The unsafety continues to be the main concern of people living in Uruguay, as revealed by the consulting firm’s latest survey Fact: 53% of the people consulted indicated the public security as the main issue that concerns you.
The unsafety It is an increasingly present issue in the lives of Uruguayans: from seeing the escalation of violence every day, mostly associated with crimes that have to do with drug trafficking and organized crime; until listening to proposals, debates, criticisms and discussions regarding it within the framework of the electoral campaign.
Therefore, as revealed in the update of the bimonthly survey of Factum, the concern for public safety, violence and drug trafficking grew during the first part of the year, going from 37% to 53%. In any case, it continues to be at the top of the concerns of Uruguayans since the fourth two months of 2023, when it surpassed “economic issues” at the top of the list.
The issues related to the economy —both national and personal of those surveyed—occupied second place in level of concern, with 34%, while “education” It came in third place with 11%, just 1% more than in the previous measurement. “Health” and “corruption” They appear below, with 2% each; while 8% said they had other problems, and 2% did not give an opinion on the matter.
If the disaggregated results are observed, the security It once again ranks in undisputed first place, with 49%, while the second concern is work, with just 12%. The difference of 37 points is a clear indicator of the perception of reality by Uruguayans.
The evolution of concerns: economy improves, security worsens
The Factum survey also shows the evolution of concerns since May 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning to be left behind. In that sense, it is observed how, as of June 2022, the relatively stable scenario in which the economy was the main concern, followed by public safety and education at similar levels – but well behind the first place -, begins to change.
The positive aspect is the improvement in the perception of economic issues by the population, which, in just over a year, fell from 58% to 30%, and then stabilized at 34%. On the other hand, the safety curve suggests the reverse movement, although more late and abrupt: from 29% in the third two months of 2023 it went to 53% today, in just four months.
Furthermore, since May 2021, concern about this issue has grown by 41 points.
Concerns Factum.png
Likewise, the current figures are even worse than those of the last year of the Frente Amplio government, in 2019, when the main issue of concern was also “public safety”, but with 47% of those consulted choosing this answer. “Employment” and “education” followed, with 17% and 11%, respectively.
At that time, other concerns such as “economy” reached 6% and “poverty/inequality” reached 3%, while “health”, “corruption” and “social/moral values” completed 1% for each of these three items.
Source: Ambito
