From Iceland — 73% Of Icelanders Support Welcoming More Refugees

73% Of Icelanders Support Welcoming More Refugees

Published October 20, 2016

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Defense Visual Information Center/Wikimedia Commons

A new poll from RÚV on the subject of refugees gave similar results to a poll on the same question conducted last month.

Nearly 33,000 Icelanders – roughly 10% of the total population of the country – were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement, “Iceland should, in cooperation with other countries, bringing in more refugees fleeing war and persecution”.

According to the results, 73% either moderately or strongly agreed, with 37% of these respondents saying they were in complete agreement. 23% said they moderately or strongly disagreed, with only 9% saying they were in total disagreement.

The results are similar to a Maskína poll conducted for Amnesty International, released last month, wherein 85.5% said they welcomed more refugees coming to Iceland, with 74% saying they believe Icelandic authorities should do more to help those who are fleeing war and persecution.

The demographics also revealed that in some cases, Icelanders have more progressive attitudes towards refugees than the global average.

In the general sense, women were more likely to have a positive attitude towards refugees than men. Attitudes also trended towards the more positive the younger an Icelander was, the lower their income was, and the higher level of education they had.

In fact, in response to the statement, “Refugees who are fleeing war and persecution should be able to seek asylum in other countries”, 84.6% of Icelanders said they agreed, compared to the global average of 73%.

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