A month after the release of Pope Francis' encyclical on the care of creation, a new Pew Research Centre international survey showed that climate change is the top global threat seen by people worldwide.

In 19 of the 40 countries surveyed, climate change was considered as the biggest among the issues listed in the survey.

Latin America posted the highest percentage among all regions expressing utmost concern on this issue, with a median of 61 percent of people there saying they're "very concerned" about climate change.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a median of 59 percent aired a similar sentiment on climate change, with Burkina Faso (79 percent), Uganda (74 percent), and Ghana (71 percent) particularly worried about the issue.

Asia posted a median of 41 percent, with Indians (73 percent) and Filipinos (72 percent) expressing concern on the matter.

In Europe, concern about climate change was relatively low, with the issue not cited by any European country in the top two threats.

The Islamic State, meanwhile, was cited by Europeans and Middle Easterners as their main concern among international issues.

Respondents in 14 countries said their greatest concern is ISIS, which seeks to carve out a caliphate in the Middle East. A median of 70 percent of the people in Europe showed serious concerns about the threat posed by the jihadist group.

As ISIS maintains strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the neighbours of the two countries placed the group on top of their list of concerns. Eight in 10 Lebanese were "very concerned" about the group, while more than 60 percent in Jordan and 54 percent in the Palestinian territories worried about the terror group.

People in the US and Canada both placed ISIS at the top spot in their list of concerns.

In half of the countries that participated in the survey, global economic instability was found to be the second biggest concern.

A median of 54 percent of the people in Latin America expressed serious concerns about the issue, with six-in-10 in Brazil and Venezuela saying they are "very concerned" about it.

Russia and Ukraine, both suffering from shrinking economies, also looked at the issue as a major threat.

Only respondents from Israel ranked Iran's nuclear programme as their top concern among international issues, with 53 percent of Israelis having "substantial concerns" about the threat posed by Iran.

Respondents from the US also cited Iran's nuclear programme as a major issue, making it their second highest in the list of their concerns. In Europe, only people from the UK included it in their top two concerns.

Worries about cyberattacks were highest in the US and South Korea, which both experienced high-profile cyberattacks in recent years.

The new survey was held from March 25 to May 27 this year and involved 45,435 respondents.