Nearly 80 years after the dissolution of British India led to the formation of an independent India and Pakistan, a new survey finds that most people in each country view the other as their greatest geopolitical threat. In addition, Indians’ highly unfavorable views of Pakistan, and vice versa, reflect the continued animosity between these two longstanding rivals.
The two countries also diverge in their views of major world powers. Indians tend to see the United States and Russia favorably (and as their most important allies). They have unfavorable views of China, see it as a major threat and lack confidence in President Xi Jinping.
Pakistanis, for their part, are highly favorable toward China and overwhelmingly name it as their top ally, while their views of Russia are more negative than positive. They also show great skepticism toward the U.S. and Israel, naming them both as major threats – though less often than they name India. Pakistanis also see Saudi Arabia as one of their most important allies.
The survey also finds that both Indians and Pakistanis are skeptical of how committed the other country’s government and people are to good bilateral relations.
And in India, there are differences in how Hindu and Muslim respondents view Pakistan, with Indian Muslims generally expressing more favorable opinions than Indian Hindus. (Pew Research Center estimates from 2020 put the Muslim population in India at about 15%.)
These surveys were conducted in India among 3,566 adults from Feb. 8 to April 27, 2026, and in Pakistan among 1,039 adults from April 8 to May 7, 2026.
We began the Pakistan survey right as peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran were starting in Islamabad. (Notably, Pakistan was one of the few countries where views of the U.S. grew more positive during the 2026 survey field period.) The India survey preceded recent “cockroach” protests over irregularities in nationwide university entrance exams and youth unemployment.
Related: Public opinion of India is mixed across 36 countries
How do people in India and Pakistan view each other?
Overall, people in India and Pakistan have largely unfavorable views of the other nation.
Roughly nine-in-ten Pakistanis have an unfavorable view of India, with about three-quarters (73%) saying their view is very unfavorable. This sentiment is shared broadly across demographic groups in Pakistan.
In turn, 78% of Indians have an unfavorable view of Pakistan, including 65% with a very unfavorable opinion. (Another 15% did not answer.) Muslims in the Hindu-majority country are somewhat more favorable toward Pakistan (21%) than Hindus are (6%).
Indians’ views of Pakistan have been overwhelmingly negative in over a decade of Pew Research Center polls. No more than two-in-ten overall have held a favorable view of Pakistan since 2013.
While comparable trends for Pakistan over the last decade are not available, previous Center surveys stretching back to the early 2000s show similarly negative ratings of India among Pakistanis. The shares with a favorable view have ranged from single digits to a third.
Related: How do South Asians view other countries in the region?
When asked whether the Indian and Pakistani governments and people are committed to good relations with each other, the clear pattern is that people only have faith in their own country.
For example, a majority of Indian adults say that the Indian people and government are committed to good bilateral relations. But a majority of Pakistani adults say the Indian people and government are not committed.
Similarly, a majority of Pakistani adults say their country’s people and government are committed to good bilateral relations. Most Indians, meanwhile, say that the Pakistani people and government are not committed. (About a quarter of Indians were not sure.)
About a third of Indian Muslims say the Pakistani people and government are committed to good relations, significantly higher than the shares of Indian Hindus who say the same.
What do people in India and Pakistan think about major powers?
Indians and Pakistanis generally agree on one thing: Their greatest geopolitical threat is the other. Over half of Indians (54%) name Pakistan as their country’s greatest threat, and 43% of Pakistanis name India. Around one-third of Indian Muslims (34%) name Pakistan as their top threat, compared with 57% of Hindus.
Indians also see China as a top threat (named by 21%). Pakistanis, for their part, see Israel (24%) and the U.S. (24%) as their next-greatest threats.
When asked about their most important ally, Pakistanis clearly point to China (75%) and, to a lesser degree, to Saudi Arabia (12%). About a third of Indians say Russia is their top ally (36%), while 16% name the U.S. Roughly a third of Indians did not answer the question.
Because the U.S., China and Russia play an outsized role in global affairs, the diverging views of these major powers and their leaders is noteworthy.
Indians, for example, show much more positive views of Russia (58% favorable) and President Vladimir Putin (51% confidence) than Pakistanis do (39% and 32%). In fact, Indians are among the most positive toward Russia and Putin across 37 countries surveyed this spring.
When it comes to views of the U.S., Indians feel three times more favorably than Pakistanis. Indians also express more confidence in President Donald Trump.
Pakistanis have overwhelmingly positive opinions of China (90% favorable) and President Xi Jinping (83% confidence). But only around a quarter of Indians express a positive view of China or its president. Indian Muslims are more likely than Indian Hindus to have a positive view of China and confidence in Xi, but on balance, their opinions of both are negative.
Indeed, across 36 countries, the favorability gap between the U.S. and China is largest in Pakistan. India is one of the most comparatively pro-U.S. countries surveyed, and one of only six where people express more positive views of the U.S. than China.
On a variety of questions about the role the U.S. and China play in the world – like reliability as a partner, taking other countries’ interests into account, interfering in other countries’ affairs, and maintaining global peace and stability – a similar pattern holds, with Indians more positive toward the U.S. and Pakistanis far more positive toward China.
Related: People in Many Countries Now View China More Positively Than the U.S.
