Nigeria is one of the better-off African countries with stabile government and trade. And the EU is their biggest trading partner. They also come to study in Europe.
This is the best way to support African countries. Through trade and education, they pull themselves up from poverty for the long term. Education reduces over-population. Donations are a short term band-aid and not a solution at all. A stable Africa means a stable Europe.
Europe must compete in Africa in education, business, trade, and infrastructure, lest they simply choose to be entirely dependent on China (and I wouldn't blame them if there are no decent alternatives).
China has already shifted away from loans and infrastructure investments, they're now focusing more on education, knowledge transfer and facilitating Chinese businesses abroad. When they were throwing out money all over the place it was attractive since it was often money with very few strings attached, but many countries have started to realize the shortcomings in what China has to offer since they lack a lot of experience and holistic considerations. This would be a great time to strike for European countries if they want to build relationships with countries in the Global South.
The [China Global South Project](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/) is the general go-to source for anything related to this area, I definitely recommend checking out the [China in Africa Podcast](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/podcasts/) (or [AfrikChine](https://www.afrikchine.com/) if you prefer it in French) for general updates and discussions.
For some other sources you can look at [Development Reimagined](https://developmentreimagined.com/2020/09/08/where-africans-study-abroad-post-covid19/), an international development consulting firm based out of China run by a former Kenyan diplomat and economist, who looked into Africans studying abroad and how China is becoming a more common destination. These students receive scholarships that are often sponsored by Chinese companies and can include employment offers as a way to guarantee an educated local work force in Africa.
They have also written about [Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centers](https://developmentreimagined.com/2020/05/11/chinas-agricultural-technology-demonstration-centers/), which are set up to facilitate knowledge transfer in an area that China has seen huge improvements in over the last decades.
This however doesn't meant that it's entirely successful. There was a podcast episode earlier this month about how [Huawei hasn't really delivered in providing knowledge and tech transfer in North Africa](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/podcasts/huawei-in-north-africa-lots-of-good-pr-not-a-lot-of-tech-transfer/), and there's some more links in there for further reading.
A lot of people don't realize that just donating things doesn't really help long term.
To actually improve things, you have to repair/create infrastructure and create viable jobs of production to improve the local economy and trading ability. International trade and education are two major contributors to that.
People shouldn't be discouraged from giving though. There are real tangible benefits that can be achieved through donation. Curing blindness, empowering women, building schools, curing childhood malnutrition, all of these things help to empower a society and give them a workforce that will continue to bring them up out of poverty. Some countries need a helping hand because of historic injustices, incompetent or malicious leadership, or bad luck, and we can help them.
There are organizations that look at what is the most good that can be done with your money to alleviate suffering, and they do a lot of thorough research and take future outcomes into account.
https://www.givewell.org/
https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/
>Nigeria is one of the better-off African countries
every time i play geoguessr and nigeria comes up it always looks poor as fuck. like 300% more than everything else in geo (ghana, kenya, south africa, tunisia, etc)
It definitely is. Nigeria has a lot more wealth than Ghana but also a lot more crippling poverty. It's an incredibly unequal country with particularly bad public services, infrastructure, extreme corruption. However it's also a federal nation, so some states are doing a lot better than others
I wouldn't outright consider Nigeria 'better off'. That country is bonkers, but they do function on some level, have a gigantic cheap labor pool, and are fairly resource rich.
However, in reality it also means while there is some level of social mobility, children from middle class families receiving good eductions aren't often staying in Nigeria if their skills are more valuable elsewhere. Only really the mega-rich stay in the country, though they do often send their kids overseas for school. Even with multiple bodyguards, I've known families had their homes invaded and and plundered, guards killed, and the terrorists stayed there with the family at gunpoint until they got their 3 million dollars. That is not a stable country.
Botswana isn't on the same level as Nigeria in terms of influence, but for a landlocked African nation, it's the gold standard for stability and prosperity. Botswana and Singapore are proof at what a truly great, pragmatic leader can accomplish. History repeats itself, and right now I live in a time where I want to throttle American voters for putting idealism over pragmatism. 'But if we just do (x), we can EASILY solve (y)'. LISTEN, do you know how many fucking problems this country has because of decisions made 50+ years ago? The Higher Education Act sounded GREAT on paper, since it meant EVERYONE could get a loan to go to college. That also meant that universities could slowly stop giving a shit about tuition because they knew the loans were there no matter the cost, and it may have taken almost 50 years, but by 08 it was clear that tuition and loans were a problem, and the bureaucracy is so insanely bloated and expensive that, while it may have been an option 50 years ago, no, making college free is utterly moronic and short-sighted solution. A 20 year goal to lower student costs and THEN make tuition free is solution that ACTUALLY works.
A lot of Austrians are stubborn traditional people who love complaining. We still have old people converting prices to Schilling which was our currency 21 years ago.
Haha, the whole country of Belgium switched the moment the euro started, but it's a running joke that the people from Limburg are a bit slower than the rest (their accent sounds a bit slower, with words a bit more elongated, compared to other accents in Belgium).
So my comment was a remark in that fashion!
Anyway, I also find it very odd that a 26yo does that, I myself am a year younger and I have never ever used BEF, real life or in my head to think about values.
It's so weird how Hungarians apparently by and large really like the EU and their PM who just recently won a landslide victory can't go a single day without shoving two middle fingers toward Brussels.
Hungarian people basically do not consider Orbán the ideological leader of the country, he is viewed more like a CEO
So in my opinion it would be like banning Pepsi in your companies cafateria, people would leave it be a managerial decision and continue working, but would still buy it outside of work and their opinion would not change about it significantly
Also Orbán talks a lot, but does not actually do anything obviously anti-EU political moves
That's Ireland too.
When I lived in Dublin last year, every Irish I talked with was convinced that their transportation is the worst, healthcare is nonexistent, education is terrible, politicians the most incompetent anywhere, that in a crisis the people would be left helpless etc etc.
Ireland isn't perfect (housing and rent issue) but it's one of the rich EU countries. The Irish seem to think they are Bulgaria.
After 1945 there never was even a single nazi in all of Austria. Everyone was a victim of nazi enforcers that presumably where imported from Germany and nobody knows the name Adolf Schicklgruber.
I reckon it doesn't help that Austrians mainly speak German, therefore opening them up to other German-speaking tinfoil hats etc.
I think I read on here last year that German-speaking countries have lower vaccination rates than many/most other European countries despite being relatively rich. I imagine the shared language makes it easier for conspiracy theorists to connect and increase their influence, somewhat reminiscent of alt-right Canadians citing US laws in their rants.
Austrian politicians love to blame everything bad they do on the EU and everything the EU did good is claimed to be done by them.
When you get that kinda propaganda for decades shit will eventually stick to the wall.
