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Italians more worried about jobs than terrorists

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Italians more worried about jobs than terrorists
Security in Rome has been stepped by following terrorist threats. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Italians are more worried about unemployment, political corruption and tax than terrorism, a new poll has found.

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Unemployment is the most important problem for 44.0 percent of Italians, based on the new poll by the European Observatory on Security (Osservatorio Europeo Sulla Sicurezza). Italy's jobless rate recently fell slightly to 12.9 percent, but it is still woefully high compared to the European average.

READ MORE: Italy's jobless rate dipped in December

Inefficiency and political corruption come in a close second, with 23.4 percent, followed by the overall economic situation (8.3 percent) and taxes (6.4 percent).

Terrorism barely registers, with just 1.3 percent of Italians saying it was their greatest worry.

There are more important things to worry about in Italy, the poll shows, such as immigration, the quality of the health system, criminality, the cost of living and increasing prices, as well as the quality of schools.

Terrorism was, however, deemed slightly more worrying than environmental degradation, which garnered just 0.9 percent.

When compared to a number of other European countries, Italy is shown to have a relatively calm approach to the threat of terrorism. It was the most important problem for Germans (23.0 percent), while terrorism came in second place in France (18 percent) behind unemployment.

Britons were almost as worried about terrorism (15.1 percent) as they were immigration (17.5 percent), but Spaniards had other priorities. Unemployment, inefficiency and political corruption, and the overall economic situation were deemed more important in Spain than terrorism, which was placed top by only 3.9 percent of respondents.

Italy has recently increased security over the terrorism threat posed by Isis militants in Libya. The Islamic militant group has warned it will directly target Rome, the home of the Catholic Church, prompting the Italian government to put soldiers on the streets of the capital.

Dog squads are also due to be introduced at popular Rome metro stops, including Colosseo and Spagna, national media reported on Wednesday.

But Italians themselves appear unfazed by Isis, instead taking to mocking the group on social media. Isis sympathizers received a light-hearted response to the threats on Twitter, as Italians warned them to watch out for grandmothers and traffic jams in the bel paese.

READ MORE: In pictures: Italians mock Isis on Twitter

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