A new European survey, which researched 12 different European nations, found that the most pressing social or economic matter right now is unemployment. Ireland, however, was found to be the most “carefree” of the European countries.

The Irish Times
reports that a survey conducted by GfK market research group found that Europeans are most concerned with unemployment, and that Germans are Europe’s ‘biggest worriers.’

Respondents were asked to name, unprompted, the most pressing problems facing their countries. Germans named 2.5 problems on average, while the Irish and Swedes had just 1.2 concerns.

Overall, unemployment ranked as the 12 nations’ most pressing concern, with some 37 percent worried about it. Unemployment was the top problem in 10 of the 12 countries; the Netherlands and Russia reported economic stability and inflation respectively as their most pressing matters.

Two-thirds of the Irish respondents reported an urgent need to tackle problems of an economic or financial nature. One quarter of the Irish said there should be more being done to boost jobs, while 20 percent worried about unemployment.

“This is not surprising,” the survey notes, as unemployment “more than tripled between 2005 and 2012, according to the OECD and lies at 14.2 per cent.”

Overall economic development is the third most pressing matter to the Irish, with 18 percent citing it.

Six percent are concerned about state finances, trailed by four percent who see politics, inflation or crime as a problem.

Housing concerns, particularly the cost of accommodation, came out in the bottom of Ireland’s top 10 concerns, probably due to the collapse in house prices, says the Irish Times.