The United Kingdom is considered the most polite country in Europe, according to a new survey. But its European neighbors are not far behind, with more than half of the countries in the European Union ranking among the 25 most polite and welcoming countries in the world.
This survey, conducted by the American money transfer company Remitly, questioned nearly 5,000 people from 26 countries on their views of which nations they consider the most well-mannered and how politely they perceive themselves, in order to compare the global perception of politeness to the image that countries have of their own courtesy.
To self-evaluate, participants answered questions about their own behavior, for example, whether they treat strangers with respect, and received a score based on their level of agreement with each statement.
Not surprisingly, the overall ratings and self-perception often differed.
On a global scale, the United Kingdom was ranked as the third most polite country by the respondents, behind Canada in second place and Japan in first.
According to the survey, this ranking is explained by some social habits, such as the frequent use of “please” and “thank you” in everyday life, self-deprecation, and respect for queues. Ironically, those surveyed in the UK placed themselves in the lower half of countries in terms of politeness. Perhaps the British are too polite to promote themselves.
Similarly, Germany, considered by others as the fifth most polite country due to its emphasis on privacy, punctuality, and attention to others, only ranks 21st for perceived politeness.
Ironically, French respondents consider themselves the fifth most polite people, while the rest of the world ranks them only 19th in the global ranking.
As for Japan, the clear favorite in the survey, its inhabitants only rank themselves 25th for politeness, the second-to-last place among all countries surveyed.
However, the study authors point out that, in terms of self-assessment of politeness, less than one point separates the highest scoring countries from the lowest scoring ones, indicating that most people tend to consider themselves polite.
Here is the complete list of survey results:
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