In the past decade, the world has seen a spike in refugees after civil war broke out in Syria, wars continue in many African countries and numerous nations experience political instability. According to recent figures, there are now 19.5 million refugees worldwide and 1.38 million vulnerable refugees that must be resettled by the end of 2017.
A recent global survey ranked countries in terms of their citizens' attitude toward refugees based on the Refugees Welcome Index. The survey was conducted by Amnesty International, a human rights organization that involves 7 million people around the world. Their Refugee Welcome Index ranks countries on a scale of zero to 100, where zero represents all respondents refusing refugee entry to the country while 100 indicates respondents accepting refugees into their neighborhood or home.
Overall, 80 percent of respondents would welcome refugees fleeing war or persecution into their own country. China ranked highest on the Refugee Welcome Index with a value of 85, indicating that Chinese people are signficantly more willing to personally accept refugees into their own homes than people of any other country.
Furthermore, 86 percent of Chinese respondents agreed that their government should do more to help refugees fleeing war or persecution — a percentage that is (again) higher than that of any other country. However, China has not officially open their doors to asylumn-seeking refugees yet. Ranked lowest on the Refugee Welcome Index are Russia (18 percent), Indonesia (32 percent), and Thailand (32 percent).
The results from this global survey may come as a surprise to some. Many governments are still denying entry to refugees and claiming that their country simply cannot find enough room for refugees. This new set of data suggests that citizens feel the opposite way.
[Images via UNHCR, Gazette Review, Amnesty International]
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