The Awareness and Perception of Climate Change Around The World

A new study published on Monday 27^th July in the journal Nature Climate Change, provides a more inclusive look at awareness and attitudes towards climate change, giving scientists greater insight into what factors are most likely to make people care about climate change.

Climate change is a threat to human societies and natural ecosystems, yet public opinion research finds that public awareness and concern vary greatly.

Using an unprecedented survey of 119 countries (from the Gallup World Poll conducted in 2007 and 2008) representing over 90% of the world’s population; the study determines the relative influence of socio-demographic characteristics, geography, perceived well-being and beliefs on public climate change awareness and risk perceptions at national scales.

Worldwide, educational attainment is the single strongest predictor of climate change awareness.

The study focused on two major questions: what factors most influence whether a person is aware of climate change and, for those that know it’s happening, what factors influence how big of a risk that person thinks it poses.

Major factors that affected a person’s risk perception included understanding that climate change is caused by humans — this was especially true in the Americas and Europe — and noticing local changes in temperature, a particularly high indicator in many countries in Africa and Asia.

The highest levels of awareness (over 90%) were reported in the developing world, including North America, Europe and Japan. Majorities in developing countries from Africa to the Middle East and Asia reported that they had never heard of climate change (more than 65%). Those in developing countries perceived climate change as a much greater threat to themselves, than did respondents in developed countries.

The results suggest that improving basic education, climate literacy and public understanding of the local dimensions of climate change are vital to public engagement and support for climate action. In addition, the learning of new skills to reduce vulnerabilities and manage climate change risks also has the benefit of helping to achieve global sustainable development goals.

This information can help scientists better engage with the public and help activists understand what factors are likely to make people take climate change seriously as a threat.

Read the full report.