Many find the Philippines polite, but Filipinos think otherwise — study

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MANILA, Philippines — Thousands around the world consider the Philippines one of the polite countries, a sentiment most Filipinos do not exactly share.

Digital financial services provider Remitly surveyed over 4,600 people from 26 countries including the Philippines to analyze politeness perceptions (rather than measuring rudeness) and deduce which countries are considered the most polite.

Respondents were asked to name the countries they believe are home to the most polite people based on their perceptions and personal experiences, as well as how polite they believe their own country to be, comparing global perception with self-perception.

Politeness can range from friendly greetings in public and basic courtesy at work to being patient with language barriers, the latter a key factor for people moving or visiting from abroad.

Over a third (35.15%) of those surveyed said Japanese people are the most polite, receiving nearly triple the votes of runner-up Canada (13.35%).

The top two countries are not surprising entries. Japanese culture has long been associated with respect and social harmony, while a popular running joke for Canadians is their supposed constant apologizing.

The Philippines ranked No. 6 with 2.30%, ahead of Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, which again the dominated the most recent World Happiness Report.

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Curiously enough, Filipinos do not consider themselves to be as polite. The average politeness rating (10 being the highest) Filipino respondents gave themselves was 8.86, good for No. 22 on the self-perception rankings.

That is higher than Japan, which figured at No. 25 with 8.73, just above bottom-ranked Poland at 8.68. This might be a reflection of the Japanese valuing modesty and humility.

Brazil and Chile topped the self-perception of politeness rankings with a statistical tie (9.46), followed closely by India (9.41) and Sweden (9.40).

The two South American countries are often associated with warmth and hospitality, as well as a highly social culture, where conversation and connection are an important part of everyday life.

Remitly also asked respondents to name which countries they consider to be the friendliest, and this time Canada came out on top after being answered by 10.50% of individuals.

Brazil came in second at 7.96% followed by Australia with 5.10% then Japan at 4.94%. The Philippines is at No. 8 as answered by 4.16% of respondents.

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