Eight out of the ten countries with the biggest share of inhabitants who believe in man-made climate change are Asian countries, a survey from YouGov reveals.
The following list shows the top 10 countries when it comes to the percentage of citizens believing that climate change is happening and that us humans are responsible for it:
Methodology
For the survey, a rough total of 30,000 respondents participated; 28 countries and regions were included in the scope of the study. All the surveys were conducted online.
This means that for countries with low internet penetration rates, the respondents of that country are representative of the online population rather than the country’s entire population.
The survey questionnaire contained climate change-related questions, the result of which you can see in-depth here.
Highlights
In the top of the list is India, with 71% of the population believing that climate change is real and that humans are directly instrumental for its manifestation.
This year alone, India experienced extreme weather events; severe droughts and high temperatures that displaced people and livestock as well as a series of floods which cost the lives of thousands. There’s no wonder why an overwhelming majority of people in India believes in climate change since the effects of the phenomenon are an everyday reality for them.
India is followed by Thailand (69%), Spain (69%), Indonesia (69%), and Italy (66%).
Eight Asian countries made it to the top ten, namely:
- India (1st)
- Thailand (3rd)
- Indonesia (3rd)
- Vietnam (6th)
- Philippines (7th)
- Singapore (8th)
- Taiwan (9th)
- Qatar (1oth)
Meanwhile, Spain and Italy, both European countries, completed the list.
While climate change will definitely be felt on a global scale, experts expect Asia to take the brunt of the impact. For instance, multiple areas in both South Asia and Southeast Asia are either low-lying or coastal, making them extremely vulnerable in the event of a drastic change in the sea level.
While a lot of countries are now realizing the reality of man-made climate change, some still continue to deny it.
We should remain persistent in raising awareness about climate change and its harmful effects — believing only when we experienced it firsthand might already be too late.
