Worldwide, 54% See Communities as Good for Migrants

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Is the world a better place for migrants to live than it was at the start of the decade? With the recent backlash against migrants in Europe and in other countries, including the United States, you wouldn't expect people to think so -- but a majority of the world sees it that way today.

The overall "good place" number is higher in 2018 largely thanks to substantial increases in South Asia (almost entirely attributable to rising numbers in India), Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. In nearly all other regions, including Western Europe and Northern America, attitudes in 2018 were very similar to what they were in 2010.

	2010	2018	Difference
	%	%	pct. pts.
Worldwide	47	54	+7
South Asia	33	53	+20
Middle East and North Africa	40	49	+9
Southeast Asia	32	40	+8
Post-Soviet Eurasia	44	49	+5
East Asia	41	45	+4
Western Europe	73	73	0
Sub-Saharan Africa	64	63	-1
Latin America and the Caribbean	64	63	-1
Northern America	80	79	-1
East Central and Southeast Europe	48	41	-7
Gallup World Poll

East Central and Southeast Europe -- which includes many of the countries on the front lines of the recent European migrant crisis -- was the only region where there was a decline. The percentage of people saying their communities were good places for immigrants to live dropped from 48% in 2010 to 41% in 2018.

But more importantly, on the other side of the migrant crisis that peaked in 2015, the balance of opinion in the region has shifted toward more saying their communities are not good places for migrants to live (46%) than saying they are good places. Before the crisis, people in the region firmly said their communities were good places for migrants (48%) rather than not (34%).

	Good place	Not a good place	Don't know/Refused
	%	%	%
2010	48	34	18
2018	41	46	12
Gallup World Poll

Some Countries See Themselves as Good Places for Migrants

While a majority of adults worldwide see their communities as good places for migrants to live, people's attitudes vary widely from country to country, ranging from a high of 90% in Canada to a low of 17% in Hungary.

The countries or areas at the top of the list -- where at least four in five residents say their communities are good locales for migrants -- tend to be wealthier nations, and notably, many of them are historically top-receiving countries for migrants.

	Good place	Difference from 2010
	%	pct. pts.
Canada	90%	+2
New Zealand	89%	+1
Norway	88%	N/A
Australia	87%	0
Portugal	87%	+17
United Arab Emirates	87%	+15
Denmark	84%	+7
Ireland	84%	+2
Luxembourg	83%	-1
Mauritius	82%	N/A
Gambia	81%	N/A
Spain	81%	-1
Taiwan	81%	+10
Sweden	80%	+3
N/A: No estimate available for 2010
Gallup World Poll, 2018

Attitudes in most of these countries or areas haven't changed much since the beginning of this decade, and if they have, it has been for the positive. Portugal, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan have all seen double-digit increases in the percentage who say their communities are good for migrants.

Narrowly missing the top cut are a host of other top-receiving countries, including the United Kingdom (79%), the United States (78%), Saudi Arabia (78%) and the Netherlands (78%). Although migration continues to be a hot political topic in all of them, the U.K. is the only country in this group where attitudes changed significantly between 2010 and 2018, rising from 71% saying that their communities are good for migrants to the current number (79%).

And Some Countries Do Not See Themselves as Good for Migrants

The countries where adults are least likely to see their communities as good places for migrants to live -- where one in three or fewer say this is the case -- tend to be clustered in South Central and Southeast Europe. Not surprisingly, most of these countries have also scored poorly in the past on Gallup's Migrant Acceptance Index, which gauges how accepting populations are of migrants.

	Good place	Difference from 2010
	%	pct. pts.
Poland	33	-9
Indonesia	32	+6
Israel	32	-3
Belarus	31	-18
Romania	30	-16
Czech Republic	28	-14
Estonia	28	N/A
Croatia	27	-20
Mongolia	27	-11
Latvia	26	N/A
Turkmenistan	26	N/A
Bulgaria	24	-18
Malaysia	24	+3
Cambodia	20	-13
Hungary	17	-36
N/A: No estimate available for 2010
Gallup World Poll, 2018

Hungarians are the least likely in the world to say that their communities are good places for migrants -- just 17% say this is true. Moreover, Hungarians' attitudes have shifted more than any other country in the world. Thirty-six percentage points separate their attitudes in 2010 (Prime Minister Viktor Orban's first year in office) and 2018, the year that Hungary withdrew from the U.N.'s Global Compact for Migration.

But Member States of the EU Are the Most Divided

The European Union is the most divided region of the world on Gallup's Migrant Acceptance Index, and residents there are similarly divided on whether their communities are good places for migrants to live. The percentages saying their communities are good places for migrants range from a low of 17% in Hungary to a high of 87% in Portugal.

	Good place	Difference from 2010
	%	pct. pts.
Portugal	87	+17
Denmark	84	+7
Ireland	84	+2
Luxembourg	83	-1
Spain	81	-1
Sweden	80	+3
Finland	79	+16
United Kingdom	79	+8
Netherlands	78	-4
Germany	75	0
Malta	69	+10
Belgium	68	0
Austria	67	+12
Cyprus	66	+3
France	66	-8
Italy	64	+7
Greece	47	-13
Slovenia	41	-12
Lithuania	37	+1
Slovakia	35	-12
Poland	33	-9
Romania	30	-16
Czech Republic	28	-14
Estonia	28	N/A
Croatia	27	-20
Latvia	26	N/A
Bulgaria	24	-18
Hungary	17	-36
N/A: No estimate available for 2010
Gallup World Poll, 2018

The divides between EU countries in East Central and Southeast Europe and those in Western Europe further illustrate the chasm in public attitudes that has only grown wider in the aftermath of the migrant crisis in Europe.

Since 2010, attitudes have become more open to migrants in a number of countries, including Portugal, where labor shortages and an aging population are forcing the government to open the country's doors to new and return migrants. But the former Soviet bloc countries and Greece -- which have never been pro-migrant -- have only pulled farther away.

Implications

While the Migrant Acceptance Index investigates people's personal feelings about migrants, Gallup's question about whether people think their communities are good places for immigrants provides insight into how people around the world see migrants fitting into their communities. Both provide additional insight into how the world views migrants, but they also complement each other.

The results on this latter question show that even as the world has become more polarized on the issue of migration, people in most regions are at least as likely -- if not more likely -- to see their communities as good for migrants. At the same time, they also highlight the greater divides emerging in some countries, and the challenges this poses for cohesive migrant policies.

The next articles in this series will look at whether these attitudes differ between the native-born and migrant populations around the world, and then whether those attitudes influence people's desire to migrate to other countries.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.