A new separate theme in this survey was the concerns of Finns. The respondents were asked to separately assess seventeen issues and phenomena based on how alarming they deem them. The idea with this part of the survey was on the one hand to study the opinion of the citizens on the society and the issues influencing the society in general, and on the other hand compare their energy-related concerns with other concerns.

7.1. Energy-related vs. other concerns

As a whole, the results suggest major concern. All the issues studied are widely deemed at least fairly alarming. There is a clear pattern for the concerns, however: various environmental concerns are clearly emphasized. In addition to the most major concern pertaining to the environment ('Environmental loads from various sources and pollution in general', 91% of the respondents replied that they deem it a major concern or a fairly major concern, 9% were only slightly concerned or not at all concerned about it), some of the most major concerns are the deteriorating state of the Baltic Sea (86% / 13%), and climate change and its consequences (81% / 18%) [Figure 31].

The environment is not the only concern for Finns, however. Issues of other types which differ from each other can also be found at the top of the list of concerns. These include, for example, problems with the care of the elderly and healthcare in Finland (86% / 13%), perverted values of the modern society (82% / 16%), poverty and refugees in developing countries (82% / 17%), and jobs transferring from Finland to countries with cheap labor / globalization (78% / 21%). Even though concern is evident in the distribution of these issues lower in the list, the intensity of the opinions (the share of those who deem these issues 'extremely alarming') is clearly lower than for the most major concerns.

In addition to the most major concerns among the respondents, one should study the issues that worry the respondents the least. Of the issues listed, the respondents deemed the use of nuclear power in energy production the least alarming (47% / 52%). This result shows the duality of opinion surveys: how different the result may seem when a more extensively comparable framing of a question is used. The news headline 'Half of Finns fear nuclear power' would undoubtedly sound good to the opponents of nuclear power. The supporters of nuclear power, for their part, would be happy to hear that 'Finns are least concerned about nuclear power'. The result concerning nuclear power is also significant because the question is general: Finnish nuclear power or nuclear power in other countries has not been singled out. The fact that nuclear power plants in the East - and based on the latest news also those in the West - are included in the framing of the question likely does not increase the trust.

Among other concerns directly or indirectly connected to energy, concern with the use of oil and other fossil fuels is at an average level (70% / 28%). The second last place in the list is held by the health hazards caused by particles generated during combustion processes (50% / 46%). Thus, particles are somewhat less worrying for the public than one could assume based on previous research data on the issue that was based on a differently framed question.

When interpreting all the results, one should take into account the fact that the studied issues are not - and could never be in any survey - directly comparable. It is a question of very different types of phenomena, and their impacts range from national to global. It is also impossible to define any joint timeframe for the realization of these concerns. The assessment objects also include overlapping and in some cases mutual causal relations (such as the fact that one can think that hurricanes are caused by global warming, etc.).

Since this is a new series of questions, the results cannot be directly compared to any previous results. However, the survey of 1987 did include a survey on the concerns of Finns similar to this one. The comparison between the current results and the results from the 1987 survey shows that attitudes have changed little in twenty years. At that time, Finns were most concerned about issues connected with environmental pollution, in the same way as now. The next worst concerns were an increase in terrorism and violence, and AIDS, which was a new threat at that time.

¹The high priority of the Baltic Sea as a source of concern was also evident in another survey studying the issue from a different viewpoint (Suomi, EU ja maailma, EVA 2008).