People have so many reasons to love their homeland, from friends and family living there, to nature, language, food, and so much more. But many would agree that even the most amazing of countries unfortunately have a darker side, too, which can be quite scary.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently got painfully honest about what scares them about the country they’re from. They opened up after netizen ‘u/Efficient-Formal-195’ started a thread about it, and covered all sorts of scenarios, including violence, social issues, and other concerns. If you’re wondering what problems they face in specific countries, scroll down to find their answers on the list below, and feel free to share what troubles you about your homeland in the comments.
#1

USA - I freak out at the thought that a young woman who was sexually assaulted must then (if impregnated) give birth to the child she never wanted because some bastards and their poisoned offspring are “pro-life”.
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238points
#2

Ukraine - Oh god. Missiles and drones that try to kill us every single day. F**k russia.
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172points
#3

I am from the United States—I don’t care about people having different political opinions or beliefs but there is a massive issue on people being misinformed and wildly uneducated on certain topics.
150points
#4

Men, religion, politics and pollution.
I'm Indian.
I'm Indian.
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120points
#5

United States. Health care is so expensive that people suffer and there issues get far worse. And people die because they can't afford health care.
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111points
#6

USA - American food. There’s literally stuff they put in our food that’s illegal in most countries.
102points
#7

Germany- Rise of support for fascists in politics.
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97points
#9

USA. The sheer amount of mentally ill people wandering the streets. I’m talking the extreme cases. Experiencing psychotic breakdowns in public and being left alone to spiral out of control. Frightening and heartbreaking.
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90points
#10
U.S.
How everything America has built over the last 100 years about to collapse because of the constant neglect of the government and corporations. And how profits matter more than making sure its citizens have food, water and shelter.
How everything America has built over the last 100 years about to collapse because of the constant neglect of the government and corporations. And how profits matter more than making sure its citizens have food, water and shelter.
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75points
#11
The escalating violence. We have deadly assaults, bombs and assassinations in broad daylight on a monthly basis. Kid soldiers carry out murder and they are like 12 (!).
Ultimately I blame a catastrophic immigration policy over a 10-20 years period. There has never been a real plan on how to assimilate foreigners into society, which has lead to greater dived between ethnicity and cultures. That has paved the way for a new generation of kids with no prospects because they receive no support or encouragement at home, because their parents have never been part of the society. This has grown exponentially over the years but no one (or at least far from the majority) has dared to address the problem given the cultural and racial connections.
A few years ago something happened. The violence became much more cynical and ruthless. Only when the violence hit middle/upper class neighborhoods, things started to happen politically. In desperation, politicians are now enforcing stricter laws to strike down on criminality, some of which are either totally ineffective or morally questionable, and I feel this will only widen the divide and prolong the problem. You’re not really fixing the real issue, only putting band aid on it. Sad part is, and this goes for all democracies, the ruling politicians are swapped out every 4/8 year, which makes it difficult to work long term.
I live in Sweden.
Ultimately I blame a catastrophic immigration policy over a 10-20 years period. There has never been a real plan on how to assimilate foreigners into society, which has lead to greater dived between ethnicity and cultures. That has paved the way for a new generation of kids with no prospects because they receive no support or encouragement at home, because their parents have never been part of the society. This has grown exponentially over the years but no one (or at least far from the majority) has dared to address the problem given the cultural and racial connections.
A few years ago something happened. The violence became much more cynical and ruthless. Only when the violence hit middle/upper class neighborhoods, things started to happen politically. In desperation, politicians are now enforcing stricter laws to strike down on criminality, some of which are either totally ineffective or morally questionable, and I feel this will only widen the divide and prolong the problem. You’re not really fixing the real issue, only putting band aid on it. Sad part is, and this goes for all democracies, the ruling politicians are swapped out every 4/8 year, which makes it difficult to work long term.
I live in Sweden.
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71points
#12

US citizen here, probably the amount of shootings, I don't mean just school shootings, shootings in general, supermarkets, gyms, parks, hell, your own house, and even if we ban guns, criminals will still have guns because they don't care about the law at this point.
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71points
#13

It will sound bad, but immigration. I don't want my progressive country (Spain) to become more and more islamic :(.
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69points
#14

US: Ignorance. Most are not willing to invest the time to understand, read, gain knowledge on what is happening in our country which leads to poor decisions based on headlines and social media posts.
69points
#15

Cartels.
A lot of people in Mexico are not experiencing DIRECT violence of Cartels. But the violence they impose is wholly downplayed by our government (they're complicit with them, obviously) and it still scares me so much, even though I love my country. I really hate that Mexico = absolute brutality of Cartels, while they're being almost glamorized in pop culture. I hate that someones mentions Mexico here in Reddit and you have to read morbid jokes about Cartels and d***s - I mean, I know it's unavoidable, but it stings when it's so close to you.
There are lots of towns I used to travel to when I was a little girl, charming little towns and cities that are completely taken by organized crime. It's heartbreaking and scary.
A lot of people in Mexico are not experiencing DIRECT violence of Cartels. But the violence they impose is wholly downplayed by our government (they're complicit with them, obviously) and it still scares me so much, even though I love my country. I really hate that Mexico = absolute brutality of Cartels, while they're being almost glamorized in pop culture. I hate that someones mentions Mexico here in Reddit and you have to read morbid jokes about Cartels and d***s - I mean, I know it's unavoidable, but it stings when it's so close to you.
There are lots of towns I used to travel to when I was a little girl, charming little towns and cities that are completely taken by organized crime. It's heartbreaking and scary.
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68points
#16
Proximity to Russia. It's literally the only thing that I feel threatened by there as otherwise it's maybe not the best but still a chill place to live (Latvia).
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68points
#17

