How Do Demographic Factors Influence Environmental Attitudes?

Gabriel Movsesyan, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR)

Environmental attitudes and preferences differ widely within and across countries. How do demographic factors and major events in the life-course affect these attitudes? This paper is a comparative perspective on how demographic characteristics influence environmental values. We utilize three waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) to investigate how cohort effects, education, and other demographic characteristics such as having a child impact environmental attitudes over time and by country. The analysis shows that education enhances environmental awareness, and that cohort effects have a significant role in determining demand for environmental quality as well.