Table 5.2
Important environmental problems1, 2003-04 to 2007-08
All Households					Percentages
	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Total
Pollution in rivers	30	30	30	29	28
Pollution in bathing waters and beaches	21	23	23	23	22
Traffic exhaust fumes and urban smog	35	33	32	32	31
Loss of plants and animals in Northern Ireland	13	15	15	15	16
Ozone layer depletion	22	26	27	27	24
Tropical forest destruction	9	8	10	12	13
Climate change	13	19	29	34	39
Loss of trees and hedgerows in Northern Ireland	16	17	15	16	16
Fumes and smoke from factories	14	16	15	14	13
Traffic congestion	27	28	26	28	30
Use of pesticides and fertilisers	17	16	18	15	13
Acid rain	3	2	2	3	2
Household waste disposal	31	33	34	33	34
Noise	7	7	6	6	5
None of these	8	9	5	4	5
Other	1	2	2	1	1
All Households	2,718	2,766	2,594	2,675	2,562
		Source: Continuous Household Survey
Note:
1Environmental problem was mentioned as first, second or third most important problem.