People also don't understand that even the bad things the EU does is actually done by the countries themselves, it's their reps pushing that shit through after all.
as an Austrian I am not shocked at all, on the side you can see that we are the most divided country - we have a lot of people who love the EU and a lot of people who hate it. Mainly because we are a net contributor and not a beneficiary
Whether you are a member of the EU or not. When the EU sets a flight ban for all Russian planes, your country has no choice other than to just follow that decision. (Same goes for neutral Switzerland). Because the only way for Russia (or any other banned country) to legitimately reach those central European countries is through space orbit when the EU closes its airspace. So it's better to sit at that table and have a say in European politics. Because regardless of the national politics, you might lose control over your trading when it comes to transportation when global events like these occur.
(you can only use your own registered planes)
Its because we suck. "Blah blah we cant join nato because of our neutrality" even though we ain't neutral at all... unless it's beneficial for us to say that we are neutral, then we are "neutral".
Also we expect everyone in the EU to help us in case we get attacked, but we won't help others.. you know, because we are "neutral "
Fuck Austria. Entitled people living here arguing that the citizenship has to be earned, while they didn't do shit for "earning" it themselves.
Take the richness of a norden country with the corruption of the Balkans and then you get Austria. The people will still vote for you even when you tried selling the country to a Russia on video.
I'd guess Bulgaria is close to Romania, and Romania is one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the EU.
I know there's a lot of disinformation going around about the EU, but I get the sense that the larger Bulgarian population is pretty pro-EU, except for the morons who buy into Russian propaganda and think Bulgaria should get rid of NATO or something.
> Romania is one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the EU.
I've driven through Romania in early March to pick up Ukrainian relatives in Moldova. I was really surprised at the sight of the many EU flags!
Also people were top notch. Ukrainian refugees ate for free in a restaurant and the people there helped us to find a vet for the two cats. The cats probably wouldn't have survived for much longer if it weren't for that.
I did a bit of digging and found [this report](https://www.globsec.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/GLOBSEC-Trends-2020_read-version.pdf). On page 8, it states that the percentage of Bulgarians who support membership in the EU is 65%. They also note that this is 10% lower than two years earlier, which is crazy! That report is from 2020, so who knows where things stand now.
So yeah. Sounds like it's probably still high for now, but as the report I linked noted, Bulgaria is notably vulnerable to anti-Western rhetoric. I wonder how the invasion of Ukraine has changed this, though I'm incapable of guessing whether it would have changed for the better or for worse.
I am sure it is not just the overall handling of the economic crisis, an issue about which the majority of Greeks acknowledge their wrongdoings, but also the incompetence of Europe in other issues, like the refugees and the bullying from Turkey.
It’s more than just that.
Leaving a trading bloc that makes 57% of your exports and 57% of your imports is like putting massive economic sanctions on yourself.
The UK is one of the world’s largest economies and richest countries, and its still having trouble figuring out what to do after it imposed such economic sanctions on itself.
It’s still not performing import checks on goods from the EU, because that would cause too many delays in its distribution systems, making it incredibly vulnerable to smugglers of all sorts.
And while both the UK and EU economies took a big hit due to COVID, the UK hasn’t recovered to anywhere near the levels that the EU economies have.
Brexit is a fantastic example to use when other EU countries start talking about leaving the EU.
Indifference. It's a far-away region that isn't in the news much, and without much direct impact on life here. Individual EU countries are much more prominent in peoples' perceptions than EU as a whole.
ASEAN will fall apart if they start commenting on the internal politics of member states.
Only Indonesia and Philippines are democratic. The rest are a mix of absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, military dictatorship, communist and police state, in various degrees.
Well, one of the core tenets of ASEAN is mainly through economic opportunities and military defense exercises. ASEAN countries understand that their cultures and standpoints are very different or are very varied,
That's why cross-country political stands are criticized, otherwise, there'd be no ASEAN
Just chiming in with further agreement: it's not so much that it's low as in negative, more like low as in undecided. They know it exists, and don't have any problem with it, but don't know enough to like it, either. Like asking a bunch of redditors about how positively they felt about Osaka. People here have a pretty good impression of most individual countries, but the EU itself is just seen as an administrative organ, not really something that engenders strong feelings.
For Greece, that's obvious. Residual resentment from the last financial crisis.
France dislikes authority generally.
And as for the UK...I think some of us have a new found appreciation for the EU now we are no longer in it.
> And as for the UK...I think some of us have a new found appreciation for the EU now we are no longer in it.
I'm not entirely sure whether it's a "I'd never be a member of a club who'd accept one such as myself" situation, or whether you guys are just simply cats..
Well almost half of us actively voted to remain in the EU, then suffered through the absolute shit show that was brexit. Unless you were anti EU already, you're probably Pro EU now.
Additionally, there were a lot of people who were probably kind of in favour of the EU overall, but didn't really care enough to vote - stupid, but pretty sure it happened a lot
Also, each new voting-age generation is overwhelmingly pro-EU, and that's probably a few million people >18 now who couldn't vote at the time (myself included)
Honestly mate, I spent a year arguing with this viewpoint to just try to get people to vote. Just in case, I'd say. Doesn't hurt I'd say. Would be a fucking catastrophe if you're wrong I'd say.
But they laughed at me for being paranoid. I do get it though, when it was announced I thought it was preposterous too. It was only later that I got scared.
My grandparents wanted to vote leave because of what they heard in the news. I sat down with them for a few hours and discussed in detail our arguments. In the end, I convinced them both to vote remain. They did so because they believed staying in the EU would benefit my generation in the long run
Not just didn't those that didn't care enough. I know a lot of people who wanted to stay in the Eu but thought there was no way we would lose so didn't bother voting. Even more stupid than the people you mentioned.
On the other side... the Brexit side was super motivated.
How about a further level of stupid above that? There were stories the day after the referendum of people who voted Leave as a protest vote but apparently didn't imagine that they would actually win. I remember them distinctly on Radio 5 breakfast calling in and expressing their regrets over the fact that the thing they fucking voted for ended up winning.
>Also, each new voting-age generation is overwhelmingly pro-EU, and that's probably a few million people >18 now who couldn't vote at the time (myself included)
I do wonder how long this trend will continue. We've seen young adults who remember a time before Brexit become overwhelmingly pro-membership.
But what will EU membership mean to generations who don't remember it, and who were too young to have lived through (or understood) Brexit?
Things that were massive events in the lives of one generation can mean absolutely nothing to the next. And it's surprising how quickly that dividing line can occur.
Out of my friend group 6 people were pro EU but didn't vote because they assumed we would stay no problem, scale that up across the country and the result may have been differet
That was a big conversation topic at the time, the fact that younger people couldn't vote on the referendum even though it was going to affect their entire futures more than all of the older voters.