Lack of affordable housing.
swiftpanthera:
It scares me how global this issue is.
swiftpanthera:
It scares me how global this issue is.
63points
#18
> What's something in your country that genuinely scares you?
I live in the US and this last election cycle genuinely scares me.
It's not specifically that Donald Trump won... But more the apparent apathy from a substantial chunk of the country.
Something like 40% of the electorate just didn't bother to vote.
And now, after the election, we're seeing stories about folks discovering what tariffs are.
And I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around that level of apathy. I mean - I'm a nonbinary queer weirdo so I've clearly got issues with the Republican platform - but that's not even what I'm talking about. Trump is proposing policies that would have a substantial financial impact on most folks in the US... And apparently something like half the population just doesn't care enough to vote?
I don't like dealing with politics. I don't find this stuff fun or interesting. I've got tons of things I'd rather be doing with my time. But I'm not rich-enough to just throw my money away, so I'm going to take a couple hours to figure out which candidate is actually going to be the best for my finances.
And, apparently, something like half this country just doesn't care.
There's so many big f*****g problems in the world... And this last election cycle is going to be felt around the world for years to come... And folks just don't care?
How do you possibly fix anything if people can't be bothered to even show up to vote? If they can't spend an hour or two looking at actual policies and positions? If the best we can possibly hope for is that maybe folks will just vote for their team? If even something as real and immediate as your own pocketbook isn't enough to motivate people?
I live in the US and this last election cycle genuinely scares me.
It's not specifically that Donald Trump won... But more the apparent apathy from a substantial chunk of the country.
Something like 40% of the electorate just didn't bother to vote.
And now, after the election, we're seeing stories about folks discovering what tariffs are.
And I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around that level of apathy. I mean - I'm a nonbinary queer weirdo so I've clearly got issues with the Republican platform - but that's not even what I'm talking about. Trump is proposing policies that would have a substantial financial impact on most folks in the US... And apparently something like half the population just doesn't care enough to vote?
I don't like dealing with politics. I don't find this stuff fun or interesting. I've got tons of things I'd rather be doing with my time. But I'm not rich-enough to just throw my money away, so I'm going to take a couple hours to figure out which candidate is actually going to be the best for my finances.
And, apparently, something like half this country just doesn't care.
There's so many big f*****g problems in the world... And this last election cycle is going to be felt around the world for years to come... And folks just don't care?
How do you possibly fix anything if people can't be bothered to even show up to vote? If they can't spend an hour or two looking at actual policies and positions? If the best we can possibly hope for is that maybe folks will just vote for their team? If even something as real and immediate as your own pocketbook isn't enough to motivate people?
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62points
#19
Scotland is boringly safe and unvenomous compared to other countries, but one thing that is happening here that I find massively concerning is the way cash is being phased out. They like to use the "cash isn't safe because of covid" argument but that's so obviously not the reason. Maybe I sound like one of those tin foil hat people but I don't want to find out what kind of shit the government will pull when money only exists digitally and every transaction is monitored.
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58points
#20

Greek here. The fact that things that SHOULD be working safely, aren't.
Last year a passenger train crashed head-first into a freight train because the changing of the tracks on Greek railways is done manually by remote workers through a communications system, and something was communicated wrong. 57 people lost their lives because the direction of a passenger train wasn't changed manually. This happened after multiple complaints (across multiple years) from people in charge of the railway were sent to the government about how unsafe the system is currently, which were all ignored.
On top of that, there seems to be a very intentional cover-up of the whole incident, possibly because something bigger is tied to the explosion that happened during the crash and killed many of the victims. For one, the crash site was covered with gravel and concrete a week after the crash, allegedly to cover up evidence. Also, video evidence that was showing what was loaded into the freight train before it started its course went mysteriously missing.
Now most of us are not only even more skeptical of our government (as if we weren't before), but we also don't trust the railway or the metro to not literally kill us.
Last year a passenger train crashed head-first into a freight train because the changing of the tracks on Greek railways is done manually by remote workers through a communications system, and something was communicated wrong. 57 people lost their lives because the direction of a passenger train wasn't changed manually. This happened after multiple complaints (across multiple years) from people in charge of the railway were sent to the government about how unsafe the system is currently, which were all ignored.
On top of that, there seems to be a very intentional cover-up of the whole incident, possibly because something bigger is tied to the explosion that happened during the crash and killed many of the victims. For one, the crash site was covered with gravel and concrete a week after the crash, allegedly to cover up evidence. Also, video evidence that was showing what was loaded into the freight train before it started its course went mysteriously missing.
Now most of us are not only even more skeptical of our government (as if we weren't before), but we also don't trust the railway or the metro to not literally kill us.
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55points



