Nuclear contamination fears increase

People in Switzerland are more worried about nuclear contamination and financial problems than they were a year ago, according to a study published on Monday.

While the nuclear disaster in Fukushima and the global financial crisis seem to have sparked increased nuclear worry within Switzerland, the overall level of fear has remained fairly stable.

The poll was carried out by research institute gfs-zürich for the Aduno Group, a Swiss company specialising in credit card and payment services.

On a scale of “1” (no threat) to “10” (major threat), the overall level of fear had increased just slightly, from 4.5 in 2010 to 4.6 in 2011.

Climate change (down 0.1 to 5.9) remained the top concern, while nuclear contamination jumped from seventh to second place (+0.6 to 5.7). Fear of inflation increased by 0.36 to 5.2.

Some other worries included selfishness (5.6), criminality (5.3) and urban sprawl (5.2).