The charity’s latest Refugees Welcome Survey 2016 surveyed 27,000 people in 27 countries around the world, assessing their attitude towards refugees fleeing conflict or persecution.
While Germany has risen to prominence as a hub of acceptance during the ongoing refugee crisis, so much so that chancellor Angela Merkel was dubbed “Mother Angela” on the cover of Der Spiegel last year — unexpectedly, it was China which won the first spot in Amnesty’s ranking.
The poll, carried out by surveying firm GlobeScan, found that almost half of the 1,055 Chinese citizens interviewed, were ready to welcome refugees not only in their country, city and neighborhood, but even in their own homes.
Germans, while scoring well overall, were not up for hosting refugees in their households — only 10 percent of them said they would do that.
Still, Germany came close second behind China, and ahead of the UK, Canada and Australia.
The German refugee-friendly attitude is somewhat surprising amid growing reports of a backlash against Merkel’s “open door” policy, especially after immigration-related incidents such as the mass sexual assault in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.
A January poll by German TV ZDF found that 60 percent of Germans were worried by the influx of one million refugees in 2015 alone, while according to an Infratest dimap poll in February, ninety percent of Germans wanted to enforce restrictions on new arrivals.
Yet, the German citizens surveyed by Amnesty said they thought their government “should do more to help refugees.”
In fact, the majority of people around the world have a pro-refugees stance, with 73 percent of the subjects agreeing with the idea that refugees should be able to find safe haven in other countries.
The only exceptions to the trend were Thailand and Turkey, where a majority of respondents expressed disagreement.