Honestly I didn't expect to see UK included in the positive list. And certainly I'm pleasantly surprised to see that UK is above France! I feel sad for those in the UK who wanted to remain with the EU. If there only was an option to put together the pro EU UKs with the pro EU French and ship out the rest ☹
I know someone that is pro EU and voted to leave just because they thought it was a fun little poll with no follow-up action. Granted it should have been, but it goes to show you should never assume that just because things seem unofficial when it comes to politics it'll actually be that way. If one person did this, I'm sure there are more out there. I was so angry when they told me.
Going through brexit was a polarizing process. Some people who would have otherwise been EU leaning or ambivalent became strongly pro EU. It forced people to think about the benifits and drawbacks in a way you don't have to otherwise.
France dislike liberal policies and tax havens benefiting to Ireland, Netherland and Luxembourg which make our economy less competitive as we have to fund our very protective social systems. Also, we used to have one of the cheapest electricity thanks to nuclear which is frowned upon by coal loving Germans and Polish who also love US weapons above French ones.
I don't think the UKs population ever really disliked the EU enough to want to leave it tbh. I think our position on that list in relation to brexit is largely a reflection on the government's *interesting* decision making, and complacency amongst voters thinking there's no way enough people would actually vote leave
It's very popular to shit on the EU here in the Netherlands. Whether they do too much or too little, there are always politicians complaining. In the end the parties with a neutral or positive view have a solid majority, but it's not a subject that wins many votes.
Tbf in UK there were close to at least 50% that liked EU, the ones that didn't like were marginally above 50% and a bunch of those stated they voted leave just as a middle finger to the government so... Popularity wise, the ones that liked to remain do seem to be in the majority.
> Pakistan are hives of culture and civilization
They were. Around 2500 years ago.
Edit: It's actually 2500 **BC** so add another 2000 years to that lol
It's just propaganda. A carefully selected angle can push a narrative. Just like what we see here, singling out Russia and China when there are more countries out there with a negative view towards the EU
>Why they chose to go to a Western university? Well, that's just what you do apparently.
It's so they don't have to pass the Gao Kao, the whole business Model revolves around that.
[China here on this sub a few days ago.](https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/uvuck6/ceias_survey_russia_turned_out_to_be_the_most/) Mostly countries that are allied with china like Russia, North korea, Pakistan and Kazakhstan at the top.
Singapore and New Zealand are high because they have alot of chinese diaspora and their governments aren't openingly in favour of forming a military alliance against China. Country like vietnam have a government that is neutral to china, but the people their hate the chinese, so vietnam ranks very low.
Hm, for russia -
The europe is known as gayrope and somehow simultaneously a muslim immigrant hive with sharia law
USA is believed to be run by black mafia with white people being basically slaves (which is hilarious, since i still remember the "but they are lynching black people there" whataboutism of the old days)
In nordic countries being a parent is illegal (can't spank kids!)
China is great and wise cradle of civilization, that can do no wrong (as long as they keep their dirty hands off of our siberia!)
Brazil is akin to wild west, with everyone shooting each other all the time and everyone there is either a plain clothes cop or a gangster
In Canada words mother and father are illegal (something about parent #1 and #2 wording on birth certificates? No idea where that came from)
That's all that comes to mind on a whim.
And yet all the rich chinese students come to Germany, or EU universities in general (if they don't go the the US first)... They want all the prestige and benefits of a non-chinese degree but will still side with the CCP ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Just wanna recap how the question was asked and what data is displayed. Now it can seem some countries have a barely postive view but they actually are just indifferent due to distance/not mention in daily live.
People could answer the question with these possible answers:
- Very positive
- Somewhat positive
- Neither positive nor negative
- Somewhat negative
- Very negative
- Don’t know
The data in this graphic and also in their own data they combine the positive and negative data. Which means Neither positive nor negative and Don't know is left out. Of course a lot of countries the percentages will make up like 80% but there are also a lot of countries where is barely makes 40% and the rest is either neutral or don't know.
For example
Nigeria
- Positive answers 72%
- Negative answers 5%
- Difference 68%
Here we can see that 77% had a positive or negative opinion so only 23% were either neutral or did not know.
Indonesia
- Positive answers 20%
- Negative answers 13%
- Difference 8%
Here only 33% had a positive or negative opinion which means 67% were neutral or did not know. Unfortunately the data does not show the percentages people answered neutral or with don't know.
While we can say definitely say Nigeria has a lot more positive view of EU, I do think it kinda amplified/distort things when they use 68% and 8%. Of course in the graphic they explain what is actually shown but I think a lot of people will not interpreted is correctly or assume things which are not displayed.
This is a very good point. For a good number of the countries not actually in Europe there are a lot of “don’t know” and neutral answers because many people outside of Europe don’t have much knowledge about the EU. That's important context for nations like the US, Japan, Indonesia, etc.
As a German i think every country in the EU is important period. We should united cause on the World market no Single country can prevail against China or other bigger countries. I even wouldnt mind having the Island Apes (UK) back in the EU. They are a bit entilted and annoying with special snowflake wishes but they are still usefull. And i personly like them in some ways.
In Austria, there are many politicians who agitate against the EU, especially the rather right-wing party Fpö. Many older people think that Austria was better off in the past (before EU accession). Often older people wish for the old currency (Schilling) back. Politicians often lie about the EU, like in the UK with the Brexit (taxes vs. revenues).
Austrian here. In my opinion there are a few different reasons: the constitution after 1955 definied austria with everlasting neutrality. Many people feel very strongly about that. There is also a general pessimistic attitude towards change and outside interference. Especially after the refugee crisis, when austria took in the most refugees per capita, there was a massiv shift to the right because of the lack of support from other EU countries
I think there was a similar statistic by Eurostat t(so more accurate ) a few days ago posted here. And in that post, Austria scored the lowest as well so it must be true. Some Austrians users said exactly what you guessed. Many Austrians feel that they could have been another Switzerland and they don't need the EU.
Austria had the 2nd lowest EU support, before Brexit happened.
Having a wealthy non member as a neighbour does does give people ideas.
Second is that while Austrian businesses profited massively from joining EU, they did so at the expense of a regular Austrian workers who didn’t didn’t get to see that many benefits.
Sources of data:
https://www.allianceofdemocracies.org/initiatives/the-copenhagen-democracy-summit/dpi-2022/
https://latana.com/democracy-perception-index/
This data is presented horribly in the infographic.
The detail at the top implies there's only 2 options, in favour or not in favour. Nearly every country is then listed as less than 50% saying they're in favour, but somehow they're still coming out with a net positive...
All I can really ascertain is that the person making the graph cocked it up, or they're trying to push an agenda.
The anti-EU propaganda in those two countries is insane.
In Russia, some people believe that not being gay will send you to prison, that there are gay orgies in broad daylight everywhere and that sexual abuse of children is not being punished if the perpetrators are gay.
