U.S. Consumers Lead In Money Worries

By Staff Writer

September 01, 2004 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, Sept. 1, 2004, 4:02 p.m. EDT

U.S. residents seem to worry more about money than residents of 5 other major countries, but they are about average when it comes to worrying about terrorism.[@@]

Euro RSCG Worldwide, New York, a marketing firm, reaches those conclusions in a report on a recent Web-based survey of about 13,000 adults in the United States, China, France, Germany, India and the United Kingdom.

In the United States, 64% of the respondents said they often worry about money, and 53% said they often worry about the threat of some form of terrorist attack.

U.S. participants were more worried about money than the participants from the other 5 countries, but they ranked fourth in terms of their level of concern about terrorism. Residents of China and Germany were the only participants who were less worried about terrorism.

In theory, consumers might respond to their worries by buying out more insurance, but the percentage of survey participants who said insurance companies would do everything possible to avoid paying claims ranged from 40% in Germany to 68% in the United Kingdom. U.S. and French consumers tied for second in terms of skepticism about insurers: 60% of the survey participants in both countries said they distrust insurers.

Euro RSCG is a unit of Euronext Paris S.A., Paris.

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