TLDR: Ipsos’ August 2025 ‘What Worries the World’ report reveals a significant rise in optimism among Indians, with concerns over inflation and unemployment decreasing. 64% of Indians are positive about the country’s direction, placing India 3rd globally in national sentiment.
The August wave of the Ipsos What Worries the World global survey brings positive news for India. Compared to the previous month, concern levels around key issues have notably declined. The data reveals a 7% drop in worry about inflation, an 8% decrease in concern over unemployment, and a 4% reduction in anxiety around education. The outlook? Clearly more optimistic than last month.
India’s Worries
Furthermore, nearly two in three Indians (64%) believe the country is headed in the right direction, reflecting strong national optimism. In contrast, global sentiment remains subdued, with only 37% of global citizens feeling their country is on the right track. India continues to rank third in overall optimism—unchanged from the previous month—trailing behind Singapore (80%) and Malaysia (72%), which remain the top two most optimistic nations.
“Despite the global dissonance and overall global economic slowdown, India has shown resilience fuelled by lower food inflation, strong domestic consumption keeping the wheels of the local economy running. In addition, a strong perception that India is not bowing down to tariff pressures is being seen as safeguarding the interests of citizens and displaying the spirit of, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Worry around inflation and unemployment has seen some respite – some set ups could have upped hiring in H2, despite global job cuts. We are bracing for tough days ahead with high Trump tariffs, at the same time, India’s growth story is intact even as most global markets are highly pessimistic about the future,” says Suresh Ramalingam, CEO, Ipsos India.
A representative sample of 25,177 adults aged 16-74 in 30 participating countries were interviewed between July 25th 2025 to August 8th 2025. The sample in India consisted of approximately 2,200 individuals, of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 were interviewed online.
What Worries Global Citizens?
Crime and violence remains the top concern for global citizens, driven in part by the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, which continue to affect neighboring regions. Other major concerns include inflation, poverty and social inequality and unemployment — all seen as collateral impacts of ongoing conflicts and global unrest.
Methodology
This 29-country Global Advisor survey was conducted between July 25th 2025 and August 8th 2025 via the Ipsos Online Panel system among 500 adults aged 18-74 in Canada, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa, Türkiye and the United States, 20-74 in Indonesia and Thailand, 21-74 in Singapore, and 16-74 in all other nations. The sample in India consists of approximately 2,200 individuals, of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 were interviewed online.
The “Global Country Average” reflects the average result for all the countries where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country and is not intended to suggest a total result.”
The sample consists of approximately 1000+ individuals in each of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and the US, and approximately 500+ individuals in each of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Türkiye. The samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the US can be taken as representative of these countries’ general adult population under the age of 75. The samples in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Türkiye are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these markets should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of these populations. India’s sample represents a large subset of its urban population — social economic classes A, B and C in metros and tier 1-3 town classes across all four zones. Weighting has been employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to the most recent census data. The precision of Ipsos online polls are calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points. For more information on the Ipsos use of credibility intervals, please visit the Ipsos website. Where results do not sum to 100 or the ‘difference’ appears to be +/-1 more/less than the actual, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of don’t knows or not stated responses The publication of these findings abides by local rules and regulations.
