This year, the ranking of the nationalities most liked by Poles is headed by Italians, with six out of ten respondents declaring sympathy for them (60%), and only 7% expressing dislike. Slightly fewer people have a positive attitude towards Americans (58%), Spaniards (55%) and Czechs (54%). Half have a friendly attitude towards the English (50%), and almost half feel so about Slovaks and Norwegians (48% each). Over two-fifths declare sympathy for Lithuanians (43%) and the French (42%), and slightly fewer are positive about Hungarians (40%) and Estonians (36%). Dislike for all the nationalities mentioned above is expressed less often than sympathy. It is lowest towards Italians and Spaniards (7% each) and Norwegians (8%), and the highest level of dislike in this group is declared towards Hungarians (21%). It is noteworthy that a large proportion of respondents (19%) do not have a specific attitude towards Estonians.

Attitude to other nationalities

After the improvement in attitudes towards many nationalities noted a year ago, this year we have seen a deterioration, expressed in a decrease in sympathy rather than a rise in dislike. The attitude towards neighbours has worsened significantly. This applies to Slovaks (a decrease in declarations of sympathy by 12 percentage points, an increase in dislike by 4 points), Ukrainians (a decrease in sympathy by 10 points, an increase in dislike by 8 points), Lithuanians (a decrease in sympathy by 8 points, an increase in dislike by 2 points), Germans (a decrease in sympathy by 7 points), Czechs (a decrease in sympathy by 7 points, an increase in dislike by 3 points). In the case of Belarusians, this decrease was smaller (4 points, an increase in dislike by 1 point). Paradoxically, in the case of Russians, i.e. the least liked neighbour, the percentage of declarations of sympathy has not changed and it is still 8%, and the dislike has decreased slightly from 76% to 72%. However, it should be remembered that after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its level was very high, reaching values ​​not previously recorded in our research.

Attitude to selected nationalities. Average values on the scale from -3 (max. antipathy) to +3 (max. sympathy)

For the second time in a row, the attitude of Poles towards nationalities that gained very clearly in their eyes after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has deteriorated. This applies to Ukrainians, Americans (a drop in sympathy by 7 points with an increase in dislike by 2 points) and the English (a drop in sympathy by 5 points with an increase in dislike by 3 points). However, it should be noted that after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the attitude towards these nationalities was at a record high. Last year, we recorded an improvement in attitude towards nationalities that lost out particularly after the outbreak of the war, i.e. Russians, Chinese, Hungarians, Belarusians and Germans. This year, we have again recorded a deterioration in attitudes towards all of them, except for the aforementioned Russians. It is worth noting that in this group, Hungarians have clearly lost sympathy (a 6 percentage point drop in sympathy, a 4 point increase in dislike), and the change in attitudes towards them compared to the period before the outbreak of the war is very clear. In January 2022, they were still in the top three favourite nationalities.

Compared to the previous measurement, we have also recorded a decrease in sympathy towards Jews by 6 points and – compared to 2021, when we last asked about this nation – towards Norwegians, also by 6 points. When interpreting this data, it should be remembered that during the coronavirus pandemic, the attitude of Poles towards other nationalities generally improved and was exceptionally good.

Changes in attitudes to Poland's neighbours. Average values on the scale from -3 (max. antipathy) to +3 (max. sympathy)