According to the study promoted by Missão Continente, in partnership with the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) of the University of Lisbon, which surveyed 1,520 Portuguese over 18 years of age, there is “some media influence in the formation of the main environmental concerns”, with the fires being mentioned by 47% of respondents and water shortages by 32%, while climate change and food waste are mentioned in 30% of the occasions.

The survey also aimed to assess the opinion of the Portuguese on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals assumed by the United Nations, but 64% of respondents are unaware of them and only 36%, said they knew what it was about.

When asked about the value they attribute to each of them, on a global scale, the eradication of poverty, zero hunger, health and education are indicated, but at the national level, priority is given to health and well-being (53%), poverty eradication (52%) and quality education (39%).

“From then on, and boosted by the covid-19 effect, the issue of health became a major concern in all age groups, whereas in the previous survey [2019] it was already notorious, but it was clearly concentrated among the elderly”, is mentioned in the study coordinated by Luísa Schmidt and Mónica Truninger.

The emphasis given to the need for quality education “is practically transversal to the entire Portuguese society”, such as the priority given to reducing inequalities, a consensual concern in the population, “regardless of the different social statutes”.