A new global survey shows that nearly 15% of people worldwide believe that the apocalypse will take place throughout their lives, while 10% believe that this cataclysmic event will take place this year.
On December 21, 2012, when the 5125 year cycle of the Mayan calendar comes to an end, was associated by people with end of the world.
“Whether people believe that the apocalypse will come following the decision of God, following a natural disaster or political decisions, for whatever reason, one thing is clear: a man of seven world believe that the end is near,” said Keren Gottfried, chief scientist in the company Ipsos Global Public Affairs, led sociological research commissioned by Reuters.
“It may be one reason that the media pay much attention to those interpretations of Mayan prophecy which says that the world will” end “in 2012,” said Gottfried.
International survey respondents over 16,262 people in 20 countries. If only 6% said that they expect the apocalypse to occur throughout their lives, the percentage reached 22% for respondents from Turkey and the U.S.. In Belgium and the United Kingdom only 7% and 8% of those surveyed said they expect the apocalypse to happen in their lifetime.
Globally, 1 in 10 people said he fears that the apocalypse will come at the end of 2012. Countries where this fear was more pronounced were Russia and Poland, the UK recorded the minimum level of fear.
According to the study, the most likely to believe in apocalypse were those with low education, low income and younger than 35 years.
“Perhaps those who are older have lived long enough to not be so worried about what will happen in the future,” said Gottfried.
The survey was addressed to people of China, Turkey, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, USA, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Italy, South Africa, United Kingdom, Indonesia and Germany .
Source: Reuters
