Asian Barometer 2026

Each year, the SOM Institute at the University of Gothenburg conducts a nationwide survey of Swedish public opinion. Since 2021, it has tracked attitudes toward China, India, and Japan, with South Korea added for the first time in 2025. The latest results indicate modest but notable shifts: support for closer cooperation with China and Japan increased, as did interest in investment from China, India, and Japan. Perceptions of China and India also became somewhat more positive, with fewer respondents criticising their human rights records or questioning China’s global responsibility. Attitudes toward South Korea were more mixed. Across all four countries, however, public knowledge remained limited, particularly regarding India and South Korea.