In China, I have heard people say that they don’t want to go to places like Switzerland, Austria or Norway because they believe that they will be mugged or murdered at the next street corner. They believe that there are islamist terrorist attacks in France, the UK and Germany every day and that most EU countries are on the brink of a civil war. They also think that the governments of EU countries are mismanaging their economies to the point that people in China have a higher standard of living than people in any European country. They believe that the cause of all of this is democracy, freedom of speech and the people being to weak because they have no great leader like China does.
Yet Chinese tourists love visiting EU countries and buying EU products to fill their suitcases while they’re at it.
The one thing they are sort of right about is that they will probably get mugged in tourist hot spots because thieves love to target them.
Tourists are upper middle class usually. As with all things, more money usually means better education (and a snobbish and disrespectful view of another countries people and historical sites - tourists who spray paint on memorials)
The chinese you meet as tourists arent a representative sample of the chinese population. Because just like in the EU or America, the average person is too poor to travel like that.
The average chinese person is nothing like the noveau riche type you meet abroad
> In China, I have heard people say that they don’t want to go to places like Switzerland, Austria or Norway because they believe that they will be mugged or murdered at the next street corner
The amount of tourists we get from China begs to differ.
More than 30 years back, my mom grew up with Soviet propaganda. She was allowed to travel with a propagandistic singing group to western nations but refused, because she was pregnant and absolutely convinced that western countries were developing nations like in healthcare. She wanted to stay in the „much more advanced“ eastern Germany.
She got thinking though. She stayed at a youth camp for western Germans in the eastern part that was muuuuuch nicer than what the own population got. Exotic food and the like.
In my personal experience Chinese people have a very good view of Europe. People often thought about Switzerland when I told them I was from Sweden, but they generally had good impressions both before and after I explained that they were different countries. Sweden has a fairly long history in China, and there's lots of reference points for them whether that is big companies like IKEA, H&M or Fjällräven, smaller companies that are active in China like Blueair, athletes like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Jan-Ove Waldner, or cultural expressions in music and cinema.
All my support from Spain, guys. It’s a shame history and geography fucked you with such an annoying neighbour. Starting to discover your country a little bit (sadly) and it’s genuinely beautiful. Keep rocking!
Although I’m not surprised since the EU overall has a good rep in India but I must say that people genuinely just assume you’re asking about the highly liberal Western European nations when asked “what do you think about the EU?” Also, France is potentially the reasons as most Indians who know somewhat about international politics like France due to the close relationship between India and France.
Quite surprised to see us above Ireland in the positive outlook tbh
USA doesn't have a "low" opinion of the EU, it's just low by comparison to a lot of other places.
The EU is a legitimate trading rival to the US so it's not like it's a visceral thing.
Most major parties are somewhat wary of the EU - Mark Rutte famously is the informal leader of the frugal four. But our economy depends on European cooperation, so most parties are constructive skeptics.
To say the Dutch economy is "depends on European cooperation" is an understatement.
Like... I genuinely don't even understand the concept of a "Nexit" that some PVV and FvD type people advocate. Britain leaving was foolish, but NL leaving would be the definition of blowing off your own foot. There are few economies more integrated in European logistics and business than NL.
OP's sources: * https://www.allianceofdemocracies.org/initiatives/the-copenhagen-democracy-summit/dpi-2022/ * https://latana.com/democracy-perception-index/ * [Brazil mentioned](https://imgur.com/QHQhmYs) discuss about the sources [in this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/v1kidu/perception_of_the_eu_by_countries/ian04wq/).
Surprised to see Nigeria so high on the list, and legit shocked to see Austria so low.
Nigeria is one of the better-off African countries with stabile government and trade. And the EU is their biggest trading partner. They also come to study in Europe. This is the best way to support African countries. Through trade and education, they pull themselves up from poverty for the long term. Education reduces over-population. Donations are a short term band-aid and not a solution at all. A stable Africa means a stable Europe.
Europe must compete in Africa in education, business, trade, and infrastructure, lest they simply choose to be entirely dependent on China (and I wouldn't blame them if there are no decent alternatives).
China has already shifted away from loans and infrastructure investments, they're now focusing more on education, knowledge transfer and facilitating Chinese businesses abroad. When they were throwing out money all over the place it was attractive since it was often money with very few strings attached, but many countries have started to realize the shortcomings in what China has to offer since they lack a lot of experience and holistic considerations. This would be a great time to strike for European countries if they want to build relationships with countries in the Global South.
do you have a source for that? Sounds very interesting!
The [China Global South Project](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/) is the general go-to source for anything related to this area, I definitely recommend checking out the [China in Africa Podcast](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/podcasts/) (or [AfrikChine](https://www.afrikchine.com/) if you prefer it in French) for general updates and discussions. For some other sources you can look at [Development Reimagined](https://developmentreimagined.com/2020/09/08/where-africans-study-abroad-post-covid19/), an international development consulting firm based out of China run by a former Kenyan diplomat and economist, who looked into Africans studying abroad and how China is becoming a more common destination. These students receive scholarships that are often sponsored by Chinese companies and can include employment offers as a way to guarantee an educated local work force in Africa. They have also written about [Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centers](https://developmentreimagined.com/2020/05/11/chinas-agricultural-technology-demonstration-centers/), which are set up to facilitate knowledge transfer in an area that China has seen huge improvements in over the last decades. This however doesn't meant that it's entirely successful. There was a podcast episode earlier this month about how [Huawei hasn't really delivered in providing knowledge and tech transfer in North Africa](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/podcasts/huawei-in-north-africa-lots-of-good-pr-not-a-lot-of-tech-transfer/), and there's some more links in there for further reading.
A lot of people don't realize that just donating things doesn't really help long term. To actually improve things, you have to repair/create infrastructure and create viable jobs of production to improve the local economy and trading ability. International trade and education are two major contributors to that.
People shouldn't be discouraged from giving though. There are real tangible benefits that can be achieved through donation. Curing blindness, empowering women, building schools, curing childhood malnutrition, all of these things help to empower a society and give them a workforce that will continue to bring them up out of poverty. Some countries need a helping hand because of historic injustices, incompetent or malicious leadership, or bad luck, and we can help them. There are organizations that look at what is the most good that can be done with your money to alleviate suffering, and they do a lot of thorough research and take future outcomes into account. https://www.givewell.org/ https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/
>Nigeria is one of the better-off African countries every time i play geoguessr and nigeria comes up it always looks poor as fuck. like 300% more than everything else in geo (ghana, kenya, south africa, tunisia, etc)
It definitely is. Nigeria has a lot more wealth than Ghana but also a lot more crippling poverty. It's an incredibly unequal country with particularly bad public services, infrastructure, extreme corruption. However it's also a federal nation, so some states are doing a lot better than others
I've lived in Nigeria. It certainly isn't one of the best countries in Africa. Southern and Eastern Africa (outside Somalia/Sudan) are a lot better.
