When we consider societal issues, we tend to feel that most of them are unique to our nation. If there is a horrible environment, we are certain that it is only our fault; if there are broken roads, we point to some new motorways in Africa and claim that even there, things are better. But this occurs because we search for the negative in ourselves and others, failing to look at the issue objectively.
However, if you approach this topic with an open mind, you’ll find that most people in most nations are concerned about the same societal issues.
Poverty
According to independent experts, every fourth citizen of a country, or roughly 36 million individuals, earns less than 60% of the national median income and is classified as poor. But this isn’t only our issue, and don’t expect us to start discussing how terrible life is on certain African reserves, where people are starving to death. According to the United Nations, more than 700 million people live in severe poverty and cannot fulfil even the most basic demands. And these are just the beggars; if we include the impoverished, the number might rise to 2 billion.
Furthermore, these impoverished individuals may be found worldwide, including in developed nations like the United States and Western Europe.
Inequality of income
In the United States, for example, the wealthiest 1% of the population earns twice as much as the lowest 90%. The disparity widens dramatically when we look at less rich nations, with the impoverished and middle class living in two universes.
Pollution of the environment
People used to be unconcerned about the environment because when you can barely feed yourself or lay in a trench, it’s hard to worry about air pollution. However, in this day of globalization, more and more people are starting to consider how much we, humans, have contaminated the environment. The air is thick with hazardous fumes, the rivers are clogged with oil spills and debris the size of continents, and the land is contaminated by nitrates and silt from industrial emissions.
This issue affects not simply any nation only, China’s industrial cities, but the whole globe. The environment is still under attack, even when they are worried about lowering emissions. And don’t forget that country boundaries are only demarcation lines, not impenetrable barriers, and pollution from, say, China or the United States is dispersed around the globe.
Affordable housing
Housing costs in many nations have risen dramatically in the last year, reaching as much as 50% or more in certain situations. However, this is a worldwide issue created by some circumstances, the first of which was the coronavirus pandemic, which forced building and everything associated with it to halt for a long period. Initially, this increased the cost of construction materials, followed by a rise in the price of real estate.
But, even before then, many were concerned about house affordability. According to the United Nations, there are around 150 million homeless persons globally, with another 1.6 billion people living in inadequate housing. This means they are forced to live in shacks with no running water or electricity.
Furthermore, this is a global issue: due to economic disparity, the typical American citizen, as well as those in India and Zimbabwe, cannot afford good homes for their salaries in their respective countries.
Medicine at a reasonable price
The world is concerned about this issue as well, although from different perspectives. For example, in the United States, high-quality medication and contemporary technology are available, yet citizens must pay a large price for every action, even contacting an ambulance. Seeing a doctor becomes a luxury. On the other hand, medicine does not exist in India, at least not for the majority of its population, making the problem much worse.
Terrorism
For some reason, we, the citizens of Western nations, feel that terrorism is just an issue in the industrialized world since zealots use it to scare and punish the wealthy. Terrorism, on the other hand, is a global concern. Furthermore, this phenomenon is particularly prevalent in underdeveloped nations, where the populace is continually entering the ranks of terrorists, whose activities are most frequently aimed against their own country owing to a lack of knowledge and hope. These nations, in turn, are unable to secure the protection of their population due to inadequate financing and training of special services personnel.
Police chaos
If it seems that our country’s security services are treating individuals brutally, you have not seen how this is handled elsewhere globally, especially in the United States, which they often look up to when addressing such issues. Do not believe that we are excusing police violence; rather, we want to point out that this is a global practice and how the system operates. According to data, more than 23% of allegations of police misbehavior in the United States were related to ill-treatment. What can we say about less-developed nations like India, where police officers may beat individuals with sticks without fear of retaliation?
Bullying
Bullying occurs in schools, work, and society all across the globe. This is a significant issue in certain nations often depicted in popular culture. The subject of school bullying and its ramifications, for example, is often addressed in Japanese films and animation.
Furthermore, this bullying is notable for its special harshness to the victim, a widespread issue. Approximately the same thing is occurring in the United States, where this issue is one of the primary causes of so-called mass shootings, in which bullied victims approach criminals with guns and carry out lynchings.
The bullying issue is not so much the humiliation and subjugation of the person but the individual’s long-term possibilities. Bullying victims often end up in psychiatric institutions or prisons due to their experiences.
Unemployment
In 2020, the number of jobless individuals globally reached a high of 400 million, accounting for more than 5% of the global population. Although there is no data for 2021, we are certain that this number will skyrocket due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting employment losses.
Every day, millions of people throughout the globe lose hope of obtaining any employment, and millions more suffer in low-paying, overworked jobs, fearful of losing their jobs. This is occurring all around the globe, not only in impoverished African nations.
Education
Although free education is still available in some nations, many people have abandoned this practice. Furthermore, even elementary and secondary school education is paid, which means that many youngsters cannot acquire fundamental skills.
Even in wealthy nations, where primary and secondary education is free and higher education is not prohibitively costly, many people are concerned about the quality of education, its relevance, and, perhaps most importantly, its status.
