Category: World Service
Date: 31.12.2005
Printable version
The conflict in Iraq and the Asian tsunami have been voted as the most significant events of 2005 in a poll of more than 32,000 people in 27 countries for 91Èȱ¬ World Service.
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Both were chosen by 15 per cent of those questioned - with hurricanes Katrina and Rita which struck the southern United States in third place, followed by the death of Pope John Paul 11 and the London bombings in July.
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Researchers believe the prominent focus on weather-related events - global warming and the Pakistan earthquake were also among the top seven events named - reflect concern about a "trend" towards long-term climate change.
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Polling was carried out by GlobeScan working with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
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The question asked was: "In the future, when historians think about the year 2005, what event of global significance do you think will be seen as most important?"
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GlobeScan's President, Doug Miller, said: "Global citizens see 2005 mainly as a year of natural and man-made disasters. It seems likely that most people are happy for the year to be over."
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There was also a striking similarity worldwide in the choice of 'significant' events - the top three events cited were also among the three most frequently chosen in a large number of countries.
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PIPA's Director Steven Kull said: "The extent to which people in different countries perceive the same events as significant is a sign of how much the world has become globalised."
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Of those polled in the United Kingdom, only seven per cent mentioned the London bombings - only a little higher than the worldwide average of four per cent.
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In contrast, 48 per cent of Indonesians polled described the Bali bombing in their country as their most 'significant' event.
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Given that Britain has troops in Iraq, pollsters found it surprising that only nine per cent questioned in the UK chose the conflict in Iraq as their most 'significant' event - lower than the worldwide average of 15 per cent.
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The Asian tsunami was in top place for Britons (16% citing it) with 'global warming' in second place (chosen by 10%).
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The full list of worldwide voting for 'most signifcant events of 2005' among those giving an opinion was: Iraq (15%); Asian tsunami (15%); Katrina and Rita hurricanes (9%); death of Pope (6%); London bombings (4%); global warming (3%); avian flu (3%); Pakistan earthquake (2%); Bali bombings (2%).
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Countries surveyed: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Congo (DRC), Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Britain, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the United States.
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DW
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