Attitudes toward refugees have become more positive on average since 2021 : Ipsos Survey.
The survey was conducted by Ipsos on World Refugee Day in 28 countries and 20,505 respondents. The majority of Americans and people around the world support allowing refugees fleeing war, violent conflict, natural disasters, or the effects of climate change into their country.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
IPSOS WORLD REFUGEE DAY GLOBAL SURVEY
According to a global survey by Ipsos on World Refugee Day in 28 markets and 20,505 respondents, 82% in the United States and an average of 78% across 28 countries agree in principle that people should be able to take refuge in other countries, including their own, to escape war or persecution. Only 10% in the U.S. and 16% on average globally disagree. Agreement with this principle has become more prevalent since last year in most of the countries surveyed. It is the case in the U.S. where it’s up 10 percentage points. This trend suggests that the war in Ukraine has increased public openness to refugees and reversed some of the concerns generated by the pandemic.
Ukraine’s prolonged war has again put the spotlight on refugees, as citizens have fled to friendly countries to escape the war-torn country. Global citizens are more open to refugees, with only one in three (36%) saying they should close their doors to more refugees. However, there’s polarization among global citizens too (54%) who think refugees come for economic reasons.
The markets most amenable to helping refugees were Sweden (88%), Brazil (86%), Poland (85%) and Spain (85%). And the markets most opposed to refugees and emphatic on closing their borders to refugees entirely were Turkey (76%) and Malaysia (68%). India was placed 3rd.
The war in Ukraine has galvanized public support for refugees fleeing war or persecution across the 28 countries surveyed, with many people taking personal action to support refugees for the first time. And as we emerge from COVID-19, the public are also more relaxed about keeping their countries’ borders open to refugees. However, public concerns that most refugees are not genuine persist, as is the public’s lack of awareness and support for those seeking refuge for other reasons. The warming of public attitudes towards refugees presents an opportune moment to address these more persistent beliefs and change hearts and minds.
Technical Note
These are the results of a 28-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform. Ipsos interviewed a total of 20,505 adults, aged 18-74 in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, and Turkey, and age 16-74 in 23 other countries between Friday, April 22nd 2022 and Friday, May 6th, 2022.
The sample consists of approximately 1,000 individuals in each of Australia, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United States, and 500 individuals in each of Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey (please note that Switzerland was not included in 2021).
The samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the US can be taken as representative of their general adult populations under the age of 75
The samples in Brazil, mainland China, Chile, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these countries should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of their population.
The data is weighted so that each country’s sample composition best reflects the demographic profile of the adult population according to the most recent census data. The “Global Country Average” reflects the average result for all the countries where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country and is not intended to suggest a total result. Where results do not sum to 100 or the “difference” appears to be +/-1 more/less than the actual, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” or not stated responses.
The precision of Ipsos online polls is calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 5.0 percentage points. For more information on the Ipsos use of credibility intervals, please visit the Ipsos website.
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