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Which nations support open borders...Vietnam...and more

By razib on April 21, 2009.

The World Values Survey has a question about immigration policy with four options:

- Let anyone come
- As long as jobs available
- Strict limits
- Prohibit people from coming

I used WVS 2005-2008 from 57 countries first. Then I filled out the countries with the
Four-wave Aggregate of the Values Studies, the combined file of the four waves carried out by both the EVS and WVS. I bring this up because there are discrepancies between the two where there are duplications.

Again Vietnam is at the top of the list. Perhaps Will Wilkson should have picked another country to trade in his American citizenship with? In any case, results below.

Untitled Document
% Open Borders % Close borders Mean Pro-Immigration/Anti-Immigration
Vietnam 49.5
B. Faso 43.3
Rwanda 41.4
Ethiopia 40.4
Mali 34
Albania 30.5
Morocco 28.5
Nigeria 27.7
Romania 23.5
Peru 22.8
India 22.6
Ukraine 20.9
China 19.7
Belarus 18.7
Algeria 18.5
Sweden 18.2
Ghana 18.2
Bosnia 16.5
Pakistan 16.3
S. Arabia 16.3
Venezuela 15.6
Kyrgyzstan 14.8
Argentina 14.8
Serbia 14.2
Philippines 13.7
Puerto Rico 13.2
Bulgaria 13.2
Moldova 13.1
Macedonia 12.9
Poland 12.5
Uganda 12.1
Mexico 12
Portugal 11.6
Zimbabwe 11.5
Zambia 11
Russia 10.3
Brazil 9.2
Georgia 9
Finland 8.9
Tanzania 8.8
Turkey 8.6
Ireland 8.3
Italy 8.1
Canada 7.9
Northern Ireland 7.9
Spain 7.7
Denmark 7.4
Luxembourg 7.4
Slovenia 7.3
Latvia 7
Germany 7
Iceland 7
Estonia 6.9
USA 6.8
Cyprus 6.5
Hong Kong 6.5
Chile 6.4
Greece 6.2
Belgium 6.1
S. Africa 6
Switzerland 5.9
Indonesia 5.8
France 5.6
Bangladesh 5.5
Andorra 5.4
Thailand 5.2
Egypt 5.2
Iran 5.1
Austria 4.8
Croatia 4.5
Lithuania 4.4
Britain 4.3
Netherlands 4
Singapore 4
Trinidad 3.6
Australia 3.3
S. Korea 3.3
Japan 2.9
Czech Republic 2.9
Slovakia 2.6
Taiwan 2.6
Hungary 2.1
Jordan 2
Malaysia 1.8
N. Zealand 1.7
Malta 1.5
S. Africa 30.1
India 29.7
Hungary 26.8
Iran 26.7
Egypt 26.5
Macedonia 25.7
Jordan 24.9
Malta 23
Lithuania 22.7
Turkey 21.2
Slovakia 19.7
Latvia 18.7
Malaysia 18.2
Mexico 17.2
Georgia 16.2
Belarus 16.2
Zambia 14.7
Russia 14.2
Thailand 13.9
Serbia 13.8
Kyrgyzstan 13.7
Britain 13.1
Pakistan 12.8
Bangladesh 12.3
Croatia 12.2
Estonia 12.1
Morocco 11.3
Brazil 10.8
Romania 10.7
Moldova 10.6
France 10.4
Belgium 9.9
Philippines 9.9
Trinidad 9.5
Venezuela 9.3
Zimbabwe 9.1
Taiwan 8.8
Chile 8.6
China 8.4
Indonesia 7.9
Albania 7.9
Slovenia 7.8
USA 7.6
Greece 7.5
Bulgaria 7.5
Czech Republic 7.2
Algeria 6.9
Ukraine 6.8
Cyprus 6.8
Ghana 6.5
Bosnia 6.5
Italy 6.4
Peru 6.3
Poland 6.3
Argentina 6.2
Northern Ireland 5.6
Tanzania 5.5
Puerto Rico 5.5
S. Arabia 5.2
S. Korea 4.9
Ethiopia 4.8
Germany 4.7
Japan 4.6
Austria 4.5
Netherlands 4
Portugal 3.8
Mali 3.7
Nigeria 3.3
Hong Kong 3.2
Spain 3.1
Uganda 3
Ireland 2.9
Denmark 2.7
Finland 2.7
Rwanda 2.4
N. Zealand 2.2
Australia 2.2
Canada 1.9
Singapore 1.9
Luxembourg 1.8
B. Faso 1.5
Switzerland 1.1
Sweden 1.1
Vietnam 1
Iceland 0.9
