• Do young people prioritise the environment more than older people?
• Are people prioritising the environment more than previously?
• In particular, are young people prioritising the environment more than previously?

Now various specialised studies have been done in a few countries by environmental groups to look at these questions. But studies done by advocacy groups can easily be criticised for, perhaps umwittingly, designing or processing a survey in a way which makes favourable results more likely. And it is rare to find such a survey which has already been used in previous decades so that we could look at changes over time. If only we already had pre-existing world-wide datasets using good, nationally representative samples, with well-designed questions on people’s values.

Well, we do: the World Values Survey (Inglehart, Puranen, Pettersson, Nicolas, & Esmer, 2005), which has been carried out in 43 countries containing 70% of the world’s population over several decades.

As far as I know, although there is at least one substantial analysis of environmental issues from the WVS (Inglehart, 1995), the questions we raise above have not been answered directly.

This analysis uses data from all available countries for all available “waves” or survey timepoints. Only a few questions concerning the environment are available for a large number of countries and waves. I selected this question: Protecting environment vs. Economic growth. Respondents had to choose one or the other option.

Data is available as follows:

region	1994-1998	1999-2004	2005-2009	2010-2014
albania	yes	yes	no	no
algeria	no	yes	no	yes
andorra	no	no	yes	no
argentina	yes	yes	yes	yes
armenia	yes	no	no	yes
australia	yes	no	yes	yes
azerbaijan	yes	no	no	yes
bahrain	no	no	no	yes
bangladesh	yes	yes	no	no
belarus	yes	no	no	yes
bosnia	yes	yes	no	no
brazil	no	no	yes	yes
bulgaria	yes	no	yes	no
burkina faso	no	no	yes	no
canada	no	yes	yes	no
chile	yes	yes	yes	yes
china	yes	yes	yes	yes
colombia	no	no	yes	yes
croatia	yes	no	no	no
cyprus	no	no	yes	yes
czech rep.	yes	no	no	no
dominican rep.	yes	no	no	no
ecuador	no	no	no	yes
egypt	no	yes	yes	yes
el salvador	yes	no	no	no
estonia	yes	no	no	yes
ethiopia	no	no	yes	no
finland	yes	no	yes	no
france	no	no	yes	no
georgia	yes	no	yes	yes
germany	yes	no	yes	yes
ghana	no	no	yes	yes
great britain	no	no	yes	no
guatemala	no	no	yes	no
hong kong	no	no	yes	yes
hungary	yes	no	yes	no
india	yes	yes	yes	yes
indonesia	no	yes	yes	no
iran	no	yes	yes	no
iraq	no	no	no	yes
israel	no	yes	no	no
italy	no	no	yes	no
japan	yes	yes	yes	yes
jordan	no	yes	yes	yes
kazakhstan	no	no	no	yes
kuwait	no	no	no	yes
kyrgyzstan	no	yes	no	yes
latvia	yes	no	no	no
lebanon	no	no	no	yes
libya	no	no	no	yes
lithuania	yes	no	no	no
macedonia	yes	yes	no	no
malaysia	no	no	yes	yes
mali	no	no	yes	no
mexico	yes	yes	yes	yes
moldova	yes	yes	yes	no
montenegro	yes	yes	no	no
morocco	no	yes	yes	yes
netherlands	no	no	yes	yes
new zealand	yes	no	yes	yes
nigeria	yes	yes	no	yes
norway	yes	no	yes	no
pakistan	yes	yes	no	yes
palestine	no	no	no	yes
peru	yes	yes	yes	yes
philippines	yes	yes	no	yes
poland	yes	no	yes	yes
puerto rico	yes	yes	no	no
qatar	no	no	no	yes
romania	yes	no	yes	yes
russia	yes	no	yes	yes
rwanda	no	no	yes	yes
saudi arabia	no	yes	no	no
serbia	yes	yes	no	no
serbia and montenegro	no	no	yes	no
singapore	no	yes	no	yes
slovakia	yes	no	no	no
slovenia	yes	no	yes	yes
south africa	yes	yes	yes	yes
south korea	yes	yes	yes	yes
spain	yes	yes	yes	yes
sweden	yes	no	yes	yes
switzerland	yes	no	yes	no
taiwan	yes	no	yes	yes
tanzania	no	yes	no	no
thailand	no	no	yes	yes
trinidad and tobago	no	no	yes	no
tunisia	no	no	no	yes
turkey	yes	yes	yes	yes
uganda	no	yes	no	no
ukraine	yes	no	yes	yes
united states	yes	yes	yes	yes
uruguay	yes	no	yes	yes
uzbekistan	no	no	no	yes
venezuela	yes	yes	no	no
viet nam	no	yes	yes	no
yemen	no	no	no	yes
zambia	no	no	yes	no
zimbabwe	no	yes	no	yes

