Exploring Gen Zs Attitudes Towards Animals And The Environment (Faunalytics)

Looking across the U.S., China, Indonesia, and Thailand, this study examines Gen Z’s attitudes, motivations, career considerations, and barriers to action, offering insights for those looking to engage and support the next generation of animal advocates.

Key Findings

University-educated Gen Z respondents across the four countries hold positive attitudes towards animal and environmental protection. A vast majority (93%) expressed concern for these issues, and 86% indicated a preference for purchasing environmentally and animal-friendly products. 84% reported having altered their behaviors to support environmental or animal protection.
Asian respondents are considerably more likely than U.S.-based respondents to report that they and their societies are doing enough to protect the environment and animal well-being. Over a third of Asian respondents feel their country is doing enough, with over 80% believing they are personally contributing sufficiently. In contrast, U.S. respondents reported more critical views of both their own actions and their culture, with less than half feeling they are doing enough personally, and only about 14% satisfied with societal efforts.
Environmental actions and concerns are more common than animal actions or concerns, with farmed animals especially neglected. Respondents, particularly those in Asia, rarely mentioned farmed animals. When discussing pro-animal actions or attitudes, they focused more on companion animals and wild animals. This suggests that, without specific prompting, animal protection is more readily perceived as primarily about wild and companion animals, not farmed animals.
When Gen Z changes their behavior, they tend to focus on mitigating personal harms rather than engaging proactively. Although most respondents reported making adjustments to their behavior to help protect animals or the environment, these were largely actions like recycling, avoiding single-use plastics, and choosing eco- or animal-friendly products to reduce one’s own environmental or animal-related harms.
Motivations to act are both anthropocentric (human-focused) and animal/environment-focused. Respondents across all surveyed countries supported environmental action to protect people from ongoing harms, safeguard the lives of future generations, and to preserve nature as a good in itself.
Gen Z’s barriers to further action are practical and emotional, not ideological. Participants frequently cited practical reasons (like financial barriers) and/or emotional reasons (like despair or futility) over ideological reasons (such as not believing in the cause) as major barriers to action.
Perceived barriers and solutions to environmental and animal issues varied significantly by country. Indonesian respondents almost universally cited lack of education and awareness as a primary barrier. Chinese respondents were most likely to highlight cultural attitudes as significant barriers. In contrast, respondents in the U.S. and Thailand were more likely to emphasize the roles of corporate interests and capitalist structures.
Gen Z respondents usually attributed problems more to individual actions and attitudes rather than to systemic factors. Respondents frequently blamed issues on ignorance, individual malevolence, or specific cultural practices, rather than the broader systemic problems.