As world leaders get ready for a climate change conference in Paris, a new global survey says the majority of the Earth's population has some concern about a warming planet — more in developing nations than in richer countries.
The survey by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center was carried out in 40 countries. Fifty-four percent said global warming was a "very serious problem," especially those in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
But in the United States and China, the world's two biggest polluters, the concern was less urgent.
While most of those surveyed in both countries said they had some worries about global warming, 45 percent of Americans said they were "very concerned," while only 18 percent in China felt that way.
Also, most poll respondents said they thought rich nations should bear the heaviest burden of the cost of climate change, and a majority also said drought was the one effect of global warming they feared most.