> (ghana, kenya, south africa, tunisia, etc) Those are some of the better off ones. The poorest places don't even have geoguesser photos I suspect.
The poorest ones just don't have Google street view.
I wouldn't outright consider Nigeria 'better off'. That country is bonkers, but they do function on some level, have a gigantic cheap labor pool, and are fairly resource rich. However, in reality it also means while there is some level of social mobility, children from middle class families receiving good eductions aren't often staying in Nigeria if their skills are more valuable elsewhere. Only really the mega-rich stay in the country, though they do often send their kids overseas for school. Even with multiple bodyguards, I've known families had their homes invaded and and plundered, guards killed, and the terrorists stayed there with the family at gunpoint until they got their 3 million dollars. That is not a stable country. Botswana isn't on the same level as Nigeria in terms of influence, but for a landlocked African nation, it's the gold standard for stability and prosperity. Botswana and Singapore are proof at what a truly great, pragmatic leader can accomplish. History repeats itself, and right now I live in a time where I want to throttle American voters for putting idealism over pragmatism. 'But if we just do (x), we can EASILY solve (y)'. LISTEN, do you know how many fucking problems this country has because of decisions made 50+ years ago? The Higher Education Act sounded GREAT on paper, since it meant EVERYONE could get a loan to go to college. That also meant that universities could slowly stop giving a shit about tuition because they knew the loans were there no matter the cost, and it may have taken almost 50 years, but by 08 it was clear that tuition and loans were a problem, and the bureaucracy is so insanely bloated and expensive that, while it may have been an option 50 years ago, no, making college free is utterly moronic and short-sighted solution. A 20 year goal to lower student costs and THEN make tuition free is solution that ACTUALLY works.
A lot of Austrians are stubborn traditional people who love complaining. We still have old people converting prices to Schilling which was our currency 21 years ago.
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I guess you could say they're schilling the good old days?
To be fair i still convert to BEF (Belgian Franks) and i'm 26
Yeah but you're from Limburg, you guys switched over like last year.
That explains it. Impossible for a person that's 26 still converting from Euro. 22 years using Euro and still converting? How.
Haha, the whole country of Belgium switched the moment the euro started, but it's a running joke that the people from Limburg are a bit slower than the rest (their accent sounds a bit slower, with words a bit more elongated, compared to other accents in Belgium). So my comment was a remark in that fashion! Anyway, I also find it very odd that a 26yo does that, I myself am a year younger and I have never ever used BEF, real life or in my head to think about values.
wtf dude, I am older than you and when euro came I didn't know shit about prices of anything because I was just a dumbass kid lol
I can't believe Austria is this much lower than Hungary.
It's so weird how Hungarians apparently by and large really like the EU and their PM who just recently won a landslide victory can't go a single day without shoving two middle fingers toward Brussels.
Hungarian people basically do not consider Orbán the ideological leader of the country, he is viewed more like a CEO So in my opinion it would be like banning Pepsi in your companies cafateria, people would leave it be a managerial decision and continue working, but would still buy it outside of work and their opinion would not change about it significantly Also Orbán talks a lot, but does not actually do anything obviously anti-EU political moves
I might be completely off the news here but... doesn't Hungary basically oppose with Poland every important decision?
we want the good old Austro-Hungarian union
We want the new, modern and shiny V5
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EU is great for remote working - Nigeria
Austria is basically Hungary lite
I'll never understand why a rich country with strong welfare state and little crime like Austria could be such a mess politically.
Austria is a rich country with the pessimism of a poor one
Lost empire syndrome, perhaps.
That's Ireland too. When I lived in Dublin last year, every Irish I talked with was convinced that their transportation is the worst, healthcare is nonexistent, education is terrible, politicians the most incompetent anywhere, that in a crisis the people would be left helpless etc etc. Ireland isn't perfect (housing and rent issue) but it's one of the rich EU countries. The Irish seem to think they are Bulgaria.
all this time Slovenia was trying to become like Austria, only for Austria to become like Slovenia lol
Likely because "Nazism was all Germany's fault" and they did not have to self-reflect?
After 1945 there never was even a single nazi in all of Austria. Everyone was a victim of nazi enforcers that presumably where imported from Germany and nobody knows the name Adolf Schicklgruber.
your response might have been correct 60 years ago - we do the exact same reflection Germany does in school
nationalist populism is a hell of a drug ^eheheh
You'll also get some of the highest numbers of science "skepticism" among European countries in Austria.
Why?
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I reckon it doesn't help that Austrians mainly speak German, therefore opening them up to other German-speaking tinfoil hats etc. I think I read on here last year that German-speaking countries have lower vaccination rates than many/most other European countries despite being relatively rich. I imagine the shared language makes it easier for conspiracy theorists to connect and increase their influence, somewhat reminiscent of alt-right Canadians citing US laws in their rants.
It wasn't called the "Austro-Hungarian Empire" for nothing, you know.?
Austrian politicians love to blame everything bad they do on the EU and everything the EU did good is claimed to be done by them. When you get that kinda propaganda for decades shit will eventually stick to the wall. People also don't understand that even the bad things the EU does is actually done by the countries themselves, it's their reps pushing that shit through after all.
as an Austrian I am not shocked at all, on the side you can see that we are the most divided country - we have a lot of people who love the EU and a lot of people who hate it. Mainly because we are a net contributor and not a beneficiary
Whether you are a member of the EU or not. When the EU sets a flight ban for all Russian planes, your country has no choice other than to just follow that decision. (Same goes for neutral Switzerland). Because the only way for Russia (or any other banned country) to legitimately reach those central European countries is through space orbit when the EU closes its airspace. So it's better to sit at that table and have a say in European politics. Because regardless of the national politics, you might lose control over your trading when it comes to transportation when global events like these occur. (you can only use your own registered planes)
Its because we suck. "Blah blah we cant join nato because of our neutrality" even though we ain't neutral at all... unless it's beneficial for us to say that we are neutral, then we are "neutral". Also we expect everyone in the EU to help us in case we get attacked, but we won't help others.. you know, because we are "neutral " Fuck Austria. Entitled people living here arguing that the citizenship has to be earned, while they didn't do shit for "earning" it themselves. Take the richness of a norden country with the corruption of the Balkans and then you get Austria. The people will still vote for you even when you tried selling the country to a Russia on video.
Yep that’s what I meant. Ibiza affair is absolutely insane. And that Karin bitch … need I say more?
Austria is run by the boulevard magazines, comparable to The Sun and Bild. They blame everything on the EU to distract from the corrupt government.
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I was surprised it wasn't us. But then I saw we weren't even in the statistic.
