achievements and people in most countries say they enjoy U.S. movies, music and television programs. Yet in general, the spread of U.S. ideas and customs is disliked by majorities in almost every country included in this survey. This sentiment is prevalent in friendly nations such as Canada (54%) and Britain (50%), and even more so in countries where America is broadly disliked, such as Argentina (73%) and Pakistan (81%).

Similarly, despite widespread resentment toward U.S. international policies, majorities in nearly every country believe that the emergence of another superpower would make the world a more dangerous place. This view is shared even in Egypt and Pakistan, where no more than one-in-ten have a favorable view of the U.S. And in Russia, a 53% majority believes the world is a safer place with a single superpower.

The American public is strikingly at odds with publics around the world in its views about the U.S. role in the world and the global impact of American actions. In contrast to people in most other countries, a solid majority of Americans surveyed think the U.S. takes into account the interests of other countries when making international policy. Eight-in-ten Americans believe it is a good thing that U.S. ideas and customs are spreading around the world. The criticism that the U.S. contributes to the gap between rich and poor nations is the only negative sentiment that resonates with a significant percentage of Americans (39%).

Global Discontents

In most countries surveyed, people rate the quality of their own life much higher than the state of their nation; similarly, their rating of national conditions is more positive than their assessment of the state of the world. Even so, the survey finds yawning gaps in perceptions dividing North America and Western Europe from the rest of the world.

Americans and Canadians judge their lives better than do people in the major nations of Western Europe. But that gap is minimal when the publics of the West are contrasted with people in other parts of the world.

Asians, South Koreans excepted, are less satisfied with their lives than are Western publics. Personal contentment is especially low among Chinese and Indian respondents, and relatively few feel they have made personal progress over the past five years. Nevertheless, the Chinese and Indians are extremely optimistic about their futures. In fact, many people in Asia expect their lives to get better. This is the case in the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea and Indonesia. The Chinese and the Vietnamese, in particular, have great confidence that their children will lead better lives than they have. By contrast, the Japanese are among the gloomiest people in Asia, whether reflecting on the past, present or the future.

Latin Americans present a very mixed picture of their lives. Mexicans, Hondurans and Guatemalans express a much higher degree of satisfaction than do people in South America. These positive assessments are notable given the large percentage of people in Mexico and the two Central American countries who say there have been times in the past year when they have been unable to afford food, health care or clothing.

Argentines are at the opposite end of the attitude spectrum. Most feel their lives have gotten worse in recent years and few express optimism about a better future. Brazilians rate their lives at present in about the same way as Argentines, but more expect progress in the future.

By nearly all measures, the Turks are among the unhappiest people surveyed. More generally, the publics of the six countries in the Middle East/Conflict Area are dissatisfied with the state of their lives, and a relatively high proportion of respondents in this region also report they have been unable to afford basic necessities in the past year. But not having enough money for essentials is a common experience for many people outside of the advanced economies. Overwhelming majorities of African respondents say there have been times in the past year when they did not have enough money for food, clothing or health care. In much of Latin America, as well as Russia and Ukraine, majorities say there have been times in the past year when they had too little money to afford food. Only in the industrialized nations are reports of doing without the basics of life limited to a distinct minority of the population.

Yet the range of problems confronting the world’s people goes well beyond personal deprivation. Health care is high on the list of people’s concerns, as are crime and political corruption. In most countries, majorities cite crime as a major national issue.

The Global Attitudes survey finds that people living in the most globalized countries express more satisfaction with their lives and a greater sense of personal progress than do people living in less globalized nations. However, the most globalized nations are also the richest. Among poorer countries, a nation’s degree of globalization has no bearing on its citizens’ satisfaction with life, feelings of personal progress or optimism.

Personal Progress In Eastern Europe

The publics of the former Soviet Bloc nations continue to lag behind Western Europeans in life satisfaction, but express more contentment than they did in the early 1990s. However, in the past five years Eastern Europeans report less personal progress than do Western Europeans.

Czechs have clearly made the smoothest adjustment from the communist era. They rate their lives and the state of their country better than other countries in the region. But there are still two Germanys when it comes to personal satisfaction — the citizens of the former East Germany are much happier than they were in 1991, but they have yet to catch up with their West German counterparts.

Global Esteem for Military and Media

People around the world are generally more satisfied with their national governments than they are with national conditions. Generally, views of the economy have a much greater bearing on public satisfaction with the national government than do people’s concern for other top problems such as corruption. Many heads of state are rated better than the governments they lead. In particular, Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush are much better regarded by their constituents than are the Russian and U.S. governments, respectively. On the other hand, Canada’s Jean Chretien, and Great Britain’s Tony Blair get lower grades from their citizens than do their nation’s governments.

Perhaps reflecting international worries, the military emerges as a highly rated institution in most countries of the world. The notable exceptions are Latin American countries, notably Guatemala, Argentina and Peru. The military not only gets a better rating than the national governments in most countries, it also is more highly regarded than religious leaders in most of Europe, Asia and many countries in the Middle East/Conflict Area. This is not the case, however, in most African and Latin American nations.

Despite displeasure with national and international conditions around the globe, there is no evidence of an international shoot-the-messenger syndrome. Lopsided majorities in just about every country surveyed say that news organizations have a beneficial impact on their societies. In almost every country, the media rates higher than the national government. There is also global unanimity as to where people go for news. In the 44 nations surveyed, nearly everyone cited television news as their predominant source of information about national and international affairs.

Other notable findings:

• Unlike many publics, the Russians have a much better opinion of the United States than they had in 2000. Six-in-ten Russian respondents have a favorable view of the U.S. now, compared with 37% two years ago.
• For all of the French criticism of U.S. policies, America’s image in France has not declined over the past two years. Still, French ratings of the United States continue to be among the lowest in Europe.
• There remains a substantial gap in personal satisfaction in Germany, with respondents in former West Germany more positive about their lives than their counterparts in the East. But former West Germans are the sole European public that showed no increase in personal satisfaction since the early 1990s.
• The post-communist generation in Eastern Europe is much more upbeat about their lives than those age 35 and older.
• Despite deep dissatisfaction and pessimism about their lives and country, an unusually high proportion of Japanese say they have no major personal concerns.
• People in the West express more satisfaction with their lives than do those in emerging nations. But this pattern is reversed when respondents are asked about the future of their nation’s children. Asians, in particular, are much more optimistic about prospects for the next generation than are Americans or Europeans.
• Publics all around the world are more satisfied with their family lives than with their incomes or jobs. But people in several countries — in Africa, the Middle East/Conflict Area and Eastern Europe — voice significant discontent with their family lives.
• While crime is a top national problem all around the world, it ranks high as a pressing personal concern in Latin American countries, especially in Honduras.
• Fully 15% of Americans say there have been times in the past year they have been unable to afford food — the highest proportion in any advanced economy. But levels of reported deprivation in Angola are highest in the world; 86% of Angolans report being unable to afford food at some point in the last 12 months.
• Africa is the only region in which a significant minority volunteers hunger as a personal problem.
• Canada is the only country in the West in which a majority of those surveyed express satisfaction with national conditions.

Roadmap to the Report

The first section of the report looks at how people evaluate their lives and concerns. Section II focuses on public attitudes toward national conditions and institutions. Section III examines public views of the world and global threats. Section IV analyzes how the people of the world view the United States.

A description of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, its board of international advisers, and complete list of the countries surveyed immediately follows. A summary of the research process and methodology can be found at the end of the report, along with complete results for all countries surveyed.