Environmental Protection Not a Major Issue for Majority

In a survey of 38 countries carried out by Statista Consumer Insights, only between 20 and 45 percent of respondents said that they considered environmental protection a major issue for their country. Respondents in Brazil were the most concerned about the environment, with those in Mexico, Peru and Colombia also rating environmental protection as more important than most countries in the survey.

The picture was more mixed in Asia, with Indonesians seeing the issue as highly important, Indians and Chinese hitting around the survey average and Pakistanis ranked lower in the international comparison. However, the countries rating the environment as a major issue typically also rated many other issues as highly problematic. Despite fewer people seeing the problem in China and India, environmental protection was still rated as the second and third most important issue, respectively, by respondents in these countries behind the likes of education, poverty and health/social security.

In developed countries, climate change was typically rated more important than environmental protection, while it was the other way round in developing countries. European ratings ranked from 44 percent in Italy deeming environmental protection a major issue to just 23 percent saying the same in Ireland. Among Americans, 27 percent thought the issue was major - rank 10 among 20 issues and a tie with civil rights and immigration.