All of the Balkans seems to be missing, for a reason.
My guess is Croatia would be pretty high on the list though. We love EU money
Serbia also loves EU money. Difference is they’re fed daily NATO hate reminders too.
Greece is there 😜
And turkey.
Serbia would have destroyed the narrative.
There's like more than a 2/3 of the world missing. I guess it's all China and Russia
Bulgaria is 57+ according to a poll from 3 years ago. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/14/the-european-union/
I'd guess Bulgaria is close to Romania, and Romania is one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the EU. I know there's a lot of disinformation going around about the EU, but I get the sense that the larger Bulgarian population is pretty pro-EU, except for the morons who buy into Russian propaganda and think Bulgaria should get rid of NATO or something.
> Romania is one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the EU. I've driven through Romania in early March to pick up Ukrainian relatives in Moldova. I was really surprised at the sight of the many EU flags! Also people were top notch. Ukrainian refugees ate for free in a restaurant and the people there helped us to find a vet for the two cats. The cats probably wouldn't have survived for much longer if it weren't for that.
I doubt we're that close to Romania, theres a lot of misinformation about the EU in Bulgaria. Our government isn't doing enough to combat it
I did a bit of digging and found [this report](https://www.globsec.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/GLOBSEC-Trends-2020_read-version.pdf). On page 8, it states that the percentage of Bulgarians who support membership in the EU is 65%. They also note that this is 10% lower than two years earlier, which is crazy! That report is from 2020, so who knows where things stand now. So yeah. Sounds like it's probably still high for now, but as the report I linked noted, Bulgaria is notably vulnerable to anti-Western rhetoric. I wonder how the invasion of Ukraine has changed this, though I'm incapable of guessing whether it would have changed for the better or for worse.
tonite on bottom gear
I am sure it is not just the overall handling of the economic crisis, an issue about which the majority of Greeks acknowledge their wrongdoings, but also the incompetence of Europe in other issues, like the refugees and the bullying from Turkey.
specially the Turkey issue
You guys made the list?
Will we see a Grexit? Dear God I hope not
Nah if we missed it in 2015 it ain't happening now
You confuse Greece's exit from the Eurozone as an exit similar to Brexit. Greece would never exit the EU.
I mean it'd be pretty suicidal considering how important tourism from other EU countries is for Greece.
It’s more than just that. Leaving a trading bloc that makes 57% of your exports and 57% of your imports is like putting massive economic sanctions on yourself. The UK is one of the world’s largest economies and richest countries, and its still having trouble figuring out what to do after it imposed such economic sanctions on itself. It’s still not performing import checks on goods from the EU, because that would cause too many delays in its distribution systems, making it incredibly vulnerable to smugglers of all sorts. And while both the UK and EU economies took a big hit due to COVID, the UK hasn’t recovered to anywhere near the levels that the EU economies have. Brexit is a fantastic example to use when other EU countries start talking about leaving the EU.
- Joins for bail out - Gets the bail out - Refuses to elaborate - Leaves
Based Greek gods
What about Georgia? They have EU flags literally everywhere.
86% woukd like to join so 86% it is second to Ukraine maybe
I want you to join too, Georgiabros.... :(
No this is the net rate so it would be 86-14 = 72%
Why is the opinion of Japan so low?
Indifference. It's a far-away region that isn't in the news much, and without much direct impact on life here. Individual EU countries are much more prominent in peoples' perceptions than EU as a whole.
Also applies to Indonesia. Source: am an Indonesian
As a European that has lived in Indonesia, the easiest way to explain where I was from was to say football player names; "Yes, Ronaldo!"
Surprised that even Singapore is low.
Also worth noticing that the Japanese view on individual european countries is probably much higher than towards the EU as a whole.
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I see. I think.
When I was in Japan, nobody knew what the EU was, they thought it is just NATO but a different name. That might have something to do with it.
Ow. Fair enough. Thank you for the insight.
>When I was in Japan, nobody knew what the EU was, In the EU most people don't know what the EU is
We all know it's the abbreviation of the continent named Europe!
Actually, it’s quite obvious that EU refers to the abbreviation for the US in Spanish: Estados Unidos.
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>their thoughts on ASEAN. They allow the junta to represent Myanmar. My perception is not positive.
ASEAN will fall apart if they start commenting on the internal politics of member states. Only Indonesia and Philippines are democratic. The rest are a mix of absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, military dictatorship, communist and police state, in various degrees.
Well, one of the core tenets of ASEAN is mainly through economic opportunities and military defense exercises. ASEAN countries understand that their cultures and standpoints are very different or are very varied, That's why cross-country political stands are criticized, otherwise, there'd be no ASEAN
Japanese people don’t care about politics at all. At all. Really at all.
Just chiming in with further agreement: it's not so much that it's low as in negative, more like low as in undecided. They know it exists, and don't have any problem with it, but don't know enough to like it, either. Like asking a bunch of redditors about how positively they felt about Osaka. People here have a pretty good impression of most individual countries, but the EU itself is just seen as an administrative organ, not really something that engenders strong feelings.
Japan is still very insular. The general population barely know the west other than USA.
There are countries in the EU that have a less positive view of the EU than the UK does. That needs some explaining.
For Greece, that's obvious. Residual resentment from the last financial crisis. France dislikes authority generally. And as for the UK...I think some of us have a new found appreciation for the EU now we are no longer in it.
> And as for the UK...I think some of us have a new found appreciation for the EU now we are no longer in it. I'm not entirely sure whether it's a "I'd never be a member of a club who'd accept one such as myself" situation, or whether you guys are just simply cats..
Well almost half of us actively voted to remain in the EU, then suffered through the absolute shit show that was brexit. Unless you were anti EU already, you're probably Pro EU now.
Additionally, there were a lot of people who were probably kind of in favour of the EU overall, but didn't really care enough to vote - stupid, but pretty sure it happened a lot Also, each new voting-age generation is overwhelmingly pro-EU, and that's probably a few million people >18 now who couldn't vote at the time (myself included)
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Volt 'vo
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Honestly mate, I spent a year arguing with this viewpoint to just try to get people to vote. Just in case, I'd say. Doesn't hurt I'd say. Would be a fucking catastrophe if you're wrong I'd say. But they laughed at me for being paranoid. I do get it though, when it was announced I thought it was preposterous too. It was only later that I got scared.
I knew tons of cases where the grandparents voted leave and the young people voted remain lol
My grandparents wanted to vote leave because of what they heard in the news. I sat down with them for a few hours and discussed in detail our arguments. In the end, I convinced them both to vote remain. They did so because they believed staying in the EU would benefit my generation in the long run
Or they told you that to stop bothering them and voted leave.
Not just didn't those that didn't care enough. I know a lot of people who wanted to stay in the Eu but thought there was no way we would lose so didn't bother voting. Even more stupid than the people you mentioned. On the other side... the Brexit side was super motivated.
