South Africa Named Friendliest Country in the World, But Not Everyone is Convinced

South Africa Named Friendliest Country in the World, But Not Everyone is Convinced

South Africa has been crowned the friendliest country in the world — but many South Africans aren’t sure whether to celebrate or laugh.

The title comes from a new study by money transfer service Remitly, which used the Big 5 Personality Test to rank nations based on the ‘agreeableness’ trait.
Mzansi came out on top, scoring an impressive 34.63 out of 40. Greece followed closely behind with a score of 33.71.

Meanwhile, the UK ranked 18th according to the test — but weirdly, it’s still seen as the second-friendliest by people from other countries.

What Is the Big 5 Personality Test?

The Big 5 Personality Test is based on five key traits: openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism.
Remitly’s study focused only on the ‘agreeableness’ part, because it’s considered the best way to measure friendliness and social harmony.

Participants were asked how much they care about others, if they take time for people, and if they like making others feel at ease. The more positive their answers, the higher their friendliness score.

High scorers are generally warm, generous, and optimistic about others — basically, they’re the kinds of people you’d want to meet when moving to a new country.

Some South Africans Are Not Buying It

While the results sound good on paper, many South Africans pointed out the reality on the ground, saying crime, inequality, xenophobia, and unemployment tell a different story.

Here are some of the reactions:

@Markosonke1:

Only in South Africa can you get hijacked, robbed, and scammed — but they’ll still tell you “Sorry my broer, it’s just business” with a big smile. We even have the friendliest criminals… they apologize after they take your stuff!

@frans_bongani:

Hayi No, there must be a mistake somewhere.

@Flow801:

Lies lies lies we have problems of racism, xenophobia and crime. Foreigners are not safe here

@biasseDDD:

That’s why our government and business are employing foreigners over qualified South Africans, internationalisation As South Africans we should stop being “friendly” ASAP, it’s a codename for dibhari.

@XolaniMamkeli:

Because we are fools. We let every criminal, fugitive and foreigner that run from their countries to work , swindle and have sex with our sisters and women for free.

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