BRICS expansion – less than one in five positive about it
Almost a third of the people around the world have never heard of BRICS – reveals a global poll conducted by Gallup International Association representing the opinions of about four billion people in 44 countries.
Positive and negative attitudes towards the BRICS alliance are almost equal in shares (19% positive vs. 17% negative). One in four (24%) are neutral while one in three (32%) have never heard of it.
As expected, Western countries are much more negative towards BRICS than the rest of the world. Highest levels of negative opinion are registered in Sweden (45%) where attitudes are strongly affected by the war in Ukraine and current developments with the NATO application. Other countries with high negative shares of answers are also Spain (30%), and the USA (30%).
The rest of the world reacts differently – yet even here positive sentiment is in a minority. Even those countries who form a part of BRICS have considerable proportions of their populations admitting that they do not know about the Alliance nor its expansion. As an example, in Saudi Arabia 55% have never heard of it. Yet among the founding members membership tends to be viewed positively. More than one in three (36%) in India view membership positively, 38% in Russia. In Argentina, which withdrew from the agreement before it took effect, attitudes towards BRICS are positive (32%), 13% negative, 20% neutral, 25% never hearing of it.
Kancho Stoychev, president of GIA:
While BRICS expanded significantly as of January this year, negative attitudes towards this organisation strongly prevail among the citizens of G-7 (plus EU) countries. The division of the World into two economic blocs might be the end of the globalisation led by one collective centre and this clearly creates discontent and hostility in the West. But although the combined population of all BRICS countries is more than a half of the world’s population, still the global awareness of this relatively new bloc is low.
For more information:
Kancho Stoychev (in Sofia), +359 88 8611025
Johnny Heald (in London), +44 7973 600308
Dr Munqith Dagher (in Baghdad) +962 7 9967 2229
Steven Kang (in Seoul) +82-2-3702-2550
Antonio Asencio Guillen (in Madrid) +34 608191334
Torbjörn Sjöström (in Stockholm) +46 8 128 196 71
Methodology
The Gallup International End of Year Survey (EoY) is an annual tradition initiated by and designed under the chairmanship of Dr. George Gallup in 1977. The survey is conducted every year since then. This year it was carried out in 41 countries around the world.
Sample Size and Mode of Fieldwork
A total of 44 931 persons were interviewed globally. In each country a representative sample of around 1000 men and women was interviewed during October-December 2023 either face to face, via telephone or online.
The margin of error for the survey is between +3 – 5% at 95% confidence level.
About Gallup International
Gallup International Association (GIA) is the leading global independent association in market research and polling.
For more than 75 years Gallup International members have demonstrated their expert ability to conduct multi-country surveys on a comparable basis and deliver the highest quality. Our more than 100 members and partners are leading national institutes with a profound local knowledge of research methods and techniques, statistical sources, customs, and culture differences of its own country and carefully selected by the Association Board. With only one member agency per country, members work together daily to share knowledge, new research techniques and tools, as well as to provide the most appropriate solutions to international research projects and service our clients to the best of our abilities.
