Major reforms of the world's financial system are needed to solve the economic crisis, a global BBC poll showed yesterday, as Group of 20 leaders seek to tackle the worldwide downturn at a London summit which starts tomorrow.

Seven out of 10 people said the crisis warranted major changes to the world economic system, the poll found.

Carried out for the BBC World Service by polling firm Globescan, the poll questioned 29,913 people in 24 countries on their reaction to the ongoing global economic crisis.

It comes as leaders from the group of big developed and developing economies prepare to meet in London tomorrow to try to coordinate a policy response to the credit freeze.

"The poll reveals a global mandate for bold action at this week's leaders summit," Globescan chairman Doug Miller said in a statement before the summit. "Results suggest most people see the global economic system as flawed."

Six out of 10 said they saw the need for major changes to their own country's economy.

Three quarters of Americans agreed reforms were needed to fix the US economy. Those who said they were affected by the crisis were almost evenly divided on how long a recovery would take, with nearly half saying a year and 46 percent saying it would take two years or longer.

While the vast majority of Europeans agreed the world economic system needed to change, they were divided in their views on how the crisis has affected them personally.

Less than three in 10 Germans said they were affected by the downturn on a personal level, against 62 per cent of Italians and 44 per cent of Britons.

About a third of Russians said they were affected, and less than half saw the need for an overhaul of global finance.