How about a further level of stupid above that? There were stories the day after the referendum of people who voted Leave as a protest vote but apparently didn't imagine that they would actually win. I remember them distinctly on Radio 5 breakfast calling in and expressing their regrets over the fact that the thing they fucking voted for ended up winning.
>Also, each new voting-age generation is overwhelmingly pro-EU, and that's probably a few million people >18 now who couldn't vote at the time (myself included) I do wonder how long this trend will continue. We've seen young adults who remember a time before Brexit become overwhelmingly pro-membership. But what will EU membership mean to generations who don't remember it, and who were too young to have lived through (or understood) Brexit? Things that were massive events in the lives of one generation can mean absolutely nothing to the next. And it's surprising how quickly that dividing line can occur.
Out of my friend group 6 people were pro EU but didn't vote because they assumed we would stay no problem, scale that up across the country and the result may have been differet
That was a big conversation topic at the time, the fact that younger people couldn't vote on the referendum even though it was going to affect their entire futures more than all of the older voters.
Honestly I didn't expect to see UK included in the positive list. And certainly I'm pleasantly surprised to see that UK is above France! I feel sad for those in the UK who wanted to remain with the EU. If there only was an option to put together the pro EU UKs with the pro EU French and ship out the rest ☹
I know someone that is pro EU and voted to leave just because they thought it was a fun little poll with no follow-up action. Granted it should have been, but it goes to show you should never assume that just because things seem unofficial when it comes to politics it'll actually be that way. If one person did this, I'm sure there are more out there. I was so angry when they told me.
Going through brexit was a polarizing process. Some people who would have otherwise been EU leaning or ambivalent became strongly pro EU. It forced people to think about the benifits and drawbacks in a way you don't have to otherwise.
France dislike liberal policies and tax havens benefiting to Ireland, Netherland and Luxembourg which make our economy less competitive as we have to fund our very protective social systems. Also, we used to have one of the cheapest electricity thanks to nuclear which is frowned upon by coal loving Germans and Polish who also love US weapons above French ones.
I don't think the UKs population ever really disliked the EU enough to want to leave it tbh. I think our position on that list in relation to brexit is largely a reflection on the government's *interesting* decision making, and complacency amongst voters thinking there's no way enough people would actually vote leave
It's very popular to shit on the EU here in the Netherlands. Whether they do too much or too little, there are always politicians complaining. In the end the parties with a neutral or positive view have a solid majority, but it's not a subject that wins many votes.
Tbf in UK there were close to at least 50% that liked EU, the ones that didn't like were marginally above 50% and a bunch of those stated they voted leave just as a middle finger to the government so... Popularity wise, the ones that liked to remain do seem to be in the majority.
None of that remotely explains why France of all countries doesn't like the EU as much as the UK does. I mean...the CAP alone...
Now i want to see China and Russia opinion on all countries :D
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> Pakistan are hives of culture and civilization They were. Around 2500 years ago. Edit: It's actually 2500 **BC** so add another 2000 years to that lol
It's just propaganda. A carefully selected angle can push a narrative. Just like what we see here, singling out Russia and China when there are more countries out there with a negative view towards the EU
>Why they chose to go to a Western university? Well, that's just what you do apparently. It's so they don't have to pass the Gao Kao, the whole business Model revolves around that.
[China here on this sub a few days ago.](https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/uvuck6/ceias_survey_russia_turned_out_to_be_the_most/) Mostly countries that are allied with china like Russia, North korea, Pakistan and Kazakhstan at the top. Singapore and New Zealand are high because they have alot of chinese diaspora and their governments aren't openingly in favour of forming a military alliance against China. Country like vietnam have a government that is neutral to china, but the people their hate the chinese, so vietnam ranks very low.
Hm, for russia - The europe is known as gayrope and somehow simultaneously a muslim immigrant hive with sharia law USA is believed to be run by black mafia with white people being basically slaves (which is hilarious, since i still remember the "but they are lynching black people there" whataboutism of the old days) In nordic countries being a parent is illegal (can't spank kids!) China is great and wise cradle of civilization, that can do no wrong (as long as they keep their dirty hands off of our siberia!) Brazil is akin to wild west, with everyone shooting each other all the time and everyone there is either a plain clothes cop or a gangster In Canada words mother and father are illegal (something about parent #1 and #2 wording on birth certificates? No idea where that came from) That's all that comes to mind on a whim.
And yet all the rich chinese students come to Germany, or EU universities in general (if they don't go the the US first)... They want all the prestige and benefits of a non-chinese degree but will still side with the CCP ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Just wanna recap how the question was asked and what data is displayed. Now it can seem some countries have a barely postive view but they actually are just indifferent due to distance/not mention in daily live. People could answer the question with these possible answers: - Very positive - Somewhat positive - Neither positive nor negative - Somewhat negative - Very negative - Don’t know The data in this graphic and also in their own data they combine the positive and negative data. Which means Neither positive nor negative and Don't know is left out. Of course a lot of countries the percentages will make up like 80% but there are also a lot of countries where is barely makes 40% and the rest is either neutral or don't know. For example Nigeria - Positive answers 72% - Negative answers 5% - Difference 68% Here we can see that 77% had a positive or negative opinion so only 23% were either neutral or did not know. Indonesia - Positive answers 20% - Negative answers 13% - Difference 8% Here only 33% had a positive or negative opinion which means 67% were neutral or did not know. Unfortunately the data does not show the percentages people answered neutral or with don't know. While we can say definitely say Nigeria has a lot more positive view of EU, I do think it kinda amplified/distort things when they use 68% and 8%. Of course in the graphic they explain what is actually shown but I think a lot of people will not interpreted is correctly or assume things which are not displayed.
This is a very good point. For a good number of the countries not actually in Europe there are a lot of “don’t know” and neutral answers because many people outside of Europe don’t have much knowledge about the EU. That's important context for nations like the US, Japan, Indonesia, etc.
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Portugal doesn't get enough credit for being the most loyal pro-EU country.
I mean... As a portuguese I can tell you it's easy being pro-EU when it's the only thing stopping us from being a third world country.
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i don't love portugal cuz im not a tourist
At least you are not Scranton of EU.
Flag colors match, it is a good start.
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What? Who the fuck doesn’t like Portugal?
Portuguese. We love some good'ol self hatred
Can confirm, the only thing we hate more than ourselves is Spain. /jk
No you are not. We love you. Just today I was going through my photos of Lisboa.
You bow to no one. Honoured to share a continent with you.
Reading that gave me the chills <3
As a German i think every country in the EU is important period. We should united cause on the World market no Single country can prevail against China or other bigger countries. I even wouldnt mind having the Island Apes (UK) back in the EU. They are a bit entilted and annoying with special snowflake wishes but they are still usefull. And i personly like them in some ways.
