BRICS expansion: broadening opinions divided

Recently, five new member countries joined BRICS, an alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, including Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Iran. The international association of research organizations Gallup International conducted a global survey in 44 countries (in Russia the study was conducted by ROMIR) on the attitude of respondents to this event. Unfortunately, many countries participating in the alliance, such as China, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and other significant developing countries, were not accepted to participate, so the results obtained should be taken into account with a discount on the subject of error.

However, the survey showed that the opinions of respondents in various countries around the world were almost equally divided on the issue of supporting BRICS expansion: 17% of respondents responded positively, and 19% responded negatively. A quarter (24%) of survey participants were neutral about this fact. At the same time, almost a third of respondents (32%) have not heard anything about BRICS or its expansion.

How do you feel about the recent expansion of the BRICS?

Western countries are expected to have a much more negative view of BRICS and its expansion than the rest of the world. The highest levels of negative sentiment were recorded in Sweden (45%), Spain (30%) and the USA (30%), Portugal (29%) and Poland (28%).

Other countries react differently, but even in this case, positive sentiments are in the minority or there is a large proportion of uninformed people. For example, in Saudi Arabia, which became a member of BRICS, 55% have never heard of it. However, in the founding countries of the alliance that took part in the survey, the population, as a rule, perceives the changes positively.

More than a third of respondents in India (36%) responded positively to the question and 29% responded negatively. In Russia, the positive indicator reaches 38% with a share of negative assessments of 4%. In Iran, a new member of the alliance, 37% of residents have a positive attitude towards BRICS, with 10% of negative votes. In Argentina, which withdrew from the agreement before it came into force, 32% of citizens have a positive attitude towards BRICS and 13% have a negative attitude.

Attitude to the expansion of BRICS in the macroregions

Andrey Milekhin, President of ROMIR, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, comments on the survey results: “The dissatisfaction of the West - the G7, the European Union, the United States - looks especially contrasting against the backdrop of support for the development of BRICS by the rest of the world and especially in the member countries of the alliance. There is no longer a global world governed by one collective center. The creation and expansion of a new world development center logically evokes negativism and hostility from the old one.”

*In October-December 2023, as part of the “End of the Year” project, more than 40 thousand people were surveyed in 44 countries. In each country, surveys were conducted using national or city samples. It is not possible to check the quality of primary information collection for a number of countries. In Russia, the research company ROMIR surveyed 1,500 respondents from a national representative sample.