Iran, Pakistan, Israel most negatively rated countries: BBC poll

Pakist­an is the only countr­y which rated its own influe­nce as negati­ve, stated poll result­s.


Ferya Ilyas May 17, 2012

Pakistan was ranked second in the list of most negatively rated countries in the world by a global poll for BBC World Service, which surveyed 24,090 people around the world. 

Citizens of 22 countries were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone between December 6, 2011 and February 17, 2012. Polling was conducted by the international polling firm GlobeScan and its research partners in each country, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.

Pakistan was rated “mostly negative” by 51% of the respondents, getting placed just one spot above the most negatively rated country – Iran, which was rated negative by 55% of the total respondents.

According to the poll results, Pakistan is the only country which rated its own influence as negative.

A negative view of Pakistan declined by 4% as compared to 2011.

The survey results revealed that a negative view of Pakistan was found mostly in Western countries. Around 75% Americans, 69% Canadians and 72% Australians said Pakistan’s influence in the world is mainly negative. The pattern of negative perception was similar in the European countries. The view of Pakistan by India, country’s all-time arch rival, was negative as well.

Most of the respondents blamed Pakistan’s foreign policy and the poor treatment of its citizens for such a widespread negative perception of the country.

Out of 22 countries that were surveyed, Indonesia is the only one which holds a positive view of Pakistan.

Other findings

Japan was rated most positively by the majority of the respondents (58%), taking Germany’s last year position which had its positive ratings drop from 60% to 56%. This placed Germany in second place behind Japan.

Canada (53%) and the UK (51%) are the third and fourth most positively viewed countries.

China’s positive ratings rose from 46% to 50% this year.

COMMENTS (114)

angel | 11 years ago | Reply

I think the difference between Pakistan , Iran and Israel is that The people of Israel anf Iran are living happy, and they are rich countries with excellent standard of living. The world see them negatively because of there weapons. But Pakistan reason are its people.

Sexton Blake | 11 years ago | Reply

This poll is really a compliment to Iran and Pakistan. They are not minion poodles to the West. Therefore, they get very bad reporting from Western media at all levels, and I think most people know who controls the world media? Israel is in a different category from Iran and Pakistan, as a disliked country, and seems to go out of its way to upset people. On a plus side I am surprised the BBC allowed Israel to be included. The BBC usually obviates bad news about Britain, America and Israel. It was probably a bad error by somebody in the BBC.

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