South Africa has been voted as the friendliest nation in the world, according to a new study by Remitly, a leader in digital financial services.
Remitly surveyed over 3 000 participants across the globe to answer a series of questions based on the Big 5 Personality Test.
The test was based on the scientific ‘Big Five’ model of the five key personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism. The questions in the study were based purely on the ‘agreeableness’ aspect of the test, as it was deemed the most effective way to gauge social harmony.
Respondents were asked questions to ascertain how much concern they feel for others, whether they take the time out for other people, and whether they like to make people feel at ease.
Each question was presented as a statement with respondents asked whether they disagreed, slightly disagreed, were neutral, slightly agreed, or agreed with the statement in question.
The higher their scores, the more they are deemed to be friendly, generous, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests with others.
South Africa topped the list, scoring the highest on the Big 5 Personality Test's ‘agreeableness’ trait with a score of 34.63 out of 40.
“South Africa is a beautiful and diverse country and provides plenty of compelling reasons to move there. One of the major advantages of living in the country is the affordable cost of living where the South African rand stretches far, with housing and everyday expenses allowing for a higher standard of living. It also has an incredible array of wildlife to see, and a warm climate helping residents to enjoy and explore the long stretches of beautiful coastline,” Remitly said.
It added that South African residents are known for being warm and welcoming, making it easy for travellers and visitors alike to feel at ease around them.
“It’s not uncommon to be greeted by polite strangers while walking down the street, and South Africans are generally happy to socialise, by engaging in conversations and showing off their good humour, making plenty of jokes. An added plus point is that there are eleven official languages spoken in South Africa (English, Afrikaans, and nine ethnic languages), meaning that there are plentiful ways to communicate with the locals and make new friends,” Remitly noted.
The top ten friendliest nations in the world, according to the study, are as follows:
