A survey of more than 20,000 people in 28 countries corroborates a phenomenon discussed since the beginning of the Ukrainian War: Ukrainian refugees are much more accepted by host countries than Afghans, Syrians and those fleeing humanitarian disasters elsewhere. of the world.
According to the survey, carried out by the research institute Ipsos, 54% of respondents said they support their country receiving Ukrainian refugees, and only 15% said against it.
It is a much greater receptivity than the one directed towards refugees of other nationalities – 32% said they support the arrival of Syrians; 31% from Myanmar people; 30% from Venezuelans and Afghans, and 27% from those fleeing the conflict in South Sudan. Ukrainians were the most accepted in 26 countries — Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were the only ones most open to Syrians.
The survey’s margin of error is 3.5 percentage points, and the sample is representative of the adult population of most countries — in the case of Brazil, it represents the population connected to the internet, which is more urban and educated than the average. According to the Ipsos report, the result “suggests that the Ukrainian War may have improved attitudes towards refugees, but it is not unconditional, and other issues may be affecting views towards refugees from other countries.”
At the other end, Afghans were the most rejected by the 28 countries in the survey: a third of the sample said they were against the arrival of refugees from the country controlled by the Taliban radicals. When asked about refugees of any nationality, 36% said they were in favor of receiving them in their countries.
In this regard, Brazil is an exception and was the most open in the ranking: 64% of Brazilians surveyed said they support the reception of refugees in general. As in the rest of the world, Ukrainians are the most welcome, with 69% favorable responses, against 52% for Burmese, 53% for Sudanese and 55% for Afghans. Acceptance of Venezuelans and Syrians, the most common flows in the country today, was 61% and 58%.
Other research has already shown that Brazilians generally have a positive view of refugees, but reports of xenophobia, especially against black or indigenous immigrants, have been growing in recent years. Brazil also has a tradition of foreign policy open to these groups — humanitarian visas have been created for Syrians, Afghans and Ukrainians, for example — but support for new arrivals is considered insufficient, with NGOs responsible for absorbing most of the demand.
In the Ipsos survey, the highest acceptance rates for refugees after Brazil were those of Argentina and Saudi Arabia, both with 52%, and Mexico, with 50%. The lowest percentages of support were among citizens of Turkey, Malaysia and Hungary, with 12%, 14% and 18%, respectively.
Turkey, Syria’s neighbour, in civil war for more than ten years, is the country with the largest number of refugees in the world, 3.8 million, according to the latest report by the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees).
The data, from 2021 – thus predating the Ukraine War – showed that the number of forcibly displaced people had doubled in the last decade, with 89.3 million living far from their homes due to conflict or human rights violations. In May of this year, the United Nations released an update that includes Ukrainian refugees, with the number of forcibly displaced reaching 100 million.
The Ukrainian exodus drew attention as one of the fastest in history, with more than 3 million people having left the country in just the first month of the conflict, especially across the border with neighboring Poland. A part of these exiles, however, began a return movement after the conflict focused on the east of the country. Overall, European countries opened their borders to these migrants, which generated comparisons with the response to other recent flows, such as those from the Middle East.
54% is the general support of respondents from 28 countries to welcoming Ukrainians; 32% said they had the same position on Syrians, 30% on Venezuelans and 30% on Afghans
64% of Brazilians are in favor of welcoming refugees of any nationality to the country; the world average is 36%
69% of Brazilians support the reception of Ukrainians; only Swedes are more open to this group, with 73%
Source: Ipsos survey carried out between April 22 and May 6, 2022
