No, the United States does not have the nicest people in the world, bu
t it does pretty well with the number seven spot on a list of the most empathetic nations, as calculated by researchers at Michigan State University. A Michigan State news release reports that researchers analyzed the data from an online survey on empathy completed by more than 104,000 people from around the world. The survey measured people’s compassion for others and their tendency to imagine others’ point of view. Countries with small sample sizes were excluded (including most nations in Africa). All told, 63 countries were ranked in the study. And the winner is….Ecuador, followed in order by Saudi Arabia, Peru, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Korea, the United States, Taiwan, Costa Rica and Kuwai. On the dark side, the least empathetic country was Lithuania. In fact, seven of the 10 least empathetic countries were in Eastern Europe.
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There is something wrong with this study. I am Canadian and we are known the world over for being nice to a fault and very empathetic. And yet but the US and Saudi Arabia scored higher?
I understand and I know how you feel. Probably because I am from the states 🙂
I got your back on this one, Steve. I was raised in Upstate NY but have traveled around and lived in the UK and Australia for a few years each. This “data taken from an online survey” isn’t reliable. How does any Middle Eastern Country rank in the top 10? I know that these are citizenry and some live under fairly repressive governments, but how about some more data than that taken from a questionnaire given online, like crime statistics, volunteerism, financial contributions, and frequency of personal acts of aid and assistance, or reactions to loss, frustration, etc.
And, there is no way Canada does worse than the U.S. in this test of empathy, I’ve heard too many complaints by people in my American communities of people who are not well off or under distress “taking advantage of the system” rather than lending a hand and trying to improve our system to better help those in need. I don’t hear this as much when I’ve traveled and lived outside of the U.S.