Europeans focus more on curbing immigration than on climate change and less than 15% of those interviewed across the globe consider climate issues to be among the top three priorities for their government, according to a global study on Wednesday. “Many European countries have seen a sharp rise in the share of people who say that ‘reducing immigration’ should be a top government priority,” said the study commissioned by the Denmark-based think tank Alliance of Democracies Foundation.
Globally, 33% believe climate change is one of the world’s three main challenges, but only 14% say fighting it should be among the top three priorities for their government. Based on almost 63,000 interviews in 53 countries, the Democracy Perception Index found that 85% of those polled say that it’s important to have democracy in their country. However, governments don’t always live up to people's expectations.