Spaniards are the Europeans with the most favourable view of immigration: 47 per cent of national experts and 40 per cent of the Spanish population believe that measures to promote migration would be effective in mitigating demographic ageing. This is reflected in a survey on “future challenges” conducted in 18 countries on four continents by the AXA Group and Ipsos, with a sample of 23,000 people in addition to 3,000 experts specifically selected from fifty nations, in which Spain appears as the country in the world most aware of its internal fragmentation.
This study shows that Spaniards believe, at a much higher rate than the global average (58 per cent compared to 39 per cent), that society is fragmented, with divergent interests that share fewer and fewer common aspirations. And this division is mainly due to increasingly marked political and ideological differences, according to the Spanish respondents’ view of those in other countries.
The survey shows the extent to which citizens feel they are experiencing successive crises, creating an overall impression of instability and uncertainty. In addition to the factors that contribute to this feeling of living through multiple crises, the results clearly show that citizens in all countries have very little confidence in the public authorities to protect the population from the risks they face.
The combination of these two factors suggests a possible “explosive cocktail” that could fuel populism, extremism and “every man for himself”, according to those responsible for the 2025 edition of this macro survey. Apprehension about a severe “polycrisis” has increased since the 2024 survey, possibly due to the acceleration of a series of political, economic, social and geostrategic phenomena.
The first of the future challenges envisaged by the populations (and experts) in the fifteen countries surveyed is climate change, which has remained at the top of the list since 2018 (except in 2020, the year of the pandemic) in the “top ten” future risks in most countries and continents. This is followed by fears of security threats and terrorism, cybersecurity risks, social movements and tensions, health, geopolitical instability, dangers related to artificial intelligence and big data, risks to financial stability, etc.
In Spain, more than in other countries, the population considers language, diet, traditions and cultural values to be elements of cohesion. Also in Spain, more than the average, the vision of the ideal society, politics and different religious beliefs are considered to be elements that can reduce cohesion.
Likewise, in Spain, the main consequence of the current demographic situation over the next 10 years will be the possible collapse of the public pension system (according to 92% of Spanish experts and 79% of the population), increased healthcare costs (91% of Spanish experts and 82% of the population) and increased social isolation of the elderly (88% of Spanish experts and 82% of the population).