Is Climate Change a Top Priority for the Global Majority? What Drives the Priorities?

When an issue is top priority, there is a willingness to urgently address the issue. This attribute serves as a reality check when we consider the surveys (polls) about the priorities of the global population.

Here, I will review the major surveys from the last decade that inform us about the priorities of the global population . I will also review the critical data about what is driving the priorities.

Global Surveys by the United Nations

The United Nations reported the results from a major survey on this topic in December 2014¹. It was the United Nations largest and most inclusive global survey. More than seven million people across the globe took part. The survey asked a simple yet very effective question. The question was: “what matters most to you?”².

The participants had to choose six issues that were most important to them amongst a list of sixteen issues. Examples of issues were education, political freedom, equality between men and women, and climate change.

The survey identified “a good education”, “better healthcare”, and “better job opportunities” as the three most important issues. The issue “actions taken on climate change” received the least votes. Fifteen other issues were ranked as more important than the actions taken on climate change in the survey.

The United Nations was involved in another large global survey in 2020³. It had over a million participants. The survey found that “access to basic services” was the most important issue in the short-term. While environmental and climate issues were most important from a long-term viewpoint.

Another recent survey by the United Nations was specifically about climate change⁴𝄒⁵. They surveyed a diverse global group of over a million people. A global average of 64% agreed that climate change was a global emergency. Yet, the global survey showed only a 55% public support for climate policies from high income countries. The support dropped to less than 40% for middle-income countries and the least developed countries. Globally, there was only a 38% public support to mitigate climate change urgently⁶.

Global Surveys by Ipsos

Ipsos, a multinational market research and consulting firm, recently undertook a global survey about climate change⁷. The survey showed that about two-thirds of the global population believed that their countries should do more to address the climate challenge. But only 30% of the global average said they would pay more taxes to combat climate change.

Another recent global survey by Ipsos was very revealing⁸. The survey asked about the key worries for the population. The top five key worries were inflation, poverty and social equality, crime and violence, unemployment, and corruption. Climate change was ranked eight.

The Drivers of the Global Priorties

Overall, the surveys show that the current standard of living is the most urgent issue. Despite the progress over the last decades, the living conditions are still very poor for a large fraction of the global population. The recent information reported by the United Nations is revealing⁹. The data reported was for the year 2022.

Inadequate access to basic water services was a major issue¹⁰. Safely managed drinking water was not available to two billion people. Also, over three billion people had no access to safely managed sanitation. Based on the current progress, the United Nations estimates billions will lack such basic water services even in 2030.

Access to nutrition was also poor¹¹. Over 700 million people suffered from hunger and over two billion did not have adequate access to food. Access to education was also a major issue¹². Over 40% of the youths did not complete upper secondary school.

Access to adequate and clean energy is critical for a good standard of living. But this continues to be an enormous problem¹³. Over 600 million people had no electricity. Over two billion people used highly polluting cooking fuels.

Major issues exist with access to healthcare as well¹⁴. A significant fraction of the global population people had no access to vital health services. Five million children died before their fifth birthday because of overall poor conditions¹⁵.

Let us consider the impact of climate disasters for reference¹⁶. In the last decade, climate disasters have affected less than 200 million people per year on an average. The average number of deaths has been less than 0.05 million per year.

The United Nations data shows that currently the lack of access to basic services is causing far more suffering than climate change. Billions are suffering and millions are dying each year¹⁷.

A difficult life is not limited to the most distressed fraction of the population. It is widespread. The living conditions are far from adequate for a major fraction of the global population. According to data from the World Bank, 4.5 billion people live on less than $10/day¹⁸. This meager amount is forcing that population to choose between basic needs such good education, adequate housing, or treatment of health conditions. More than half of the global population is struggling to meet their basic needs. They are in substantial pain. This pain prevents them from being overly concerned about the worsening impacts of climate change. Climate mitigation is not their most urgent issue. Poor living conditions are a far bigger issue for them.

The affluent population can easily meet their basic needs. They are not suffering today. So, they are in a better position to worry about the worsening future climate impacts.

