Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

We are pleased to announce the latest update to the India Climate Opinion Maps, our interactive tool mapping climate change experience, beliefs, policy support, and risk perceptions across 34 of India’s 36 states and Union territories and 634 districts. This update incorporates new nationally representative survey data through 2026, collected by our partners at CVoter.

Key Findings: 

• After hearing a definition of climate change, more than 75% of Indians in every state and district think global warming is happening and say they are worried about it. Almost as many think that global warming will harm people in India. 
• More people in northern vs. southern India report having personally experienced severe heat waves and the effects of global warming, and think that global warming will harm them, their families, and their communities.
• Few people in central and eastern India say they know about global warming and think that global warming is human-caused, suggesting gaps in climate literacy. 
• Despite regional differences in personal experience and risk perception, the vast majority of Indians say that global warming is personally important to them and support renewable energy and education about global warming.

Knowledge of global warming in India is low — fewer than half of Indians in most central, western, and eastern states say that they know a lot or something about global warming (Fig. 1). However, when provided a short definition of global warming, the vast majority of Indians say that global warming is happening, ranging from 80% in Andhra Pradesh to 92% in Delhi (Fig. 1). Yet there are still major gaps in climate literacy. Many Indians, particularly those in central and eastern India, do not understand that global warming is human-caused — e.g., fewer than 50% of people in Bihar (45%), Madhya Pradesh (47%), Odisha (48%), and West Bengal (49%) think that global warming is caused by human activities (Fig. 1). 

We also find that across the country, Indians are overwhelmingly worried about global warming. More than three-quarters of Indians in every state and district say they are worried about global warming (Fig. 2), although worry is slightly higher in northern India vs. southern India. Perceived harm is also greater in the north, where extreme heat is more severe. For example, in northern states, 86% of people in Haryana, and 85% in both Delhi and Punjab, think global warming will harm them and their family, compared with 63% and 66% in the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (Fig. 2). Even greater majorities in Haryana (86%), Delhi (87%), and Punjab (88%) also think global warming will harm people in their community, compared to relatively smaller majorities in the southern states of Karnataka (63%), Andhra Pradesh (66%), and Telangana (67%). 

Additionally, in coastal southwestern Kerala, which has been subjected to severe flooding in recent years, 91% of people think global warming will harm people in their community (Fig. 2). Despite the disparities in personal risk perception across different states, 85% of people nationally, and no fewer than 74% in any state or district, think that global warming will harm people in India overall (Fig. 2). 

Similarly, reported personal experience with global warming and extreme weather events is also divided between northern and southern India. Only 59% of people in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana say they have personally experienced the effects of global warming, compared with 94% and 95%, respectively, in the northern states of Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh (Fig. 3). This north-south divide also appears in personal experience of severe heat waves, where large majorities of people in Haryana (80%), Rajasthan (79%), and Odisha (79%) say they have personally experienced severe heat waves in the last 12 months, compared with only 52% in Kerala and 55% in Tamil Nadu (Fig. 3). 

Our maps also provide results at the district level to allow detailed exploration of geographic differences in opinion. While personal experience of global warming and extreme weather tends to be greater in northern India, the vast majority of Indians across the country say that global warming is personally important to them and support renewable energy policies and education about global warming. 94% of Indians, and no fewer than 83% in any state or district, support a national program to teach Indians about global warming and a national program to train people for jobs in the renewable energy industry (Fig. 4). Similarly, 92% of Indians, and no fewer than 85% in any state or district, say that global warming is important to them personally (Fig. 4). 

As both the seventh most climate-vulnerable country in the world and the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, it is vitally important to understand how Indians experience and perceive global warming, and which climate solutions they support. These public opinion maps can also inform the development of State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) in India.

Methods

The estimates in the maps are derived from a statistical model using multilevel regression with post-stratification (MRP), which combines nationally representative survey data from 2022 through 2026 (n>25,000, Fig. 5) with demographic and geographic population characteristics, including gender, age, caste, urbanicity, education, and climate vulnerability, and uses Indian census counts to spatially weight results (Howe et al. 2015; Mildenberger et al. 2016; 2017). Uncertainty ranges are based on 95% confidence intervals using bootstrap simulations, indicating that the model is accurate to approximately ±7 percentage points at the state level, and ±8 percentage points at the district level. Such error ranges include the error inherent in the original national surveys themselves, which is typically ±3 percentage points. See the Methodology, Survey Question Wording, and FAQ tabs for more information.

Explore the maps.