Consumer anxiety

Indians and Chinese are an anxious lot, but it’s not the slowdown that’s got them worried, finds JWT’s recent “Anxiety Index” study on consumer concerns.

The world may be sweating about the economic slowdown, but Indians and Chinese, it seems, are more concerned about drinking poisoned milk or being shot at by terrorists. In China, for instance, only 35 per cent of the respondents, in a year-long study conducted by JWT on anxiety levels across the world, said the state of the global economy worried them. The comparable numbers for Japan and the US were 90 and 79, respectively.

So, what does it take to scare a Chinese? Over 51 per cent of respondents in the study said food safety was their biggest anxiety, not surprising considering the 2008 milk scandal, which affected 300,000 people in the country.

India by comparison is an anxious nation (74 per cent admitted they suffered from anxiety). But again, it’s not the slowdown that’s to blame. Indians were most worried about security and terrorism, with terror attacks across Indian metros in recent times. And while the economic crisis has had some impact on purchasing habits in both countries, nearly 20 per cent of Indians said they had failed to give up their cellphone addiction and had recently upgraded their phone—to a more expensive model at that.

74%
Indians said they suffered from anxiety.
Key cause: Security and terrorism

51%
Respondents in China said they were concerned about drinking poisoned milk