Climate anxiety statistics show that concern about climate change is widespread, especially among young people, but the measurements capture more than worry alone. Surveys also record fear, sadness, powerlessness, pessimism about the future, perceived government failure, and reported effects on daily life. The figures below come from different populations and periods, so they should be compared carefully rather than treated as one single global estimate.
Contents
- How common climate anxiety is among young people
- Which emotions climate change evokes
- Effects on future beliefs and daily life
- How young people view government responses
- Country differences in climate worry
- Recent U.S. measures of worry and distress
- Official statistics from the UK, Malaysia, and Greece
How common climate anxiety is among young people
The largest set of figures comes from a global survey of 16–25-year-olds in 10 countries conducted from May 18 to June 7, 2021. The study measured climate anxiety and related beliefs; it was not a clinical diagnosis of an anxiety disorder.
The survey found that 59% of respondents were very or extremely worried about climate change. When the threshold included moderate worry, the share rose to 84%. The mean climate-worry score was 3.7 on a 1-to-5 scale, with a standard deviation of 1.7. These measures describe how participants experienced climate change emotionally, not the share meeting a medical definition of anxiety.
The concern also appeared connected to everyday functioning. In the same survey, 45% said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning. That result does not establish that climate change was the only cause of any difficulty, but it indicates that climate-related feelings were meaningful in respondents’ self-reports.
The study’s source is “Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey”, measured May 18–June 7, 2021.
Which emotions climate change evokes
Climate anxiety statistics become more informative when worry is separated into specific emotions. In the 2021 global youth survey, 61.8% said climate change made them feel anxious. Fear was reported by 67.3%, while 66.7% said it made them feel sad.
Other reported emotions showed a similarly broad response:
- 56.8% felt angry.
- 56.0% felt powerless.
- 50.9% felt helpless.
- 50.2% felt guilty.
- 45.6% felt ashamed.
- 44.2% felt despair.
- 38.6% felt depressed.
These percentages are not mutually exclusive. A respondent could report several emotions at once, so they should not be added together. They also represent reported feelings in a survey, not clinical assessments of depression or another mental-health condition.
The pattern matters for interpretation. Anxiety and fear were common, but so were anger, guilt, helplessness, and powerlessness. Climate-related distress therefore cannot be reduced to one emotional state. The source and measurement period for all figures in this section are the same 2021 global survey of young people.
Effects on future beliefs and daily life
The global youth survey also asked how climate change shaped beliefs about the future. Three-quarters of respondents, 75.5%, said the future was frightening because of climate change. A larger 82.6% said people had failed to take care of the planet.
More than half expressed strongly pessimistic expectations about personal and collective futures:
- 55.7% said humanity was doomed because of climate change.
- 54.9% said they would not have access to the same opportunities their parents had.
- 51.7% said their family’s economic, social, or physical security would be threatened.
- 54.8% said the things they valued most would be destroyed by climate change.
The survey also recorded a possible effect on family planning: 39.1% said climate change made them hesitant to have children. This is a self-reported attitude measured during May 18–June 7, 2021; it is not a forecast of birth rates or evidence that respondents changed their decisions.
Social responses were another part of the experience. Among all respondents, 39.3% said other people had ignored or dismissed them when they tried to talk about climate change. Among respondents who had talked with others about climate change, the corresponding figure was 48%. Because the second percentage uses a narrower group, the two figures should not be compared as if they had the same denominator.
Together, these figures show how climate concern can extend beyond an immediate emotional reaction. In this survey, respondents linked it with expectations about safety, opportunity, family life, valued parts of life, and whether others took their concerns seriously.
How young people view government responses
The same global survey measured whether young people believed governments were responding adequately. Only 30.0% said their government was taking their climate concerns seriously enough, and 30.8% said their government was doing enough to avoid a climate catastrophe. Just 31.3% said governments could be trusted on climate change.
Other response judgments were also limited. The share saying governments were acting in line with climate science was 36.5%, while 33.1% said governments were protecting them, the planet, or future generations. By contrast, 60.1% said governments were dismissing people’s climate distress.
Several statements reflected perceived dishonesty or intergenerational failure:
- 64.4% said governments were lying about the effectiveness of the actions they were taking.
