Half of the respondents said they feel unsafe in public places, on the streets and on public transportation. Eight years ago, that figure was only half as high.
The greatest fears relate to theft and verbal attacks in public. Less common are concerns about becoming a victim of physical or sexual assault or a terrorist attack.
Yaa true, I was quite surprised about this fear" fact-check" when I found out. Also, in general it’s also true on a more global scale.
Fear is a strong emotion and public fear will aways somewhat influence individuals. Imo, if you are aware enough, you might deflect most of that fear. It’s the animalistic part inside you that migh be affected because of the (evolutionary group) instict.
Added: Just realised I forgot to mention a huge caveat: Safety is a feeling which was compared to crime data. But maybe the fear people feel isn’t about crime data, but a reaction to ( geopolitical) changing times.
If so, it would be interesting to see an investigation trying to find out what and where this fear comes from, when it’s clear that it’s not crime. I do think media is partly to blame and hypothise this to be an important factor. But maybe some other unexpected reasons might become clear ( I’ll do a bit of search myself).
Update; the whole fear, media influence, immigration propaganda etc is quite complex . Basically the fear people have depends on economic status; so fear of this month’s rent or fear of the end of the world. Basically inflation, economy and jobloss.
Another take I found, is based on the assumption that European culture is depressing perse, and prefers tragedy over comedy. Europeans see many things " lacking" and wrong in this world.
FYI some links: