Assessing the urgency of problems

The Czech public considers unemployment to be the most acute problem now. 84% of those polled believe that the unemployment must be tackled ‘very urgently’ and a further 12% believe that it needs to be tackled ‘quite urgently’. This year, the unemployment is followed by problems in the health sector that are considered even more serious than organised crime and corruption, which jointly ranked at the top of the ‘ladder’ in the year 2002. As regards solutions to the current problems, the Czech public also gives high priority to the issue of social security and the protection of citizens against general crime. To a lesser extent, this also applies to living standards, economic reforms, functioning of the legal system, pension reform, housing policies and rent regulations, agriculture and education. On the other hand, the public takes little interest in political and legal issues, such as the form of the voting system or the position and powers of the president of the country.