Category: World Service
Date: 16.09.2005
Printable version
As part of its Who Runs Your World? season of programmes, Â鶹Éç World Service has commissioned the Gallup International Voice of the People 2005 poll of more than 50,000 people in 68 countries - representing the view of 1.3 billion people worldwide - about who has power, who wants it and how it is used.
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The findings provide a fascinating insight into who people think has power over them, who they trust and whether they believe they can change and improve their lives.
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In India and Pakistan the main findings include the following:
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People in India are most likely to identify themselves as Indian (34% identified this as being most important to them), rather than their local area, state or city (26%) or religion (19%).
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This was in marked difference to Pakistan, where 59% of people most identified with religion, with nationality being identified as most important by only 8% of people.
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In India, only 9% of people trust politicians, compared to 13% globally. This is significantly higher in Pakistan, with a level of trust in politicians of 31%.
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In India, family is extremely important, with 92% of people saying that family had had the most influence over their life in the past 12 months.
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This is slightly different from Pakistan, where friends (the most important influence for 18% of people) and religious leaders (most important influence for 12% of people) have a relatively greater degree of influence.
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In contrast, only 4% of Indian people say that friends have had the most influence and less than 1% say religious leaders.
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In India there is a low level of positivity about people's own ability to change their lives, with only 18% of people feeling positive about this (compared to 52% globally).
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In Pakistan the situation is similar, with 15% feeling positive about being able to change their lives.
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Seventy-seven per cent of Indians do not believe that their country is governed by the will of the people, which is even higher than the global average of 65%.
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Sixty-seven per cent of Indians do not believe that elections are free and fair.
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The survey in India and Pakistan was conducted in June 2005.
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Who Runs Your World? is the Â鶹Éç's largest ever single-themed season of programmes. Running from 16 September to 2 October, it will feature on all the Â鶹Éç global news services - TV, radio and online - in English and in 42 other languages including Bengali, Hindi, Sinhalese, Tamil and Urdu.
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The season explores power: who wants it; how it is used and how it is changing.
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And it is not just about politics, as every aspect of life comes under the Who Runs Your World? spotlight including religion, business, sport, entertainment and the family.
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Special programmes include the five-part radio documentary Looking for Democracy, a debate on The Millennium Goals and an exploration of very personal relationships in the programme Face to Face.
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Notes to Editors
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Â鶹Éç World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster, delivering programmes and services in 43 languages.
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It uses multiple platforms to reach 149 million listeners globally, including SW, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels.
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It has more than 2,000 partner radio stations which take Â鶹Éç content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones.
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Its international online sites include audio and visual content and offer users opportunities to interact directly with world events. They receive over 330 million page impressions a month.
