Generally, the most tolerant countries in both studies were Scandinavian countries, Latin countries, and the United Kingdom and its former colonies (Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). In contrast, the least racially tolerant countries (Qatar, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka) tended to be located in Africa and Asia. There were also outliers. For example, although other former U.K. colonies landed near the top of the list, the United States ranked 69th out of 78 countries in 2020, thanks in large part to what is often seen as institutionalized racism in areas including employment, education, and the criminal justice system. On the other hand, Pakistan has several factors that typically coincide with racial intolerance, such as low economic and human indices and notable sectarian violence; however, only 6.5% of Pakistanis objected to a neighbor of a different race.
Study Two: Washington Post (2013) and Business Tech (2016) studies
Two different and independent racism studies conducted in recent years surveyed a combined 85,000 people from 61 countries and achieved results that were different from the BCR2020, but parallel to one another. The first was a Washington Post survey from 2013. The main question posed to each participant was whether they would be comfortable living near neighbors of a different race. The second project was a 2016 survey by Business Tech, which questioned if people had ever witnessed or personally experienced racism. Though neither study is generally considered definitive on its own—especially given a relatively small sampling of only 61 of the globe's 200+ countries—when merged, they can give a better impression of the prevalence of racism. In this format, India emerged as the most racist country surveyed, followed by Lebanon, Bahrain, Libya, and Egypt. Most Racist Countries in the World (WaPo and BT results combined)*:
India ranks as the most racist of the countries included in the study. Located in southern Asia, India is the second-most-populous country on Earth, with roughly 1.3 billion people. According to the surveys, the country's residents display considerable intolerance for people with darker skin, whether they are of foreign descent (particularly African) or simply darker-skinned Indians. India has little immigration and few international residents. As a result, most of its people are of Indian descent themselves. This detail is considered to be a major contributing factor to racism in India. When one is unaccustomed to seeing or interacting with people of different races, it is often more difficult to integrate with someone of a different nationality or ethnicity. This notion is borne out in the survey results. Approximately 43.6% of all Indians who took the survey said that they would not be comfortable with neighbors who were of a different culture, ethnicity, or race. 64.3% of Indian participants also reported that they were either discriminated against or had witnessed discrimination unfold in their home country.
Although its population is split nearly fifty-fifty between Christians and Muslims, Lebanon is another country comprised primarily of people who share a similar ethnic background. This low level of diversity means Lebanon's citizens are typically opposed to mingling with people of other races for the sole reason that they are not used to doing so in a day-by-day setting. Third on the list of most racist countries is Bahrain, a country in the Persian Gulf and just off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Nearly 50% of people in Bahrain are of Bahraini descent, and Indians make up the highest percentile of immigrants. Bahrain scored 31.1% and 85.7% as part of the studies in discussion.
Libya follows Bahrain in fourth place. The majority of people in Libya are Arabic. Other ethnic groups included in Libya's population are Tunisians, Egyptians, Dawada, Italians, Maltese, Greeks, Pakistanis, Turks, and Indians. The study found that 54% of people in Libya's group would not be okay with living next door to people of another race, whereas 39.7% of the population said that they've either been the victim or witness discriminatory behavior in Libya. Egypt comes in at five. People born and raised in Egypt account for 91% of its population, with the remaining 9% made up of Bedouins, Abazas, Turks, and Greeks. The studies' findings for Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and Lebanon are in alignment with the ones regarding India.
