Study: Reducing Immigration, Not Climate Change, Should Be the Priority for Europe

The latest edition of the Democracy Perception Index contains some bad news for climate alarmists and those who favor unchecked immigration in Europe. The study is done each year by market research firm Latana in connection with the Denmark-based Alliance of Democracies Foundation, and is a measure of how people see “democracy.”

Focused on how the average world citizen views democracy and their government’s role in the issues of the day, the survey finds that 85 percent believe democracy is important, but only 58 percent are satisfied with the state of their democracy. Roughly half of those surveyed believe that the governments only act in the interests of a small group of people.

“War and violent conflict” is seen as the most significant challenge in the world, followed by hunger and poverty. Climate change remains on people’s minds but, apparently, has fallen down the list of priorities somewhat.

More and more, Europeans see migration as a top issue. “Europeans also increasingly view ‘migration’ as one of the world’s top three challenges, particularly in Germany, Ireland and France, which are now among the countries with the highest concern about migration across the globe.”

“Over the past two years, many European countries have seen a sharp rise in the share of people who say that ‘reducing immigration’ should be a top priority,” the study states. “At the same time, the desire to prioritize ‘fighting climate change’ has decreased in these same countries.”

Nowhere is the phenomenon more striking than in Germany, where the share of people who wish to prioritize reducing immigration is 44 percent, while prioritizing climate change is a chief concern of just 24 percent.

While 33 percent of the globe agrees that fighting climate change is among the world’s top three challenges, only 14 percent agree that it should be a top three priority for their own government. Reducing poverty, fighting corruption, the economy, improving healthcare and education, reducing income inequality, self-defense, and reducing immigration all rank above fighting climate change, despite all the clamoring that it’s an existential crisis.

In the United States, only 24 percent view climate change as a top priority, and only 19 percent think it should be a priority for the government.

Terrorism is also a top priority, particularly in France, where 43 percent view it as a top-three problem. Promoting gender equality is a priority to only 9 percent of respondents.

The numbers for those who would prioritize climate change have dropped significantly since 2022.

“Since 2022, more and more Europeans say that their government should prioritize ‘reducing immigration’, and fewer say that their government should ‘fight climate change’. Now in 2024, for the first time, reducing immigration is a greater priority for most Europeans than fighting climate change,” the study stated.

The study was based on 63,000 interviews with respondents from 55 countries.

Despite all of the hyperbole surrounding so-called climate change by media pundits, it’s become quite clear that their message isn’t being perceived the way they’d like it to be. With a few obvious exceptions, the average world citizen isn’t worried about climate change to the extent that those in charge would like to see.