A new survey by the Pew Research Center has found that Sri Lanka is the only South Asian country viewed positively by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh alike.
The survey, conducted between February 8 and May 7, 2026, examined public opinion across South Asia and included 3,566 respondents in India, 1,039 in Pakistan, 1,044 in Bangladesh and 2,513 in Sri Lanka.
According to researchers Jacob Pochter, Sneha Gubbala and William Miner, the study aimed to assess how the region’s largest countries view one another.
The findings show that Sri Lanka enjoys broad goodwill across South Asia despite longstanding regional rivalries and tensions.
Nearly half of adults in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh expressed favourable views of Sri Lanka, while no country recorded more than one-third of respondents holding an unfavourable opinion of the island nation.
Pakistan recorded the highest favourable view of Sri Lanka at 57%, followed by Bangladesh at 54%. India’s favourable perception of Sri Lanka also increased by six percentage points compared to the previous Pew survey conducted in 2024.
The survey found that no other country in the region enjoys such consistently positive perceptions from all three neighbouring nations.
