Global: Are hospitals doing enough to be sustainable?

While hospitals and health services might claim they are working towards reducing their environmental impact, we check with consumers around the world if they think hospitals and health services are doing their bit.

According to year-over-year trended data from a global YouGov poll – conducted in 17 markets in 2021, and 18 markets in 2022 – there’s a slight drop in the proportion of consumers who think hospitals and health services are doing enough (21% in 2021 and 20% in 2022). That’s perhaps as a result of the poor perceived performance of the healthcare sector, or simply because consumers are beginning to expect more.

Data from the survey shows that fewer global respondents than last year also think that hospitals are ‘doing a fair amount but could do more’ (35% in 2021 vs. 32% in 2022). But there’s an increase in the number of consumers who pick ‘not doing enough’ (22% in 2021 vs. 25% in 2022)

Consumers in the UAE are significantly more likely than the global audience to say that hospitals/health services are doing enough to improve the environment, the highest of all surveyed markets. There has also been a slight increase in the number of consumers who pick ‘doing enough’ in 2022 (37% vs. 38%).

Britain registers a marginal change in consumer opinion over the last year (16% vs. 15% doing enough, 28% vs. 26% doing a fair amount, but could do more and 24% vs. 25% not doing enough). On the other hand, Italy registers one of the most significant changes in consumer opinion. The proportion of Italians who think hospitals/health services are doing a fair amount but could do more fell by 11 points (38% vs. 27%) since the last year. And they are 12 points more likely to say hospitals/health services are not doing enough (27% vs. 39%). This marks a step-change in the way Italians perceive their health services’ work in the area of sustainability.

Over two in five urban Mexicans think that hospitals are doing a fair amount but could do more (42% vs. 44%). That number is nearly halved among Americans who share the same opinion (26% vs. 23%). While fewer Mexicans think hospitals are not doing enough (27% vs. 26%), Americans are more likely to select this option (21% vs. 24%).

In APAC, while fewer consumers in most markets believe that hospitals are doing enough to minimize their impact on the environment, urban Indians don’t see any change in their efforts (27% both). In some countries in the region, there is a significant increase in the proportion of consumers who say that hospitals/health services are not doing enough – Indonesia (14% vs. 21%) and China (26% vs. 37%).

Overall, this data indicates that consumers do not perceive hospitals/health services making significant efforts to reducing carbon footprint. While most other sectors have not registered a significant increase in consumer perception, they’ve at the very least managed to maintain it – Food/grocery manufacturers (14%), Social media companies (12%).

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2022 Methodology: YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The latest data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 515 and 2,082 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in July 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.

2021 Methodology: YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 585 to 2,018 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in July 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.