A majority of Czechs view terrorists, international organized crime and refugees as major threats to peace and security, according to a CVVM institute’s poll carried out in November.
In the survey, the biggest threat to Czechs was terrorism, with 58 percent labeling it a major threat. In second at 57 percent was international crime while another 54 percent indicated refugees were a threat.
While terrorism remained at the top of the ranking, the proportion of Czechs who identified it as the most serious threat has declined since 2016. For example in 2015, 81 percent of the population considered terrorism to be a great threat.
The perception of international organized crime as a major threat rose by three percentage points year on year, while the number of Czechs considering refugees to be a threat to peace remains the same as the year before.
As in the previous year, radical religious movements placed fourth in the ranking of security risks, with 48 percent of respondents identifying them as a major threat.
However, Czechs are not that worried about foreign intelligence services (28 percent), far-right and far-left-wing groups (27 percent), or foreigners living in the Czech Republic (22 percent).
The CVVM institute also researched whether people consider wars, epidemics, resource crises, natural disasters, or the world economic crisis to be a real threat to the Czech Republic. More than 30 percent of respondents consider these topics to pose a serious threat, with the exception of war (29 percent).
However, almost four-fifths of Czechs have an optimistic outlook on their future and the future of their loved ones. Optimism also prevails in the case of the future of Czech society, with 62 percent of the population seeing it positively.
Nevertheless, people in the Czech Republic are not that optimistic about the future of Europe (50 percent) and the future of humankind, with 54 percent of respondents being pessimistic about it.
