In many countries, people see others as morally good – but not within the US

Across 25 countries, people are likely to see their fellow residents as more morally good than bad, but there are sharp differences between nations and continuing divisions over issues reminiscent of abortion, homosexuality, gambling and divorce.

The study by Pew Research Center explored how adults judge the morality and ethics of others in their very own country, in addition to their views on a spread of non-public and social behaviours.

Across just about all the countries surveyed, positive assessments outweighed negative ones.

The US stood out because the only country where a majority described their fellow residents’ morals and ethics as bad reasonably than good (53% vs 47%).

But Pew said scepticism concerning the moral character of others was not confined to the US, and tended to be stronger amongst supporters of the opposition than those aligned with the ruling party.

The findings point to a wider international picture wherein public confidence within the moral behaviour of fellow residents stays generally intact but often sits alongside deep political and cultural disagreement.

The survey also found that some moral questions command broad consensus across borders, while others produce striking national contrasts.

Extramarital affairs drew the strongest overall disapproval, with a median of 77% across the 25 countries saying adultery is morally flawed. No lower than 50% of adults in every country surveyed took that view.

By contrast, contraception and divorce were amongst essentially the most widely accepted issues. In just about all countries surveyed, not less than two-thirds of respondents said these were either seen as admissible or viewed as matters of non-public alternative reasonably than morality

Abortion produced a way more uneven response. In many African and Latin American countries, not less than half said it was morally unacceptable. In many of the European countries surveyed, nevertheless, large majorities viewed abortion as as acceptable or not an ethical matter.

Views on homosexuality, gambling, marijuana and alcohol also varied widely.

Pew found that on many questions Europe tended to be permissive than parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, though there have been essential differences inside Europe itself.

Across Western nations, smaller minorities viewed homosexuality as morally unacceptable – Germany and Sweden had the bottom at 5% each, while the UK stood at 16%. The US was significantly higher but still a minority at 39%. By contrast, 96% of Nigerians view homosexuality as morally unacceptable, and 56% of South Koreans.

In the UK, the findings suggest a society that is relatively liberal on several moral questions, while still showing clear differences between men and ladies, religious and non-religious people, and younger and older adults.

One notable gap identified within the report was on homosexuality: within the UK, men (20%) were markedly more likely than women (11%) to say it’s morally flawed.

Across the 25 countries, women were generally more inclined than men to explain behaviours reminiscent of pornography, gambling, alcohol use and marijuana use as morally unacceptable.

Older adults also tended to precise stricter moral views than younger people on quite a lot of issues, particularly around marijuana, gambling, alcohol and homosexuality.

Pew also found that education were a consider attitudes: adults with lower levels of education were, in lots of countries, more inclined than those with higher levels of education to explain a spread of behaviours as morally flawed.

Religion remained one other major dividing line.

People who said religion may be very essential of their lives were generally more prone to judge the behaviours in query as morally flawed.

Christians were often among the many probably to object to lots of the practices examined, although Pew found substantial variation between countries.

European Christians, for instance, were often far less likely than Christians in Africa, Latin America or the US to explain abortion or homosexuality as morally unacceptable.

Where comparisons were possible, Catholics and Protestants throughout the same country often held broadly similar views on many issues, though Protestants were typically somewhat more likely than Catholics to treat homosexuality as morally unacceptable.

The study also tracked changes since 2013 in 22 of the countries surveyed previously.

In broad terms, Pew found that moral disapproval has eased in several areas over the past decade, especially on divorce, homosexuality and abortion, although the shift was removed from universal.

In Kenya, for instance, opposition to divorce fell sharply, while in India the share saying divorce is morally flawed increased.

The notable exception was Nigeria, the only other country surveyed where most adults still considered divorce to be morally unacceptable.

Even there, nevertheless, the figure stood at 55%, down from 61% in 2013.

On some issues, nevertheless, change was mixed reasonably than one-directional.

Attitudes to alcohol and gambling, as an example, varied considerably by country, with some societies becoming more permissive and others remaining cautious.

Pew said the info doesn’t suggest that folks in a single country are necessarily more judgemental overall than those elsewhere. Rather, the outcomes indicate that moral priorities differ widely across cultures, politics, religion and generation.