Climate messages have been an important way for the KNMI to share our climate knowledge for nearly eight years. A few months ago, we conducted a survey to gain more insight into who reads our climate messages and what they think about them. The survey was completed by 528 readers. Here, we briefly explain some of the results.
First of all, thank you to those who took the time to fill out the questionnaire! Although we do not know how representative the answers are for the entire readership, the relatively large number of respondents gives us confidence that we are getting a good picture of our readers.
Especially Highly Educated Men Over 50
The climate messages are intended for a broad audience interested in climate change. However, it turns out that the readership is not a reflection of Dutch society: we mainly reach highly educated men over 50 with an above-average interest in climate change. 77 percent of respondents are male, with 70 percent over 50 years old. Among female respondents, 56 percent are over 50 years old. 84 percent of readers are highly educated (HBO, WO). This is more than twice the percentage in the Netherlands as a whole (35.5 percent).
Few Young People
We reach few young people with the climate messages. While we do reach some male readers in their twenties, this age group is very thinly populated among female readers. Only 3.6 percent of readers report being students, compared to 7.4 percent of the Dutch population. We do not know whether students were perhaps less inclined to fill out the questionnaire. Additionally, students may more often read English-language sources than others.