Climate Change: No. 1 Problem of No Nation?

New records for global high temperatures keep getting set every few years now. Nevertheless, the topic of climate change has still not reached the top of the agenda for many people, as data from Statista Consumer Insights shows. Respondents in none of the 21 nations covered by the survey collectively rated climate change as the most important problem for their own country when asked to name the issues that were of the biggest significance to them.

Switzerland comes closest with climate change being named as a severe issue by the fifth-highest number of respondents, followed by China in rank 6. Generally, this is more of an expression of the few problems of Swiss and Chinese people, as still only 29 percent and 24 percent, respectively, rated the climate change issue as severe. Despite ranking only seventh in Italy, climate change was recognized as a big problem there by more people, 39 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Italy's percentage was the highest in the survey, while China's and Japan's were the lowest.

Likewise, developing nations like Mexico and South Africa might have a list of other problems that more people agree on. Yet, recognition of climate change as a major issue was only slightly less widespread among the population than in developed countries at around 29-30 percent.

The United States was another outlier at just 28 percent naming climate change as a big issue (rank 10), a low among developed countries.