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A recent Pew survey found that 45 percent of respondents in 36 countries held a favorable view of India, while another 41 percent held a negative view. But the results varied widely by country.
Recently, Pew Research Center released a survey of public opinion on India across 36 countries. The results were decisively mixed. Between February and May of 2026, a median of 45 percent of individuals polled had a favorable view of India, while 41 percent had an unfavorable view. However, the results varied greatly across countries.
These have a number of explanations peculiar to each country, but on the whole chalked up to a balance — different in each country — of geopolitics, people-to-people relationships, and ideological preferences.
For example, 71 percent of British people had a favorable view of India, one of the highest in the world. The United Kingdom, of course, has one of the longest and deepest relationships with India of any country in the world, having ruled India for two centuries. Indians, along with their cuisine, culture, and arts, have been familiar to Britons for generations. This high rate of favorability indicates that British views of India cross ideological lines and are shaped more by history and people-to-people relationships than mere geopolitics or the government in power in India. Indian-origin individuals are well-integrated in Britain and have even risen to the post of prime minister.
