Question Feelings towards other nations

Please rate your feelings towards some countries and territories, with one hundred meaning a very warm, favourable feeling, zero meaning a very cold, unfavourable feeling, and fifty meaning not particularly warm or cold. You can use any number from zero to one hundred: the higher the number the more favourable your feelings are towards that country or territory. If you have no opinion or have never heard of that country or territory, please say so.

  1. 90°
  2. 80°
  3. 70°
  4. 60°
  5. 50°
  6. 40°
  7. 30°
  8. 20°
  1. 85° New Zealand
  2. 76° Japan
  3. 75° United Kingdom
  4. 72° Singapore
  5. 68° Germany
  6. 63° South Korea, Taiwan
  7. 61° Malaysia, Solomon Islands, Ukraine
  8. 58° Brazil, Papua New Guinea
  9. 56° Indonesia
  10. 52° South Africa
  11. 51° India
  12. 50° United States
  13. 37° China
  14. 27° Iran
  15. 22° Russia
  16. 16° North Korea
Total
All groups

Observation

The Lowy Institute ‘feelings thermometer’ measures Australians’ warmth towards other countries and territories on a scale of 0° (coldest feelings) to 100° (warmest feelings), with each score reflecting the mean of responses.

New Zealand has topped the feelings thermome­ter again at a very warm 85° in 2025, a position it has held in all of the 15 years it has been included. Australians continue to feel very warmly towards Japan (76°), the United Kingdom (75°), and Singapore (72°), and warmly towards Germany (68°), South Korea, and Taiwan (both at 63°) — all steady on their previous readings. Australians remain relatively warm towards Ukraine (61°).

Feelings remain steady towards Indonesia (56°), and are lukewarm towards South Africa (52°, down seven degrees since its last reading in 2010) and India (51°), down three degrees from last year.

The largest shift this year, however, was a nine-degree drop in warmth towards the United States (50°), accompanying the sharp decline in trust towards the country. This continues a cooling towards the United States since 2022 (65°), and is in stark contrast to its warmest reading on the thermometer in 2015 (73°).

Meanwhile, cool feelings towards China (37°) thawed by three degrees, a small improvement from a low of 32° four years ago, which was registered during China’s diplomatic rupture with Australia. Before 2019, China consistently registered above 50° on the feelings thermometer.

Australian attitudes towards Iran (27°) and Russia (22°) remain frosty, while Australians reserve their iciest feelings for North Korea (16°).

Data

Compare different demographics, years, categories, and responses.

Demographic

Year

Category

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