UK Public survey of risk perception, resilience and preparedness 2026: Headline findings

The UK Public Survey of Risk Perception, Resilience and Preparedness is a nationally representative survey of adults in the UK, carried out in order to understand what people think about different types of emergencies, and what steps – if any – they have taken to prepare for them. It is conducted to inform public communications on preparing for emergencies and to monitor trends. These are the headline findings from the second survey, conducted in 2026. This publication provides the headline findings from the 2026 survey, which ran between 27 February and 11 May 2026.

Some of the findings are below:

• The majority (68%) of survey respondents thought that the number of emergencies/disasters would increase in the next 10 years, with 21% saying the number would increase a lot and 47% saying the number would increase a little. 
• The majority (68%) of survey respondents believed that war would have a large or very large impact on them personally if it were to affect their local area. 
• The majority (74%) of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that there were effective actions that people can take to prepare for emergencies/disasters, whereas 6% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement.
• 13% of survey respondents felt that their household was largely or totally prepared for an emergency/disaster and 33% reported feeling moderately prepared, while 50% felt they were slightly or not at all prepared for an emergency/disaster and 3% said they did not know.