So let’s look at the percentage preferring to protect the environment rather than economic growth, by age group over time. For economic reasons, in the WVS not every question is asked every time so different countries drop in and out of this analysis in different waves; the mean scores just take account of the countries available in each wave.

We can look at how support for the environment varies from country to country by generating a map As data is not available for every country for every wave, we have to separate out the waves.

We can also look at the question of whether the 15-29 age group do in fact support the environment more than all the others. We will just look at the last wave, and subtract the percentage supporting the environment amongst all older people from the percentage amongst 15-29 year olds. The results are below, displayed in order. So for example the large negative percentage for Sweden shows that the percentage of younger people supporting the environment is 20 points less than the (very high) percentage in the two older age groups.

region	more_amongst_young
sweden	-20.1%
estonia	-10.8%
algeria	-9.0%
qatar	-8.5%
georgia	-7.7%
lebanon	-6.1%
cyprus	-5.2%
kyrgyzstan	-4.9%
ukraine	-4.7%
libya	-4.6%
uzbekistan	-4.4%
slovenia	-4.4%
rwanda	-3.0%
morocco	-3.0%
nigeria	-2.9%
zimbabwe	-2.5%
poland	-2.3%
russia	-2.1%
kuwait	-1.7%
malaysia	-1.1%
armenia	-1.0%
ecuador	-1.0%
azerbaijan	-0.8%
kazakhstan	-0.6%
south africa	0.0%
spain	0.2%
jordan	0.3%
uruguay	0.4%
pakistan	1.1%
colombia	1.4%
argentina	1.5%
germany	1.6%
philippines	1.6%
australia	2.2%
romania	2.5%
chile	2.6%
belarus	2.7%
singapore	3.0%
thailand	3.3%
netherlands	3.5%
palestine	3.5%
ghana	3.6%
yemen	3.8%
iraq	3.8%
india	4.1%
tunisia	4.3%
peru	4.8%
turkey	4.8%
china	5.0%
japan	5.1%
mexico	5.5%
bahrain	6.9%
south korea	7.7%
egypt	7.8%
new zealand	8.3%
united states	9.0%
brazil	9.8%
taiwan	13.2%
hong kong	19.6%

So we have an answer to one question: in recent years, in a majority of countries, younger people support the environment more: (34) countries to (25). (However as we will see in the next and last analysis, this effect is probably more to lower support in the oldest age group rather than the middle age group.)

So finally, how does this support change over time?

So we can see:

• Overall, slightly more respondents chose the environment over growth.
• Support rose slightly overall until the 2005-9 wave, but has dropped by over five points since then.
• While it was true in the 1994-1998 wave that younger people supported the environment most, the effect has changed and in the last two waves it seems that it is actually the middle age group which shows the most support. (This does not contradict our previous finding that younger people in the previous wave showed stronger support, because the comparison was with all the other people, and the oldest age group shows lower support.) It is even possible that there is a cohort effect: that it was a specific generation of people who were aged 15-29 in 1994-1998 who supported the environment most, and they are now in the middle age group.

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Bibliography