UK public among most trusting of their neighbours internationally and increasingly comfortable living next to historically marginalised groups
King's College London – Policy Institute
Published: April 2023
Authors: Bobby Duffy, George May, Kirstie Hewlett et al.
DOI: 10.18742/pub01-130

Source: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/uk-public-among-most-trusting-of-their-neighbours-internationally-and-increasingly-comfortable-living-next-to-historically-marginalised-groups
Full report: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/love-thy-neighbour.pdf

SURVEY BASE:
- UK base: 3,056 people in the UK aged 18+, surveyed 1 March–9 September 2022
- Other countries all surveyed in Wave 7 of WVS at various points between 2017 and 2022
- Survey is one of the world's most extensively used social surveys with almost 400,000 respondents in over 110 countries since 1981

RACIAL TOLERANCE — "Would not want a neighbour of a different race"
Country | % objecting to different-race neighbour
Iran: 42%
Russia: 32%
United Kingdom: 2%
Sweden: 1%
Brazil: 1%
Norway: 2%

Key quote: "People in the UK (2%) are among the least likely to say they'd prefer not to have neighbours of a different race, on a par with those in Brazil (1%), Sweden (1%) and several other western nations."

LONG-TERM TREND:
"The proportion of Britons uncomfortable about living next door to somebody of a different ethnic background has gone down by eight percentage points from 10% in 1981 to 2% in 2022."

IMMIGRATION TOLERANCE:
- 5% of Brits say they would not want immigrants or foreign workers as neighbours
- Iran: 42% — broadest objection to immigrant neighbours
- Russia: 32%
- Sweden: 3% — most tolerant on immigrants alongside Brazil

LGBT+ TOLERANCE:
- UK (4%) ranks alongside Sweden (3%) and Norway (2%) as the most relaxed about the idea of having neighbours who are gay

COVERAGE:
- The research covered 24 countries and examined trust, tolerance and acceptance towards people from different racial, ethnic, immigration, and religious backgrounds
- UK identified as among top tier globally for racial tolerance across multiple measures

METHODOLOGY NOTE:
The World Values Survey uses the question "On this list are various groups of people. Could you please mention any that you would not like to have as neighbours?" and respondents can select "People of a different race" among other options. The measure is a direct self-report of racial preference/tolerance.