- 64.9% said governments were failing young people across the world.
- 58.5% said governments were betraying them and/or future generations.
The survey’s mean government-response rating was 14.96 on a 9-to-18 scale, where higher scores represented more negative beliefs. On the study’s response-emotion scales, mean betrayal was 2.70 versus mean reassurance of 2.22. These scores describe the survey’s scale construction and should not be interpreted as percentages.
The results suggest a gap between the scale of young people’s concern and their assessment of institutional action. They do not independently verify whether any government action was effective, nor do they establish that distrust causes anxiety. They record how respondents evaluated government responses during the survey period.
Country differences in climate worry
The UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 17: Places and Spaces reported 2021 country-level figures for the share of surveyed young people who were very or extremely worried about climate change.
| Country | Very or extremely worried | Period |
|---|---|---|
| France | 58% | 2021 |
| Australia | 57% | 2021 |
| Portugal | 56% | 2021 |
| United States | 56% | 2021 |
| United Kingdom | 49% | 2021 |
| Finland | 44% | 2021 |
The difference between the highest and lowest listed figures is 14 percentage points, but the table should not be read as a ranking of national mental health. It compares a single survey measure across countries, and the supplied figures do not provide a complete explanation for the variation. The same report’s population and wording should be kept in mind: these are surveyed young people and the threshold is “very or extremely worried.”
Recent U.S. measures of worry and distress
Yale’s Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Spring 2024 measured U.S. adults in spring 2024. The survey found that 64% were at least somewhat worried about global warming, including 28% who were very worried.
When asked about feelings while thinking about global warming, 38% said they felt afraid, 36% anxious, 31% hopeless, and 27% depressed. These are broad self-reported feelings and should not be equated with clinical diagnoses.
The survey also used a two-week symptom-style timeframe. During the previous two weeks, 16% reported feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge because of global warming for at least several days. Eleven percent reported being unable to stop or control worrying about global warming for at least several days. Twelve percent reported feeling down, depressed, or hopeless for at least several days, and 10% reported little interest or pleasure in doing things for at least several days.
The different timeframes explain why these figures should remain separate. A question about feelings when thinking about global warming is not the same as a question about symptoms occurring for several days in the previous two weeks. The survey also found that 12% of Americans had considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming; this is a reported consideration, not a count of people who moved.
Official statistics from the UK, Malaysia, and Greece
Official and institutional surveys add more recent or more specific geographic context. In Great Britain, the Office for National Statistics reported that 75% of adults were very or somewhat worried about the impact of climate change in a survey conducted October 6–17, 2021. Forty-three percent reported being very or somewhat anxious about the future of the environment over the previous month, and 63% felt somewhat or very negative about that future.
The same ONS release reported a behavior difference by worry level: 12% of worried adults said they had made a lot of lifestyle changes to tackle climate change, compared with 4% of relatively unworried adults. This association does not show that worry alone caused the changes. The source is “Three-quarters of adults in Great Britain worry about climate change”.
For England, the Climate literacy amongst school leavers - Research report reported on 2023 survey data for year-11 school leavers. Seventy-nine percent were concerned about climate change, while 24% believed climate change would impact them greatly during their lifetime. Concern and an expectation of great personal impact were therefore measured as different responses.
In Malaysia, a UNICEF survey conducted from June through October 2025 found that 94.3% of young people aged 15–30 said climate change worried them. The survey also reported that 83.2% had experienced at least one climate-related disaster in the previous year. Among those who had experienced a climate-related disaster, 97.4% reported fear, grief, hopelessness, stress, or exhaustion. These results describe Malaysian young people in the specified age range and period; they are not a global estimate. The source is “Climate change is already disrupting young people’s lives in Malaysia, new UNICEF survey finds”.
Finally, a UNICEF account of children in climate-affected regions of Crete reported that 44% experienced heightened anxiety linked to climate change. The figure was reported in 2024 and concerns children in those regions, not all children in Greece. The source is “Confronting a changed childhood in Crete”.
These geographic results use different ages, samples, questions, and measurement dates. Their value is contextual: together they show that climate worry and climate-related distress are being measured among young people and adults in multiple settings, while also showing why the wording, population, and timeframe must accompany every percentage.