A global index of anti-immigrant xenophobia: associations with cultural dimensions, national well-being, and economic indicators in 151 nations

ABSTRACT

The Gallup World Poll was used to develop a global index of anti-immigrant xenophobia. The data were collected in 151 countries between 2016 and 2020. Results suggest that xenophobia has stronger associations with cultural variables (e.g., power distance and allocentrism) and well-being variables (e.g., eudaimonic well-being and positive affect) than with economic and social indicators (e.g., national wealth, perceived injustice, and good governance). Globalization is not significantly correlated with xenophobia. Results indicate that this new global index is a valid measure that provides an up-to-date assessment of national xenophobia with much broader coverage than previous indices.

KEYWORDS:

• Anti-immigrant xenophobia
• global
• Gallup
• well-being
• national wealth
• globalization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

With the exception of the Gallup World Poll data (https://www.gallup.com/analytics/318875/global-research.aspx), which are commercial, all data used in this study are from publicly available sources. Gallup-based xenophobia scores calculated and used in this study can be found in Table 1.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Well-being for Planet Earth Foundation awarded in 2021.