Sri Lankans hold the most favourable view of India of any country in a 36-nation survey published by the Pew Research Center, with 79 per cent expressing a positive opinion of their northern neighbour.
The figure, from Pew’s Spring 2026 Global Attitudes Survey, is the highest recorded in the study. Just 11 per cent of Sri Lankan respondents said they viewed India unfavourably — also the lowest negative rating among the countries surveyed — while 10 per cent gave no opinion.
Pew interviewed 42,092 people across 36 countries between February 9 and May 13, 2026. The report was published on Thursday.
A divided global picture
While the Sri Lankan result stands out, Pew’s own framing of the wider findings is considerably more measured than the headline suggests. The centre titled its report “Public opinion of India is mixed across 36 countries,” noting that opinion “ranges widely.”
Across all 36 countries, a median of 45 per cent viewed India favourably against 41 per cent unfavourably — an advantage of just four percentage points.
The sharpest contrast is within South Asia itself. Against Sri Lanka’s 79 per cent, only 7 per cent of respondents in Pakistan viewed India favourably, with 91 per cent unfavourable. Bangladesh recorded 42 per cent favourable.
Outside the region, the United Kingdom and Kenya each returned 71 per cent favourable ratings, followed by Germany at 63 per cent and Israel at 60 per cent. Majorities in Italy, Sweden, Japan and Thailand also viewed India positively.
The lowest ratings after Pakistan came in Turkey at 15 per cent and in the West Bank and East Jerusalem at 18 per cent. In much of Latin America, views leaned negative and large shares of respondents declined to offer an opinion at all.
In the United States, 45 per cent viewed India favourably against 50 per cent unfavourably — among the lowest readings since Pew began asking the question in 2008.
Warmth despite friction
The Sri Lankan figure is notable for holding up alongside continuing practical disputes between the two countries, including the recurring arrests of Indian trawlers in Sri Lankan waters, an issue Tamil Nadu’s fisheries minister said this week he would raise with Delhi.
Ada Derana carried the survey findings in Sri Lanka on Friday.
