BBC World Service Poll: Food and Energy Prices Are a 'Burden'

Food & Beverage Close-Up, Oct 16, 2008

FOOD AND BEVERAGE CLOSE-UP-16 October 2008-BBC World Service Poll: Food and Energy Prices Are a 'Burden'(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com

Nearly two-thirds (60 percent) of people in a new 26-nation poll commissioned by the BBC World Service say they are feeling the burden of recent rises in the cost of food and energy.

They say that the rising cost of food, and of fuel and electricity costs, has affected them and their family a great deal.

The poll suggests that the rise in food prices is leading to changes in peoples behavior, particularly in poorer countries. Many in the developing world say they are cutting back on what they eat because of the higher cost of food.

Coupled with this, nearly half (43 percent) of the people surveyed say that the higher cost of food has caused them to change what they eat and again this was most apparent in the developing world with people in Panama (71 percent), Egypt (67 percent), Kenya (64 percent), and the Philippines (63 percent) among the most likely to have changed their diet.

The poll also shows that 70 percent of people around the world are unhappy with what their national government is doing to keep food prices affordable. Very high proportions of dissatisfied citizens are found in Egypt (88 percent dissatisfied), the Philippines (86 percent) and Lebanon (85 percent) as well as in some developed countries such as France (79 percent), Russia (78 percent), and Italy (74 percent).

Respondents were asked how much the rises in the cost of energy, including gas, had negatively affected them and their family. Overall 60 percent say that increased energy costs are affecting them and their family a great deal, and it is those in developing economies who seem to be feeling the effects most.

GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller said, While governments around the world are now preoccupied with the financial crisis, it is clear that many of their citizens feel they aren't doing enough to relieve the burden of high food prices, which is falling on those who can least afford it.

The results are drawn from a survey of 27,319 adult citizens across 26 countries conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork between July 8 and September 15.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))