Abstract
Background
Climate change is the most significant threat to public health and has important implications for mental health. As well as the direct impact from extreme weather events, existential worry about climate change, or ‘eco-anxiety’ may impact wellbeing. This study aims to assess levels of eco-anxiety across European countries and explore its determinants.
Methods
Data were taken from the 10th round of the European Social Survey (collected 2020-22), which included 52,219 participants aged 15+ years from 25 countries. Eco-anxiety was measured by levels of worry about climate change. Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess the cross-sectional associations of social, economic and health-related factors with eco-anxiety.
Results
Overall, 42.8% of participants felt very worried or extremely worried about climate change. Levels of eco-anxiety were lowest in Slovakia (22.6%) and Estonia (24.7%) and highest in Germany (55.3%) and Spain (55.2%). Women were more worried about climate change than men (OR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.33-1.43). Those aged 60-69 years (OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.27-1.54) were most likely to be worried about climate change, compared to those aged 15-19 years. People with higher tertiary education (OR = 2.50, 95% CI: 2.25-2.77) were most likely to be worried about climate change, compared to those with less than lower secondary education. Household income was not associated once educational qualifications were accounted for. Eco-anxiety was also associated with poor self-rated health (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.13-1.33) and lower life satisfaction.
Conclusions
There are marked differences in levels of eco-anxiety across European countries. As the climate crisis deepens and its impacts become more visible, there is a need to monitor eco-anxiety and its potential harms to health and wellbeing, as well as its potential to motivate climate action.
Key messages
• The potential impact of eco-anxiety on health and wellbeing needs further research as levels are high across Europe.
• Urgent action to reduce climate change will help to mitigate the effects on mental health.