Worldwide Survey Of Youth Activities And Attitudes
The results of the Airbus Bio-Index, a survey of more than 10,000 youths worldwide, show that more efforts are needed to educate children about the environment and related issues. Only 4% of youths in the United States ranked the environment as “most important” to them, compared with 39% who ranked watching TV or playing computer games as most important. Furthermore, 41% of U.S. youth said the environment was “least important” to them, higher than the global response of 32%. Animals were considered the “most important” by 9% of youths globally and by 11% of youths in the U.S.
This survey asked youths about their attitudes toward certain activities. While data by country are provided in the full report, global and U.S. responses are summarized below:
Favorite pastime:
- Watching TV – Global (17%), U.S. (2%)
- Computer games – Global (34%), U.S. (28%)
- Spending time outdoors – Global (34%), U.S. (52%)
Most important issue:
- Saving the environment – Global (4%), U.S. (4%)
- Looking after animals – Global (9%), U.S. (11%)
- Playing on the computer – Global (9%), U.S. (11%)
- Watching TV – Global (14%), U.S. (15%)
In addition, 86% of global youths and 87% of U.S. youths know that “an endangered animal is a plant or animal at risk of extinction.” Mammals are the species of animal that youths indicated they would most like to save in all countries examined except for Mexico, where youths more frequently indicated a desire to save reptiles.