In many countries governments are quite unpopular and thus for several reasons. According to a global public opinion survey, Greece has apparently the third most hated government in the world. Only 14% of the Greeks appear to approve Samaras-Venizelos coalition government. Top on the list with the lowest government approval ratings is Bosnia-Herzegovina (8% approval), followed by Bulgaria (13% approval).
The survey is based on Gallup’s study “Global States of Mind 2014″ and is being conducted each year. The questionnaire includes questions about economic situation, corruption and unemployment.
3. Greece
> Pct. approving of government: 14%
> Pct. believe gov’t corruption widespread: 91% (tied-2nd highest)
> Unemployment rate (2013): 27.3% (2nd highest)
Greece had the second highest debt to GDP ratio in the world last year, at over 175%. In 2012, the country defaulted on its bonds, triggering massive losses for investors. But while both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s recently upgraded Greece because said they see improvement in its fiscal position and economic outlook, residents have had to deal with the austerity measures that were the conditions of the country’s bailouts. Austerity measures in Greece have increased the appeal of fringe left- and right-wing political groups, both of which performed well in recent elections. This year, just 14% of Greeks approved of their leaders. Just 23% and 29% approved of the leadership of the EU and Germany, respectively, while just 19% of Greeks had confidence in financial institutions.
The full results of the survey are published in website
247wallst.com.
In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Ambassador Stuart Holliday, president and CEO of the Meridian International Center, a global leadership center based in Washington D.C., said that people’s perception of their own economic future plays a major role in approval ratings.
For poorly-rated countries, “the common denominator is really the gap between the human potential — the level of education and employability — and where people see the opportunity to build a life for themselves.”
This gap, in many ways, is reflected in unemployment rates. Last year, each of the three nations with the lowest approval ratings — Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and Spain — had annualized unemployment rates of more than 26%, among the highest in the world.
A number of the countries with the lowest government approval ratings are highly-developed nations — such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece — in which the economy has languished in recent years. According to Holliday, in many of these countries, residents “have looked at the state as the ultimate backstop on their society’s performance.” People, in turn, can become disillusioned with their leadership when they realize “there’s a gap between what the government can do, and what is needed.”
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 12 countries in which 20% or fewer respondents approved of their governments. In addition, we also reviewed Gallup data on perceptions of corruption, perceptions of foreign leadership, and confidence in the financial system by country. Figures for inflation, debt, and unemployment are from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and are as of 2013 unless otherwise noted.
