More than half of Seoul City residents do not feel safe in the capital with anxiety growing over their daily life, a public think tank’s survey showed Thursday.

According to a survey by the Seoul Institute, about 52 percent of the respondents said the capital is not safe, with 9 percent replying that the city is very unsafe. 
Over 60 percent of the surveyed said the city has become more dangerous than 10 years ago, with 11.6 percent saying that it became a lot more dangerous.

Women, white-collar workers and those in their 30s tended to feel less safe.

More than 80 percent of the residents worried that their life cycle-related problems would increase in the future, while 81.4 percent said they were concerned about risks associated with their career and 70.1 percent were worried about the economy. Multiple responses were allowed in the survey. About 40 percent said they experienced anxiety in their daily life.

Female workers, unemployed youth and senior citizens showed a tendency to particularly feel unstable about their life because of fast-changing living trends amid rising unemployment and elderly population rates, researchers said.

The majority, or 88 percent of the surveyed, responded that they are exposed to information related to dangers from the media, followed by the Internet with 65.9 percent.

About 45 percent of the respondents trusted information from experts, while less than 20 percent said the government’s information was credible.

Recovering social trust is key to relieving public anxiety, researchers said.

“Participative communication is necessary to boost the public trust. To resolve social conflicts, people need to reduce unnecessary misunderstandings with two-way communication,” they said. “To do so, individuals’ active participation is necessary.”

The survey was conducted on 800 adults in the capital both online and off-line.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)