Causes that Count 2025

Alex Lewis

Revolt

Revolt, part of Anthesis, has released its 2025 edition of the annual index of 50 critical issues shaping the world right now. At the crucial halfway point in what the UN has billed as ‘The Decade of Action’ on the Sustainable Development Goals, the index provides insight into shifting priorities as public concern responds to changing context and culture.

With five years worth of data we can now get a sense of which issues are here to stay, which are on their way up, and which are on their way out. While this report enables you to dig down into the trajectory of any of the issues that take your interest, it can help to consider the bigger picture before diving in.

Disruptive forces

The last five years have been shaped by three major disruptive forces; COVID-19 and its aftermath, domestic and international conflict and rising polarisation.

The data clearly shows that despite the worst of the pandemic passing, the strain on healthcare systems and the inequality built into them has meant that ‘Access to healthcare’ (3) has remained one of the top worries. However, COVID-19 wasn’t just a health crisis, it was an economic one too and the last five years have shown consistently high concern about the cost and standard of living, with ‘Unemployment and job security’ (2) and ‘Famine and food insecurity’ (9) consistently in the top 10 and ‘Fair wages’ (10) entering it for the first time this year.

While 2021 was influenced by the aftermath of the George Floyd murder in the US, with the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement leading to the rise of the DEI agenda across business and civil society, since then ‘Race and race relations’ (34) has fallen ten places to its current position. Indeed, a set of social issues such as ‘Equality in the workplace’ (27), ‘Support for people with disabilities’ (28), ‘Gender inequality’ (45), and ‘Sexuality and gender rights’ (49) have either declined from their 2021 rankings or ranked consistently low. When you look behind the data on these issues, you tend to find polarisation with respondents either ranking them as very important or not important at all.

Unifying forces

The 2023 report followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and 2024 the violent and destructive conflict in the Middle East. As a result we saw ‘Large scale conflicts and wars’ (5) jump from the teens to a top 5 concern. However, where conflict may divide, other issues appear to be unifying. ‘Climate change’ (4), despite what might be expected given persistent efforts to undermine public support, has remained one of the most important issues year on year.

Similarly, a cluster of issues reflects the universal desire for a better life, for oneself, one’s family and for fellow citizens. Indeed, ‘Poverty, hunger and homelessness in my country’ (1), has taken the top spot for the last three years. Adding to this picture is ‘Decline of family relationships’ (11) which has jumped up the table, something to be considered along with the strong performance of concerns such as ‘Access to quality education’ (7), the essential gateway to a life of opportunity.

Hopes, fears and forgotten agendas

While hope remains, there are clear concerns for what the future holds, with worry about fundamentals such as, ‘Government transparency, corruption and threats to democracy’ (6) (though respondents may disagree on where that ‘threat’ is coming from), and emerging issues such as ‘AI’s effects on society’ (37).

Finally, the data also shows that a number of causes, (which are far from resolved), are fading from public awareness; ‘Child labour’ (42), ‘The plastics crisis’ (44), ‘Health of our oceans’ (21), ‘Recycling and waste’ (25), ‘Biodiversity and species extinction’ (38) are all trending downwards. While this may seem like a predominantly environmental trend, it’s countered by the sharp rise in concern for ‘Pollution of my local environment’ (12) suggesting higher interest in the more tangible aspects of this agenda such as air and water quality.

Explore the index to better understand which issues are on their way up, which are on their way out, and which are here to stay. It also includes an analysis on how these trends have changed over the last five years.

This year we’ve gone digital-first to give you the opportunity to better explore the data.

Check out the full report on our new microsite ctc.revoltlondon.com