The barbaric acts and military gains of Islamic State have succeeded in sowing fear in Australia and other wealthy nations, with a new poll showing the extremist group is considered the biggest global threat in all but one advanced economy surveyed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But poorer nations overwhelmingly rated climate change as the top menace to global security, according to a report from the Pew Global Research Centre.
Pew, a US-based research organisation, interviewed more than 45,000 people in 40 countries for the survey.
The poll, released overnight, found that Australia and nine other countries with advanced economies all ranked Islamic State (IS) as the biggest threat.
It follows widespread media coverage of IS' advances in Syria and Iraq and its distribution of horrific videos of brutal executions of westerners and other adversaries.
The only developed country that didn't rank IS as the biggest danger was Israel, where Iran's nuclear program was considered the greater concern.
As well as IS and climate change, participants in the survey were also asked about their level of concern over global economic instability, cyber attacks, tensions with Russia and territorial disputes with China.
In Australia, 69 per cent of respondents said they were "very concerned" by the threat posed by Islamic State. That was close to double those who were worried about Iran's nuclear program (38 per cent), climate change (37 per cent) and cyber attacks (37 per cent).
Some 32 per cent of Australians were very concerned about global economic instability while 31 per cent were worried about tensions with Russia.
Just 17 per cent were very worried about territorial disputes with China, despite some security analysts regarding the tensions between China and other Asian nations in the South and East China seas – as well as the Himalayas – as the most potentially damaging security flashpoint for the region.
Concern about China's territorial ambitions was a top two concern in only two countries surveyed – the Philippines and Vietnam. Both nations have competing claims with China over islands and maritime areas in the South China Sea.
While 77 per cent of Spaniards and 75 per cent of South Koreans regarded the IS threat as very concerning, just 33 per cent of respondents in Turkey felt the same way, even though it shares a border with Syria and Iraq and has hosted 1.5 million refugees from the conflict.
At 35 per cent, more Turkish respondents were "very concerned" about climate change.
However, those surveyed in other countries near Iraq and Syria – where IS has wreaked havoc and captured swathes of territory and major cities – viewed the threat from the militant group as far more serious.
Lebanese, Jordanian and Palestinians all regarded IS as the number one threat, the Pew poll found.
Of the 40 countries surveyed, 19 rated climate change as their biggest worry.
Anxiety about global warming was particularly acute in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change also was the top issue of concern in half of Asian countries surveyed.
Respondents in Burkina Faso (79 per cent), Peru and Brazil (75 per cent), Uganda (74 per cent), Indian (73 per cent) and Ghana (71 per cent) rated the danger from warming world temperatures highest.
Economic instability was the biggest concern in just two countries surveyed – Tanzania and Russia. The latter country is subject to economic sanctions due to its support for rebel forces in Ukraine.
China, France, India and Italy also ranked economic issues as one of their top two concerns.
