In eight high-income countries ¡ª several of which are currently experiencing extreme heat worsened by global warming ¡ª?the share of people reporting ¡°very serious¡± concerns about climate change has dropped by at least 10 points since 2023.

The finding comes from the fourth World Risk Poll report, sponsored by the Lloyd¡¯s Register Foundation and conducted together with Gallup, released Tuesday. Gallup conducted more than 143,000 interviews in 2025 across 140 countries and territories.

The eight countries are Spain, the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Denmark, Croatia, Kuwait and New Zealand. All high-income countries together averaged a five-point drop in a high level of concern, to 49%.

¡°This is a notable finding, as high-income countries contribute most to climate change and have the most agency and resources to combat it,¡± the authors write.

In low- and middle-income countries, by contrast, the percentage of respondents saying they were very concerned about climate risk either stayed the same as in 2019 or slipped up or down a couple of points.

Other wealthy countries ¡ª the U.S. in particular ¡ª stand out on a metric that the report authors say may be an impediment to public support for action to curb warming. People who consider climate change a ¡°very serious threat¡± vastly underestimate the percentage of their compatriots who believe the same thing.

Among Americans, 51% think climate change is ¡°very serious¡± but believe only 10% of others do as well. The gap is second only to that in Portugal, where 66% of people are ¡°very concerned¡± but believe just 24% of others are.

This ¡°misalignment¡± may be a barrier to climate policy, the authors say, as would-be supporters may feel too isolated to campaign for solutions. People who see climate change as a high risk but think others do not also report lower trust in national institutions.

The aggregate results for all countries show a much narrower gap of 9% between the personal ¡°very serious¡± position and the assumed positions of others. That gap closes when the ¡°very serious¡± respondents are combined with those who see climate as a ¡°somewhat serious threat.¡± Together, these groups make up 75% of respondents.

For U.S. respondents, when the two categories are combined, the gap shrinks to 3%. Twenty percent of Americans think global warming is a ¡°somewhat serious¡± risk while 64% think other people see it that way.

China and Comoros in East Africa are the two biggest outliers in the opposite direction. The report flags several countries, including China and India, where misalignment in beliefs may inhibit climate action, not because people assume that others don¡¯t care, but because they believe that others will lead the charge.

The polling results support previous research into Americans¡¯ incorrect beliefs about what their compatriots think. A 2022 study in the journal Nature Communications found that Americans support climate policy by a ratio of two to one ¡ª but they assume the opposite is the case.

Americans are so reluctant to talk about climate change socially or at work that ¡°you never hear what others are actually talking about,¡± Elke Weber, an expert in energy, environment and psychology at Princeton University, said at the time.