President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan enjoys a significantly more positive perception from people in the Middle East than other major world leaders such as his American and Russian counterparts, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, respectively. According to a survey by Arab Barometer researchers for BBC News Arabic, 51% of the people surveyed in 11 Middle Eastern countries have a positive view…
Is the Arab world really becoming less religious?
Almost one in five young Arabs describe themselves as “not religious”, according to the largest ever in-depth survey in the Middle East and North Africa. Researchers from BBC Arabic and Arab Barometer – a US-based research network – carried out face-to-face interviews with more than 25,000 people in 11 countries and territories, and found the number who claimed no faith had risen from 8%…
Most Arab men would accept a woman as their country’s leader
Most Arabs would accept a woman as their nation’s leader but still believe men should have the final say in domestic matters, a major new study suggests. The research, commissioned by BBC Arabic, also revealed a rising number of Arabs in the Levant and Maghreb are turning their backs on religion. The research was carried out by the research network,…
Trust in radical Islamist movements plummets, major survey finds
Trust in radical and militant groups in the Arab world has slumped significantly, according to a major new survey. Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas have fallen in public opinion in the years since the Arab uprisings, research commissioned by BBC News Arabic found. “This pattern continues a general trend of decline in trust for Islamists in Mena, which has…
New survey reveals drop-off in religiosity across Arab world, especially North Africa
The Arab world has become less religious in the last five years, with North Africa, in particular, seeing a steep decline, according to a new social attitudes survey released by BBC Arabic. The survey, conducted between October 2018 and April 2019 in collaboration with the Arab Barometer research project, interviewing 25,000 people across the region, showed a wide range in…
Erdoğan most popular world leader among Arab youth
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the most popular world leader for Arab youths, according to the results of a recent poll. Carried out by the Arab Barometer research network for BBC News Arabic, the survey polled the opinions of 25,000 youths across the Arab world on a wide variety of subjects.
Arabs are losing their religion in backlash against Islamists
A large number of Arabs have abandoned religious belief in the past six years, according to a poll demonstrating that the political turmoil and war have had clear social effects. The loss of faith, albeit from a high level before, was particularly marked in the young. Researchers from the Arab Barometer asked the residents of ten countries and the Palestinian…
Most Arab men would accept a woman as their country’s leader
Most Arabs would accept a woman as their nation’s leader but still believe men should have the final say in domestic matters, a major new study suggests. The research was carried out by the research network, Arab Barometer, between late 2018 and the spring of 2019. The places surveyed were Iraq, Tunisia, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, Libya,…
Middle East survey sees patchy progress in views on women’s and LGBT+ rights
LONDON, June 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More men than women in Iraq say they have been sexually harassed, while only 6% of Lebanese people think being gay is acceptable, according to a major survey of public opinion in the Middle East published on Monday. The wide-ranging study, conducted by researchers at Princeton University, found although support for women’s rights and for…
Survey Shows Faith in Decline in Morocco, in the Arab World
Rabat – While studies suggest Islam is the fastest growing religion on the planet, a recent survey released by the BBC Arabic showed religion has declined throughout the Arab world. Currently 18% identify as “not religious”, compared to 11% in 2013. The report, conducted for the BBC by the research group Arab Barometer, was the largest and most in-depth survey undertaken of the Middle…
More than half of young Arabs want to emigrate
LONDON: More than half the young people in much of the Arab world would like to leave their home countries, a survey conducted by BBC Arabic has found. That number has jumped by more than 10 percent for those aged 18-29 since 2016, according to the Big BBC News Arabic Survey 2018/19, conducted with the Arab Barometer research group….