India fourth most tolerant country, says survey

On the global map, India is fourth most tolerant country after Canada, followed by China and Malaysia, suggests a new survey.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, was carried out earlier this year in 27 countries for the BBC. In all, around 20,000 people were interviewed for the study that highlights the extent to which citizens think their society is divided.

According to the survey, 63 per cent Indians think that people in their country are tolerant of each other when it comes to people with different backgrounds, cultures or points of view.

On the other hand, Hungarians have rated their country as least tolerant followed by South Korea and Brazil which have been rated least tolerant by their people, of other cultures, backgrounds and points of view.

The survey found that in India, 49 per cent people think that difference in political views causes tension, followed by different religions (48 per cent) and socio-economic gap (37 per cent).

It also stated that 53 per cent Indians think that mixing with people of other backgrounds, cultures and points of view leads to mutual understanding and respect.

"76 per cent think that people across the world have more things in common than things that make them different. Agreement is highest in Russia and Serbia (both at 81 per cent) but lowest in Japan (35 per cent), Hungary (48 per cent) and South Korea (49 per cent)," it found.

--IANS

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