From household practices to policy priorities, climate change is impacting life across Africa.
Key findings
- On average across 38 countries, more than half (56%) of citizens say they have heard of climate change. Awareness levels range from 27% in Nigeria to 91% in Seychelles.
- More than four in 10 Africans (43%) are “climate-change literate,” meaning they have both heard of climate change and recognise it as being at least partly caused by human activity.
- Climate-change literacy increased marginally between 2016/2018 and 2024/2025. It is higher among men and urban residents and increases with wealth, education, and news consumption.
- Drought and crop failure are the most widely experienced climate threat, with half of respondents reporting that these events have become “somewhat more” or “much more” severe in their local area over the past decad Reported increases in flooding severity are lower, at 35%.
- Eight in 10 climate-change-literate respondents (80%) say that climate change is making life “somewhat” or “much” worse in their country.
- About three in 10 respondents report that in response to changing weather patterns, they or their family had to alter their water consumption (34%), outdoor work patterns (31%), and/or crop planting or food consumption (28%). Two in 10 had to make changes in their livestock rearing (20%) and/or relocate (19%).
- Overall, 60% of respondents say they made at least one of these five adaptations, including 38% who report two or more.
- Rural, poorer, and less educated respondents are more likely to engage in at least one of the five types of climate-change adaptation, as are people working in agricultural occupations.
- Climate-change-literate Africans assign primary responsibility for addressing climate change to their own governments (37%), wealthy or developed nations (26%), ordinary citizens (20%), and business/industry (11%). The belief that developed nations should lead climate action appears to be on the rise.
- Among climate-change-literate respondents, there is overwhelming demand for developed countries to take immediate action on climate change (83%) and to assist poorer nations (85%), alongside strong backing for their own governments to take proactive measures (73%).
- Africans strongly support government climate action through infrastructure investment (81%) and pressure on wealthy nations for climate aid (78%), with moderate support for banning tree cutting for fuel (51%) and mandating the use of cleaner cookstoves (47%).
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Scientists continue to issue urgent warnings about accelerating climate change, with each year bringing new evidence of its devastating impacts globally (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2023a; NASA, 2024). Recent years have witnessed unprecedented extreme weather events across the African continent that underscore the immediacy of the climate crisis, from tropical cyclone Freddy and severe drought in Southern Africa to record-breaking heatwaves and catastrophic floods in the Sahel (Barnes et al., 2024; Pinto et al., 2024).
Yet the global political landscape for climate action has become more challenging. Major greenhouse-gas emitters, including the United States, have retreated from climate commitments, threatening to undermine international climate agreements and domestic climate policies (Dolphin, 2025). At the same time, African leaders demand additional financial support to finance green-energy projects but are divided over how quickly their countries should transition to green energies (Chime, 2025; FSD Africa 2025). On one hand, Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa have made meaningful progress toward adopting renewable energy sources. On the other hand, countries with large oil and natural-gas reserves (e.g. Nigeria and Senegal) are more reluctant to commit to the green-energy transition and the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions (Kimeu, 2023; Climate Investment Funds, 2025).
This evolving context makes understanding public opinion about climate change more critical than ever. As international cooperation remains challenging, building domestic support for climate action increasingly depends on understanding what citizens know, what they are experiencing, how they adapt to climate change, and what policies they support. This is particularly urgent for African nations, which face disproportionate climate impacts despite minimal contributions to global emissions (Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, 2023).
While climate-change mitigation is essential globally, adaptation is the more immediate challenge in Africa. Take the continent’s agricultural sector: About 80% of farmers in sub Saharan Africa are engaged in smallholder agriculture, cultivating low-yield staple food crops on small plots with minimal use of inputs and technology (Oyewole, 2022). On a per capita basis, these farms contribute relatively little to CO2 emissions. But they are highly dependent on rainwater and the vagaries of the weather; less predictable rainfall severely affects the yields, and thus the livelihoods, of these farmers (Oyewole, 2022; Lemarpe et al., 2022).
Moreover, rapid urbanisation on the continent leads to growing informal settlements in floodplains and on steep unstable hillsides, placing those residents in the direct path of floods, storm surges, and landslides. Similarly, urban areas that lack green spaces make cities significantly hotter than surrounding rural areas, intensifying the risk of heatwaves and heat related illnesses.
Adaptation to the negative impacts of climate change requires both government action and citizen support. Gauging public climate-change literacy, lived experience of climate change, and policy preferences can help governments, civil society organisations, and climate advocates to design effective interventions, target communication strategies, and build the political will necessary for ambitious climate policies across the continent. Understanding where citizens stand on these issues is essential for translating climate-change literacy into meaningful and transformative action – particularly on climate adaptation.
Findings from Afrobarometer’s latest round of public-opinion surveys in 38 African countries show that rates of climate-change awareness and climate-change literacy vary considerably, with island nations showing the highest levels of understanding. Crucially, climate-change literacy has increased in many countries since 2016/2018, particularly in West Africa. These rates tend to be higher among men, urban residents, and citizens with greater wealth, education, and access to news.
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We also find that the impacts of climate change are widely felt across the continent, with drought and crop failure representing the most commonly reported effects. Most climate change-literate citizens say climate change is making life in their countries worse. In response, substantial portions of the population have adapted by changing water sources or reducing water use, reducing or adjusting outdoor work hours, and/or altering agricultural and food-consumption practices, with rural, poorer, and agricultural communities particularly likely to engage in adaptation strategies.
Importantly, Africans demonstrate strong support for climate action. While climate-change literate citizens overwhelmingly believe that rich, developed countries should take immediate action and should assist poorer nations, they also want their own governments to take proactive measures – such as investing in infrastructure and adopting mitigation policies – despite their potential costs. Primary responsibility for climate action is most widely assigned to national governments, though there has been a notable shift in recent years toward holding wealthy nations accountable.
Edson Ntodwa Edson Ntodwa is a senior research associate.
Rorisang Lekalake Rorisang Lekalake is Afrobarometer senior analyst/methodologist.
Matthias Krönke Matthias Krönke is a researcher in the Afrobarometer Analysis Unit.
