Few Kiwis concerned about swine flu: Poll

Less than a quarter of Kiwis polled are concerned about catching, or think they will catch, swine flu - according to research just released.

UMR Research conducted the poll of 750 New Zealanders aged over 18.

Their findings show that despite 64 per cent of those surveyed following stories about swine flu in the media, relatively few people are worried about the pandemic.

UMR director Tim Grafton said his company asked people to rate on a 1-5 scale how concerned they were about Swine Flu.

"Only 28 per cent expressed concern - that is gave a 1 or a 2 rating. That's the same amount who were neutral and gave a 3 rating. In fact, almost half (44 per cent) were not concerned and gave a 4 or 5 rating," he said.

Mr Grafton said people living in Christchurch and Wellington, where infections have been higher, thought they were more likely to catch it and those in rural and provincial areas were the least likely to think they would catch it.

"Across age groups, those under 30 years of age were least concerned with about half saying they were neither likely to catch it, nor were concerned about catching it," Mr Grafton said.

The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 per cent.

- NZHERALD STAFF