Climate hazard experience linked to increased climate risk perception worldwide

Abstract Climate change is intensifying extreme weather events worldwide. Using nationally representative survey data from 142 countries ( N = 128 093 ), I found that people who have experienced a climate-related hazard are more likely to consider climate change a very serious threat than people who have not experienced any hazard within the same country. These effects are consistent across eleven hazard types, with the effect of experiencing a heatwave being comparable in magnitude to that of having a university education. The increase in risk perception among those who have experienced a climate-related hazard does not appear to be clearly amplified or attenuated by a person’s resilience, which is calculated by combining individual, household, community, and societal factors. Large differences in the effects are observed across countries for some hazards (e.g. droughts, heatwaves, and floods), whereas small differences are observed for others (e.g. hurricanes, landslides, and wildfires). At the country level, there does not appear to be an association between the proportion of people exposed to climate-related hazards and the proportion of people who perceive climate change as a threat. These results may help us anticipate public concern in a warming world and suggest promising avenues for future research.