Andorra 0.7
Hungary 2.11
Malaysia 2.07
S. Africa 2.02
Iran 1.99
Jordan 1.93
Egypt 1.91
Malta 1.9
Thailand 1.88
Slovakia 1.87
Indonesia 1.82
Macedonia 1.8
Georgia 1.79
Latvia 1.78
Lithuania 1.77
Croatia 1.76
Taiwan 1.73
Czech Republic 1.71
Trinidad 1.71
Britain 1.7
Singapore 1.7
Tanzania 1.69
Belgium 1.67
France 1.66
Philippines 1.64
Denmark 1.64
Zambia 1.62
India 1.62
Estonia 1.62
Turkey 1.61
Netherlands 1.61
Serbia 1.6
Cyprus 1.58
USA 1.57
Japan 1.56
Northern Ireland 1.55
N. Zealand 1.53
Bangladesh 1.51
Greece 1.5
Puerto Rico 1.49
Mexico 1.48
Russia 1.48
Germany 1.48
Poland 1.46
Brazil 1.46
Chile 1.46
Finland 1.45
Belarus 1.44
Hong Kong 1.44
Austria 1.43
S. Korea 1.42
Australia 1.42
Italy 1.41
Spain 1.4
Ireland 1.4
Kyrgyzstan 1.39
Slovenia 1.37
Pakistan 1.37
Luxembourg 1.35
Canada 1.35
Moldova 1.35
Uganda 1.34
Zimbabwe 1.33
Argentina 1.32
Ghana 1.31
Venezuela 1.29
Iceland 1.28
S. Arabia 1.27
Bulgaria 1.26
Algeria 1.25
Switzerland 1.22
Romania 1.21
Portugal 1.19
Bosnia 1.18
Andorra 1.18
China 1.18
Morocco 1.14
Ukraine 1.12
Sweden 1.11
Peru 1.11
Nigeria 1.07
Albania 1.02
Ethiopia 0.96
Mali 0.9
Vietnam 0.75
Rwanda 0.72
B. Faso 0.7
Rwanda 8.52
B. Faso 7.47
Mali 4
Andorra 3.37
Vietnam 3.26
Albania 3.03
Ukraine 2.8
Switzerland 2.72
Portugal 2.7
Peru 2.65
Sweden 2.53
Bosnia 2.52
China 2.41
Morocco 2.24
Nigeria 2.24
Bulgaria 2.18
Ethiopia 2.16
Iceland 1.98
Romania 1.94
Venezuela 1.87
Zimbabwe 1.85
Algeria 1.76
Slovenia 1.71
Moldova 1.7
S. Arabia 1.61
Kyrgyzstan 1.53
Argentina 1.49
S. Korea 1.46
Luxembourg 1.46
Canada 1.45
Pakistan 1.44
Ghana 1.35
Mexico 1.35
Australia 1.33
Italy 1.32
Uganda 1.31
Chile 1.3
Austria 1.29
Russia 1.29
Brazil 1.26
Bangladesh 1.25
Spain 1.24
Ireland 1.22
Belarus 1.14
Hong Kong 1.14
Turkey 1.06
Greece 1.05
Germany 1.01
Finland 0.96
Poland 0.92
N. Zealand 0.9
Japan 0.83
India 0.82
Puerto Rico 0.78
Estonia 0.77
USA 0.77
Northern Ireland 0.76
Cyprus 0.73
Zambia 0.7
Lithuania 0.69
Serbia 0.66
Netherlands 0.65
France 0.65
Britain 0.62
Belgium 0.59
Trinidad 0.54
Latvia 0.51
Czech Republic 0.5
Taiwan 0.49
Macedonia 0.48
Croatia 0.47
Philippines 0.47
Malta 0.46
Denmark 0.45
Egypt 0.43
Slovakia 0.43
Jordan 0.42
Tanzania 0.39
Singapore 0.39
Georgia 0.39
Iran 0.29
S. Africa 0.29
Thailand 0.27
Indonesia 0.26
Hungary 0.17
Malaysia 0.11

The table is rather self-explanatory. The first four columns show the proportion sorted for the two most extreme positions, open borders vs. closed borders. In the fifth & sixth columns you see the result of my converting the categorical responses into ordinal values, so that 0 = open borders and 3 = closed borders, with the two moderate positions 1 & 2. So the higher values mean that the population more sympathetic to that closed than open borders. A uniform distribution would = 1.5. Finally, you also have the ratio between open and closed borders where the moderate positions are added to the extremes.

Tags
Culture
immigration
vietnam
World Values Survey

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