Recession sparks social unrest fear

Globally, bouts of social unrest are set to disrupt economies and topple governments over the next two years, said the Economist Intelligence Unit.

It named 95 countries as being at high or very high risk, with the UK rated as being at "moderate" risk.

But the document also made it clear that this was "far from a clean bill of health".

In previous years, western European states would almost automatically feature in the "low risk" category.

"Popular anger around the world is growing as a result of rising unemployment, pay cuts and freezes, bailouts for banks, and falls in house prices and the value of savings and pension funds," said the EIU paper, entitled Manning the Barricades.

"As people lose confidence in the ability of governments to restore stability, protests look increasingly likely. A spate of incidents in recent months shows that the global economic downturn is already having political repercussions.

"This is being seen as a harbinger of worse to come. There is growing concern about a possible global pandemic of unrest."

The most serious economic downturn since the 1930s is driving up poverty and unemployment and fuelling demands for protectionist policies which could deepen the recession into a lengthy depression, said the report.

Much depends on how US President Barack Obama responds to pressure to defend American jobs and companies against foreign imports, it said.