A new 47-country survey by influential US-based PEW Research Centre finds a general increase in the percentage of people who regard pollution and environmental problems as the top global threat, with concerns in Latin America and Europe, as well as in Japan and India being the highest.

Many of the respondents hold the US and to a lesser extent China for the environmental deterioration and expect Washington to do something.

As in Pew`s first major global survey in 2002, global concerns vary significantly across regions:

• The spread of nuclear weapons is a growing worry in the Middle East, which is named as a top global danger in that region, along with religious and ethnic hatred.
• AIDS and other infectious diseases continue to be viewed as the dominant threat in Africa and a major concern in Latin America.
• The polling also finds that Africans are increasingly concerned about the growing gap between rich and poor.
• In addition, the belief that economic inequality represents a major global danger has become much more prevalent in South Korea and Russia.
• In the face of strong criticisms of its foreign policy, the US is cited, along with the UN, being responsible for dealing with the problems that confront the world. This is particularly the case among people who are most concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons.
• But when it comes to AIDS and the gap between the rich and poor, many who see these as important threats look to their own countries to provide solutions.