Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
People around the world often mention neighboring nations as posing the greatest threats to their own countries. Proximity also is a factor in peoples’ views of their country’s most dependable allies. However, world powers often make the list – and the United States appears prominently on the lists of major allies and threats. In fact, […]
Muslim publics around the world increasingly reject suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets in the defense of Islam. Overall, majorities in 15 of 16 Muslim publics surveyed say that suicide bombings can be rarely or never justified. Fully 77% of Muslims in Indonesia – and nearly as many in Bangladesh, Pakistan […]
Iran’s image remains negative throughout much of the world, and has eroded significantly over the past year in several countries, including Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to inspire little confidence internationally. However, the poll finds Shia Muslims in Lebanon holding overwhelmingly positive opinions of the Iranian president, reflecting a broad divide […]
Perceptions of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians differ considerably across regions. As in the past, Americans’ strong pro-Israel stance sets them apart from other publics. By more than four-to-one (49%-11%), Americans say they sympathize with Israel rather than Palestinians, a balance that is largely unchanged from past years. In many countries in Western […]
Over the last five years, America’s image has plummeted throughout much of the world, including sharp drops in favorability among traditional allies in Western Europe, as well as substantial declines in Latin America, the Middle East, and elsewhere. In the past year alone, positive views of the U.S. have declined in Pakistan, China, Egypt, and […]
Levels of personal satisfaction vary considerably across the world. People in the economically advanced countries of Western Europe, Canada and the United States are relatively happy with their lives. For example, when asked to place themselves on a “ladder of life,” where zero represents the worst possible life and 10 the best possible life, 72% […]
Throughout the world, new patterns have emerged in the way that people perceive the threats posed by pollution, AIDS and infectious diseases, nuclear proliferation, religious and ethnic hatred, and income inequality. In particular, worries about pollution and the environment have increased dramatically since 2002. Of the five global threats tested in the survey, pollution and […]
A 47-nation survey finds global public opinion increasingly wary of the world’s dominant nations and disapproving of their leaders. Anti-Americanism is extensive, as it has been for the past five years. At the same time, the image of China has slipped significantly among the publics of other major nations.
As with views of the United States, attitudes toward China have grown more negative in recent years in most countries where trends are available. Yet the balance of opinion regarding China is decidedly favorable in 27 of the 47 nations surveyed, while opinion is more negative than positive in just five – most notably Japan […]
Overall, many publics are somewhat more satisfied with the state of their countries than they were five years ago. In the 35 nations where trends are available, the number of people satisfied has increased in 21, declined in nine, and remained basically unchanged in five. The greatest improvement is found in Bangladesh, where 75% currently […]