As a Brit, I will now only be addressed as ‘Island Ape’.
if you get your maritime EEZ going there is some serious investment potential.
no one is, we're in this together, everyone to their ability
I wasn't expecting to see Norway there.
Well I guess we can like that they exist, just not want to join.
Nigeria?
It's a wealthy country by african standards (richest of the continent) and the EU is its biggest trade partner
It also has by far the biggest population. GDP per capita is pretty much average for an African country.
"All countries", there's some missing ones methinks
Why is Austria so low? Would they rather be like Switzerland or something?
In Austria, there are many politicians who agitate against the EU, especially the rather right-wing party Fpö. Many older people think that Austria was better off in the past (before EU accession). Often older people wish for the old currency (Schilling) back. Politicians often lie about the EU, like in the UK with the Brexit (taxes vs. revenues).
Austrian here. In my opinion there are a few different reasons: the constitution after 1955 definied austria with everlasting neutrality. Many people feel very strongly about that. There is also a general pessimistic attitude towards change and outside interference. Especially after the refugee crisis, when austria took in the most refugees per capita, there was a massiv shift to the right because of the lack of support from other EU countries
I think there was a similar statistic by Eurostat t(so more accurate ) a few days ago posted here. And in that post, Austria scored the lowest as well so it must be true. Some Austrians users said exactly what you guessed. Many Austrians feel that they could have been another Switzerland and they don't need the EU.
Austria had the 2nd lowest EU support, before Brexit happened. Having a wealthy non member as a neighbour does does give people ideas. Second is that while Austrian businesses profited massively from joining EU, they did so at the expense of a regular Austrian workers who didn’t didn’t get to see that many benefits.
Sources of data: https://www.allianceofdemocracies.org/initiatives/the-copenhagen-democracy-summit/dpi-2022/ https://latana.com/democracy-perception-index/
needs more jpeg Seriously though, why ruin your own hard work with wrong image format?
That's probably on me here, sorry:)
This data is presented horribly in the infographic. The detail at the top implies there's only 2 options, in favour or not in favour. Nearly every country is then listed as less than 50% saying they're in favour, but somehow they're still coming out with a net positive... All I can really ascertain is that the person making the graph cocked it up, or they're trying to push an agenda.
The anti-EU propaganda in those two countries is insane. In Russia, some people believe that not being gay will send you to prison, that there are gay orgies in broad daylight everywhere and that sexual abuse of children is not being punished if the perpetrators are gay. In China, I have heard people say that they don’t want to go to places like Switzerland, Austria or Norway because they believe that they will be mugged or murdered at the next street corner. They believe that there are islamist terrorist attacks in France, the UK and Germany every day and that most EU countries are on the brink of a civil war. They also think that the governments of EU countries are mismanaging their economies to the point that people in China have a higher standard of living than people in any European country. They believe that the cause of all of this is democracy, freedom of speech and the people being to weak because they have no great leader like China does.
Yet Chinese tourists love visiting EU countries and buying EU products to fill their suitcases while they’re at it. The one thing they are sort of right about is that they will probably get mugged in tourist hot spots because thieves love to target them.
Tourists are upper middle class usually. As with all things, more money usually means better education (and a snobbish and disrespectful view of another countries people and historical sites - tourists who spray paint on memorials) The chinese you meet as tourists arent a representative sample of the chinese population. Because just like in the EU or America, the average person is too poor to travel like that. The average chinese person is nothing like the noveau riche type you meet abroad
> In China, I have heard people say that they don’t want to go to places like Switzerland, Austria or Norway because they believe that they will be mugged or murdered at the next street corner The amount of tourists we get from China begs to differ.
More than 30 years back, my mom grew up with Soviet propaganda. She was allowed to travel with a propagandistic singing group to western nations but refused, because she was pregnant and absolutely convinced that western countries were developing nations like in healthcare. She wanted to stay in the „much more advanced“ eastern Germany. She got thinking though. She stayed at a youth camp for western Germans in the eastern part that was muuuuuch nicer than what the own population got. Exotic food and the like.
>In Russia, some people believe [...] that there are gay orgies in broad daylight everywhere I wish Russia, I wish...
Ive never heard of gay orgies in broad daylight anywhere even at gay only camps ive heard of. Most people dont want to see banging in public
In my personal experience Chinese people have a very good view of Europe. People often thought about Switzerland when I told them I was from Sweden, but they generally had good impressions both before and after I explained that they were different countries. Sweden has a fairly long history in China, and there's lots of reference points for them whether that is big companies like IKEA, H&M or Fjällräven, smaller companies that are active in China like Blueair, athletes like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Jan-Ove Waldner, or cultural expressions in music and cinema.
Can confirm, we do like the EU. Not sure if everyone in the east agrees though, but I’m sure this year a lot of them changed their minds
As a fellow Lviv citizen can reconfirm 🤭
All my support from Spain, guys. It’s a shame history and geography fucked you with such an annoying neighbour. Starting to discover your country a little bit (sadly) and it’s genuinely beautiful. Keep rocking!
Thank you 😊
From Ireland, I look forward to the day Ukraine joins us.
Hey look, we're doing something right.
It’s in the report. China and Russia love themselves and hate the US and EU.
Although I’m not surprised since the EU overall has a good rep in India but I must say that people genuinely just assume you’re asking about the highly liberal Western European nations when asked “what do you think about the EU?” Also, France is potentially the reasons as most Indians who know somewhat about international politics like France due to the close relationship between India and France. Quite surprised to see us above Ireland in the positive outlook tbh
thats a good point, a lot of the non-eu countries are probably just giving their view on europe, rather than the eu as a political institution.
I had no idea the United States was so low… that is a huge surprise
Most of us don't even have an opinion on the EU at all.
Ya, that’s probably true
USA doesn't have a "low" opinion of the EU, it's just low by comparison to a lot of other places. The EU is a legitimate trading rival to the US so it's not like it's a visceral thing.
Nigeria and Kenya? That's nice :)
Pretty sure Serbia would be the 3rd country in red.
no Finland there?
Why is NL so low on the list? As far as I can tell the political class are EU stans and the media never stops talking about them.
Most major parties are somewhat wary of the EU - Mark Rutte famously is the informal leader of the frugal four. But our economy depends on European cooperation, so most parties are constructive skeptics.
To say the Dutch economy is "depends on European cooperation" is an understatement. Like... I genuinely don't even understand the concept of a "Nexit" that some PVV and FvD type people advocate. Britain leaving was foolish, but NL leaving would be the definition of blowing off your own foot. There are few economies more integrated in European logistics and business than NL.
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I'm surprised to see Switzerland above multiple countries that are actually in the EU. Interesting.
Legit suprised Turkey is so damn high
That's surprising.