A new study by University of Vermont researchers finds that a majority of people across the globe favor protecting the environment over growing the economy when the two goals conflict.
The paper, published recently in the journal Ecological Economics, analyzed data from two major international surveys, encompassing responses from residents in 92 countries.
Overall, the researchers found nearly 58% of people worldwide value environmental protection over economic growth when the two goals are at odds.
“The political discourse is often very much focused around the goal of economic growth, but our results show that this is actually not people’s priority,” said Jukka Kilgus, a master’s student studying natural resources at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and the lead author of the paper. “Instead, they often favor ecological and social well-being. And these are not just left-leaning college graduates in rich countries, but a diverse group of people with many different backgrounds across countries.”
A More Complex Global Picture
Previous studies have largely focused on residents of the Global North and have identified characteristics common among individuals in those countries who favor environmental protection over economic growth. They tend to be well-educated, lean politically to the left, are younger, and female.
Kilgus, who is also a Gund Graduate Fellow, said this analysis showed a drop off in support for environmental protection over economic growth among some less wealthy or only recently industrialized nations.
But it also showed that in many non-Western countries, commonly assumed traits like education, gender, age, income, and political orientation do not behave as expected. In some cases, stronger environmental support is found among men, older individuals, lower-income groups, or those leaning politically to the right, underscoring how deeply cultural, political and economic context shapes public opinion.
“This shows that there is no universal set of factors that influences people's prioritization of the environment over the economy,” the authors write.
Key Findings
- Nearly 58% of the global population favors environmental protection over economic growth when tradeoffs arise.
- The strongest support for environmental protections over economic growth was found in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.
- The data show in Western countries, women, younger people, well-educated people and those who lean more liberal, prioritize the environment.
- There is less support in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, possibly due to lower affluence in these regions and, consequently, a stronger demand for economic growth to improve living conditions.
- Many non-Western countries show more diverse patterns within the dataset, often with fewer strong associations between demographic factors and environmental prioritization.
- In general, the authors find substantial support for shifting the focus away from economic growth in favor of environmental protection, one of the core demands of degrowth, an economic theory advocating for nations to shrink their economies by using less of the world's energy and resources and put wellbeing ahead of profit.
Implications for Policymakers
The authors caution that support for environmental protection over growing the economy should not be interpreted as a blanket endorsement of post-growth or degrowth economic systems. However, the results do indicate that large and diverse segments of the global population are open to decreasing the focus on economic growth in favor of protecting the planet.
The researchers note, “while our results cannot be interpreted as direct public support for post-growth systems change, they indicate that diverse groups of people, distinct across countries, support placing less emphasis on economic growth and more on the environment.”
As governments tackle complex issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development, the study shows the appetite for changing our economic system is wider, and more diverse, than previously known.
Additional authors of the paper include Trisha Shrum, an associate professor in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics and a Gund Faculty Fellow.
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