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108 Examples of Modern Issues

John Spacey, April 11, 2023

Modern issues are current social, economic and environmental problems. These include injustice, environmental degradation, health and quality of life issues that impact billions of people on a global basis. Modern issues are often related to technological, economic and social change. Other issues are long standing problems such as poverty that have not been solved despite the increased technical capabilities and resources of modern societies. The following are common modern issues.

Access to capital and credit	Access to education
Access to justice	Addiction
Affordable housing	Aging population
Air quality	Animal testing and experimentation
Animal welfare	Artificial intelligence – disruption and risks
Biodiversity and extinctions	Child welfare
Children’s rights	Chronic health problems and disabilities
Clean energy	Climate change
Corporate accountability	Corporate transparency
Corruption	Crime
Criminal justice reform	Cyberbullying
Cybercrime	Cybersecurity threats
Debt	Deepfakes and manipulated media
Desertification	Destruction Of ecosystems
Disability rights	Disaster preparedness and response
Disinformation	Economic competitiveness
Economic problems	Economic stagnation
Elder care	Environmental degradation
Fake news	Food insecurity
Free speech	Freedom of movement
Freedom of religion	Freedom of the press
Gender equality	Global cooperation
Globalization	Government accountability
Government transparency	Gun violence
Healthcare access	Healthcare affordability
Healthcare reform	Homelessness
Human rights	Hunger and malnutrition
Immigration policy	Income tax evasion and loopholes
Income tax fairness	Inflation
Infrastructure decay	Internet censorship
LGBTQ+ rights	Life satisfaction and happiness
Loss of coral reefs	Marine plastic and debris
Media ownership and censorship	Mental health
Military spending and arms trade	Minimum wage
Modern slavery	Monopolies
Nature conservation	Nuclear waste
Nuclear weapons	Obesity epidemic
Overfishing	Peace and security
Pension and retirement security	Police accountability
Political accountability	Political instability
Pollution	Poverty
Prison reform	Public safety and security
Public space and access to nature	Quality of education
Quality of life	Racial profiling
Racism and discrimination	Recessions
Refugee crisis	Regional economic disparities
Screen time and media overconsumption	Social isolation and loneliness
Social media addiction	Social mobility
Social welfare and safety nets	Space junk
Student debt	Surveillance and privacy
Sustainable agriculture	Tax reform
Technological change – how to manage risk and disruption	Terrorism
Unemployment	Video game addiction
Water quality	Youth unemployment

A recurring theme with modern issues is that they are solvable given the vast resources and technological advancement of societies but that they aren't solved due to a lack of political agreement and cooperation. Another common theme is that technology changes life quickly such that society, culture and institutions struggle to shape this change in some positive way.