Perceived socioeconomic status as a predictor of environmental concern in African and developed countries

•We examine the relationship between perceived socioeconomic status and environmental concern.•We find that perceptions about their socioeconomic status are positively correlated with environmental concern.•We demonstrate the importance of individual level variables as correlates of environmental concern.

An important literature examines the determinants of environmental concern within and across countries. The debate on whether affluence explains variations in environmental concern remains unsettled. An increasing number of studies acknowledge the importance of individual level characteristics as predictors of environmental concern. In this paper, we examine the relationship between perceived socioeconomic status and environmental concern among residents of less developed and developed countries. Our results show that in both less developed and developed countries, individual perceptions about their socioeconomic status are positively correlated with environmental concern. Specifically, aside from choosing environmental protection over economic growth and job creation, we find that people who perceive themselves as belonging to the working class, lower middle, upper middle and upper class are significantly more willing to make income sacrifices to prevent environmental pollution than those who believe they are in the lower class.