Brussels: Europe and the Arab World

A new survey reveals that European countries make up more than half of the nations considered the most polite globally, but their self-assessment of their own etiquette sometimes contradicts international judgment. According to a report published by the Brussels-based news network Euronews on Thursday, the United Kingdom is the most polite country in Europe, according to the new survey.

However, its European neighbors are not far behind, with more than half of the bloc's countries ranking among the top 25 most polite and welcoming nations in the world.

The survey, conducted by the US-based money transfer company Remitly, asked nearly 5,000 people from 26 countries which countries they believe have the best manners and also asked them to rate their own level of politeness, aiming to compare the global perception of politeness with the image that individual nations hold of themselves. To assess themselves, participants were asked questions about their personal behavior, such as whether they treat strangers with respect, and then given a score based on how much they agreed with these statements.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, global assessments and people's self-images were often contradictory.

The UK ranked third globally among the most polite countries, according to participants worldwide, behind Canada in second place and Japan in first.

The survey results attribute this ranking to social traits such as the frequent use of "please" and "thank you" in everyday conversation, a self-deprecating sense of humor, and a culture of queuing. Ironically, UK participants ranked themselves in the bottom half of countries in terms of politeness. Perhaps the British were simply too polite to put themselves ahead of others.

Similarly, Germany was considered the fifth most polite country by others, due to its emphasis on privacy, punctuality, and consideration for others, but in its own self-assessment, it ranked 21st on the politeness scale.

Participants from France ranked themselves the fifth most polite nation, while their global ranking placed them 19th worldwide.

Japan, which topped the global rankings in the survey, rated itself 25th in terms of politeness, second to last among all the countries surveyed.

The survey indicates that, regarding the perception of a nation's level of politeness, the difference between the highest and lowest rankings was less than one point, suggesting that most people tend to consider themselves polite.

Here is the complete list of survey results:

Most Polite Countries in the World, According to Participants

1. Japan

2. Canada

3. United Kingdom

4. China

5. Germany

6. Philippines

7. Sweden

8. Denmark

9. Finland

10. South Africa

= 11. Australia (same ranking)

= 11. Switzerland (same ranking)

13. United States

14. India

15. Ireland

16. New Zealand

17. Norway

18. Netherlands

= 19. Thailand (same ranking)

= 19. France (same ranking)

21. Brazil

22. Spain

23. Belgium

24. Italy

25. Austria

Self-Perception of Politeness: Which countries do you think are the most polite?

1. Brazil

2. Chile

3. India

4. Sweden

5. France

6. Mexico

7. Spain

8. South Africa

9. United States

10. Portugal

11. Italy

12. Austria

13. Greece

14. Canada

15. Ireland

16. Belgium

17. Australia

18. United Kingdom

19. New Zealand

20. Netherlands

21. Germany

22. Philippines

23. Czech Republic

24. Hungary

25. Japan

26. Poland