Environmental protection - a major problem only for some countries

A survey conducted in 38 countries by Statista Consumer Insights shows that only 21-44% of respondents believe that environmental protection is a major issue for their country, with respondents from Brazil being, for example, the most concerned about the environment. Those in Mexico and Colombia also rate environmental protection as more important than most of the countries included in the survey.

The picture is mixed in Asia, with Indonesians seeing the issue as extremely important, while respondents in India and China were around the survey average, and Pakistan ranked lower compared to other countries in the world. However, countries that consider the environment to be a major issue rated many other issues as essential. Despite the fact that fewer people see it as an issue in China and India, environmental protection is ranked as the second and fourth most important issue, respectively, by respondents in these countries, after health/social security or unemployment, education and poverty.

In developed countries, climate change is considered more important than environmental protection, the opposite situation to that in developing countries, according to the quoted source. The proportion of those who consider environmental protection a major problem is 40% in Italy, but in Ireland - only 19%. Among US respondents, 27% considered the issue to be major - ranking 13th out of 20 issues in the April 2023-March 2024 survey of 2,000 to 60,000 respondents aged 18 and over 64 years old.