A new survey shows that European countries make up over half of countries globally perceived to be most polite, but their self-assessment of politeness at times contradicts the international verdict.
The United Kingdom is considered the most polite country in Europe, according to a new survey.
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But its European neighbours are not far behind with more than half of the bloc in the world's top 25 countries perceived among the most polite and welcoming to strangers.
The poll, conducted by American-based remittance company Remitly, asked nearly 5,000 people from 26 countries to identify the nations they believe have the best manners and also estimate how polite they themselves are— comparing global perceptions of politeness with perceptions nations have of their own politeness.
To rate themselves, participants were asked questions about their own behavior, such as if they treat strangers with respect, and they received a score based on the extent to which they agreed with a statement.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, global and self-assessments were often at odds with each other.
The United Kingdom was ranked the third-most polite country by respondents globally, trailing behind Canada in second place and Japan in first.
The survey results attribute this ranking to social tendencies like the frequent use of “please” and “thank you” in everyday conversation, self-deprecating humour, and queuing culture. Ironically, respondents from the UK ranked themselves among the bottom half of countries in terms of politeness. Perhaps the British were too polite to put themselves before others.
Similarly, Germany, considered the fifth-most polite by others — owing to an emphasis on privacy, punctuality, and consideration for others —ranked themselves as the 21st most polite in their self-perception of politeness.
Ironically, respondents from France ranked themselves as the fifth-most polite while global perceptions put them at 19th in the worldwide rankings.
And Japan, the global favourite in the survey, evaluated themselves 25th for politeness — second-to-last among all the surveyed countries.
The survey notes that, when it comes to self-perceptions of politeness, less than a point separated the top and bottom-scoring countries, showing that most people often rate themselves as polite.
Here is the full list of the poll's results:
Politest countries in the world, as voted by the participants
1. Japan
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. China
5. Germany
6. Philippines
7. Sweden
8. Denmark
9. Finland
10. South Africa
= 11. Australia (tied)
= 11. Switzerland (tied)
13. United States
14. India
15. Ireland
16. New Zealand
17. Norway
18. Netherlands
= 19. Thailand (tied)
= 19. France (tied)
21. Brazil
22. Spain
23. Belgium
24. Italy
25. Austria
Self-perceptions of politeness: Which countries believe they are the most polite?
1. Brazil
2. Chile
3. India
4. Sweden
5. France
6. Mexico
7. Spain
8. South Africa
9. United States
10. Portugal
11. Italy
12. Austria
13. Greece
14. Canada
15. Ireland
16. Belgium
17. Australia
18. United Kingdom
19. New Zealand
20. Netherlands
21. Germany
22. Philippines
23. Czech Republic
24. Hungary
25. Japan
26. Poland
