World Grows Less Accepting of Migrants

As the European Union debuts a new migration pact, Gallup finds the world growing less accepting of migrants, and a number of EU countries topping the list of the least-accepting countries in the world.

Overall, the world is slightly less accepting of migrants today than it was three years ago, according to Gallup’s latest update of its Migrant Acceptance Index. Between 2016 and 2019, the global score on the index, which gauges people’s acceptance of migrants based on increasing degrees of personal proximity to migrants, declined from 5.34 to 5.21.

Many of the countries leading the global downturn have been on the receiving end of the mass exodus of Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis in their country. Scores dropped more than two full points in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, which have absorbed millions of Venezuelans since 2015. Initially, many of the migrants and refugees were welcomed in these countries, but public sentiment started to turn against them as their economies, and their health, education and social assistance programs buckled under the strain.

Scores also dropped substantially in a number of other countries where migration continues to be a polarizing subject, including European countries such as Belgium and Switzerland, where right-wing, anti-immigration parties continued to gain ground between 2016 and 2019. Notably, scores also declined in India, where controversial laws went into effect in late 2019 that provided paths to citizenship for migrants — excluding Muslims.

The index is based on three questions that Gallup asked in 140 countries in 2016 and 2017 and updated again in 145 countries in 2019. The questions ask whether people think migrants living in their country, becoming their neighbors and marrying into their families are good things or bad things.

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Migrant Acceptance Increased in Some Parts of the World

Acceptance of migrants did not decrease in every part of the world; in fact, it rose by at least one full point in a number of countries. {snip}

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The Least- and Most-Accepting Countries for Migrants

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Most of the countries with the lowest scores on the Migrant Acceptance Index in 2019 were also on this list in 2016. In fact, only three — Thailand, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey — were new to the list in 2019. {snip}

Nearly all of the countries that were most accepting of migrants in 2019 were also among the most accepting of migrants in 2016-2017.  {snip}

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