Yet, climate change is not the topmost concern for all in the affluent category. Some are more concerned about the ballooning national debts, energy security, spiking polarization, erosion of confidence in elections, or rising influence of autocracies. Why? because these issues can also cause extreme disorder in the future.

United States is one of the most affluent nations. We will review recent surveys to discuss the voice of its citizens. Dealing with climate change was a top priority for only 37% of the people surveyed¹⁹. It ranked a lowly 17 in a list of 21 issues. Another survey about climate-related spending was also very instructive. A key question in the poll was to identify the support for a law that would increase the average monthly cost by a certain amount to combat climate change. Even a small $1 additional cost per month was only supported by 38% of the people surveyed²⁰𝄒²¹.

Concluding Remarks

A large majority of the global population is convinced that climate change is a serious problem. But a much smaller fraction believes that it deserves top priority. Why? Because poor living conditions are a far more urgent issue for majority of the global population. Billions of people still cannot even satisfy their basic needs. This makes climate change a lower priority for them.

Many in the affluent category are extremely worried about climate impacts. Even so, climate change is not the top concern for all in the affluent category. Some are more concerned about the ballooning national debts, energy security, spiking polarization, erosion of confidence in elections, or rising influence of autocracies.

Clear-eyed assessments, including those that reveal inconvenient truths, are important to sustainably address our climate challenges.

Note: This is a modified excerpt from my book “The Climate Misinformation Crisis: How to move past the mistruths to a smarter energy future.

References & Notes

[1] My World: The United Nations Global Survey for a better world. We the peoples. https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/wethepeoples-7million.pdf

[2] My World: The United Nations Global Survey for a better world. Have your Say. https://vote.myworld2015.org

[3] The future we want. The United Nations we need. http://report.un75.online/files/report/un75-report-september-en.pdf

[4] United Nations Development Programme Report (2021). People’s climate vote. Results. https://www.undp.org/publications/peoples-climate-vote

[5] People from fifty countries too part in the survey.

[6] According to the report, an average of 64% believed that climate change was an emergency. Of this subset, 59% agreed that everything necessary must be done urgently. So, the percent of total people that agreed that everything necessary must be done urgently equals 64*59% = 38%.

[7] Ipsos Survey (April 2023). Earth day 2023. Public opinion on climate change. https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2023-04/Ipsos%20Global%20Advisor%20-%20Earth%20Day%202023%20-%20Full%20Report%20-%20WEB.pdf

[8] Ipsos Survey (March 2023). What worries the world. https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2023-03/Global%20Report%20-%20What%20Worries%20the%20World%20Mar%2023.pdf

[9] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Website accessed Nov. 11, 2023. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

[10] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation/

[11] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 2: Zero Hunger. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/

[12] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 4: Quality education. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/

[13] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/energy/

[14] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 3: Good health and well-being. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/health/

[15] UN IGME Report (2022). Levels and trends in child mortality. https://data.unicef.org/resources/levels-and-trends-in-child-mortality/

[16] Our World in data. Natural disasters data explorer. https://ourworldindata.org/natural-disasters The original source of the data is EM-DAT. This is one of the most widely used disaster databases. For example, it is used by United Nation and in numerous academic studies.

[17] UN Sustainable Development Goals. Website accessed Nov. 11, 2023. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

[18] World Bank data. https://pip.worldbank.org/home Data is in terms of 2017 PPP$. Meaning, it accounts for the difference in the cost of living across countries. I input $10 for the poverty line to get the data. Website accessed on Nov. 11, 2023.

[19] Pew Research center. February 2023. Economy remains the publics top policy priority. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/02/06/economy-remains-the-publics-top-policy-priority-covid-19-concerns-decline-again/

[20] 2023 Associated Press-NORC/EPIC energy survey. Public opinion on energy and climate. https://epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/EPIC-Energy-Policy-Survey-2023_Topline.pdf

[21] Specifically, 16% strongly supported a 1$ additional cost per month while 22% somewhat supported it.