CHICAGO -- A new survey finds widespread concern over climate change across the globe.

Survey: Concerned About Global Warming?

The survey was conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, in cooperation with other polling organizations.

It found a majority of people in several nations, including South Korea, Australia, Iran and Mexico, believe climate change is a critical threat.

Forty-six percent of those polled in the U.S. agree, while four in 10 believe it's "an important but not critical threat."

An editor at WorldPublicOpinion said it's "phenomenal" that there's so much concern about global warming, when 20 years ago, "hardly any one knew" what it was.

Twelve countries were asked whether steps should be taken to address climate change and majorities in all but one of them favored action. The largest majority in favor of measures to combat global warming is found in Australia (92 percent).

China and Israel are the next most likely (83 percent) to favor such measures. Eighty percent of respondents in the United States -- the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases—also support taking such measures.

While the lowest level of support for taking steps to address the problem is found in India, nearly half (49 percent) favor taking action while just 24 percent oppose it.

The survey polled 20,000 people in 17 countries plus the Palestinian territories. Not all questions were asked in all countries.