Money worries, severe weather disasters, digitization, corona - the survey shows the greatest fears of Germans

What are Germans most afraid of?

And how fearful are Germans in general?

This was examined by a poll published on Thursday.

Berlin - In the past year there were many events that stirred up new fears among Germans - or reignited old ones.

The corona pandemic continues to keep the world in suspense.

But severe weather disasters, climate change and foreign policy events such as the situation in Afghanistan also worried the population.

For the thirtieth time, the R + V insurance company asked the Germans about their fears.

But they are not that strong this year.

On Thursday (September 9th) the R + V-Versicherung published the results of a representative survey.

The result: people in Germany * feel relatively safe overall.

One of the top fears of Germans this year are money worries: every second person is now afraid of having less money in their wallets in the future.

Survey on fears of Germans: Corona and national debt drive money worries

The biggest fears of the population in 2021 revolve around the topic of money.

In first place is the fear of tax increases or cuts in benefits due to the corona pandemic: 53 percent of Germans are afraid of having to pay more money because of the pandemic.

This concern is new in 2021.

50 percent of those surveyed are also worried about rising costs of living and higher costs for taxpayers as a result of the EU debt crisis - a fear that has pervaded German households since the financial crisis.

The high national debt of the federal government * also caused serious financial worries among the population, says the political scientist Prof. Manfred Schmidt, who accompanied the study.

The politicians would not pour the people pure wine, how things are going with the finances in Germany, he explains the money worries.

"The top fears testify to the realism of the respondents - and the priority of their material interests," he comments on the result.

About the study

The R + V insurance company has been collecting data on the fears of Germans since 1992.

A total of 2,400 people aged 14 and over were interviewed for the survey between May and July 2020.

In personal interviews, the people were able to indicate on a scale how high their fear is about a certain topic.

The data are compared with the surveys from previous years.

Top ten fears: natural disasters, climate change and immigration

The flood disaster in July caused terrible images in parts of Germany *.

Before the disaster, however, the population's fear of such natural disasters and extreme weather was lower than in previous years, at 41 percent.

But the flood disaster ensured that this concern skyrocketed again: A second survey after the events shows that two thirds of those surveyed are afraid of another storm disaster.

Another issue is immigration, which has been one of the three biggest fears since the refugee crisis in 2015.

45 percent of those surveyed fear that the state could be overwhelmed by the number of refugees.

42 percent are also concerned that immigration could lead to conflicts.

This is also noticeable in politics, says Manfred Schmidt: “The keyword 2015 depends on every party.” West-East differences are particularly noticeable when it comes to immigration: In the east, at 58 percent, this remains the top fear.

Afraid of being overwhelmed by politicians - do they need tutoring?

In the election year 2021, the topic of politics is of course of particular interest.

One of the ten greatest fears of Germans is the fear of overwhelming politicians.

41 percent of respondents worry about it.

Although this is less than in the previous election year 2017 (55 percent), the general assessment of politicians is worse than it was a few years ago.

As every year, the respondents issue the politicians with an “annual report card”.

This year's average grade is 3.8 - last year it was 3.4.

It is noticeable that the politicians were given a “poor” or “unsatisfactory” rating more often than the grade “good” or “very good”.

On the other hand, 60 percent of those surveyed are reasonably satisfied with German politics and give it a grade of three or four.

Unemployment, corona, illness: these fears have decreased

Fears of an economic downturn and unemployment fell most sharply compared to the previous year.

Prof. Dr.

Schmidt attributes this development to the fact that the recent economic upswing promotes optimism in society.

The prospects of another recession are slim as long as there is no further lockdown.

Fear of the corona pandemic * or serious illness has also decreased again.

The fear of a corona infection * seems to be less strong, especially among the younger generation.

Schmidt sees this development critically, however: the respondents are normally relatively realistic in their assessments - but the assessment of the Corona problem appears to him "over-optimistic".

New fears, especially among young people - climate protection is no longer the most important issue

The topic of digitization was taken up again this year.

Especially among young people there is great fear that Germany will lag behind in an international comparison.

In the group of 14 to 19-year-olds, this fear has almost half - among 20 to 29-year-olds it is 43 percent.

The older generations, however, seem to be less preoccupied with this topic.

It is also surprising that the topic of digitization seems to be more important to young people than climate protection.

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