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Executive summary
- Each year, the SOM Institute at Gothenburg University conducts a Swedish national public opinion survey. Every two years since 2021, we have collaborated with the Institute to ask a representative sample of the Swedish public their views about China, India, and Japan. The latest round of the survey was sent out in late 2025. It found moderate but significant changes in opinions about these three countries. For the first time, the public was also asked their views about a fourth Asian country - South Korea.
- The results of the survey showed a slight increase in enthusiasm for Sweden to cooperate with the three previously surveyed countries. An increased number of respondents agreed Sweden should cooperate with both China and Japan. Increasing proportions of respondents also said they wanted China, India, and Japan to invest more in Sweden.
- Negative views about China and India’s politics softened slightly in comparison to the previous survey round. There was a slightly smaller number of people who did not feel that both China and India respected human rights and democratic rights when compared to the previous survey. There was also a decrease in the number of people who disagreed that China acted in a responsible way internationally.
- The new addition to the survey, South Korea, presented some surprising results. Slightly less than half the respondents agreed that South Korea would become an important international actor, while a little less than half also agreed Sweden should cooperate with the country or seek investment from it.
- Overall, many respondents of the survey expressed a lack of knowledge regarding all four Asian countries, although knowledge about China appeared slightly greater. For both India and South Korea, close to a third of respondents chose to answer “don’t know” in response to many of the nine questions. A lack of knowledge about South Korea was particularly evident.
