Canada took first place among countries with the highest balance of positive and negative attitudes of Ukrainians — in August 2026, this indicator was 73.8 percentage points. The top ten also included mainly the countries of Northern and Western Europe, according to the results of the third wave of the study "Attitudes of Ukrainians to the countries of the world", conducted by Active Group together with Experts Club, reports the information and analytical center Experts Club.
Sweden took the second place in terms of the balance of trust and distrust with an indicator of 70.6 the third is the Netherlands with 69.7 percent. Finland and Norway each received 69.3 percentage points, France — 69.1 percentage points, Italy — 67.1 percentage points, Lithuania — 65.9 percentage points. Switzerland and Great Britain close the top ten, which have the same indicator — 65.6 percentage points.
The balance is calculated as the difference between the share of positive and negative evaluations. In particular, 76.3% of respondents have a positive attitude towards Canada, 2.5% have a negative attitude, and 19.2% have a neutral attitude. Thus, Canada's high score is explained not only by a significant share of favorable evaluations, but also by a minimal level of negative attitudes.
The results of the study show that the top ten countries with the best balance of attitudes are almost fully formed by the states of Northern and Western Europe together with Canada. At the same time, the level of public support does not always directly correspond to the scale of Ukraine's trade and economic ties with a specific country. For example, China was the largest trade partner of Ukraine in the first half of 2026, but received the lowest balance of positive and negative assessments — minus 25.4 percentage points.
Experts Club founder, deputy director of Interfax-Ukraine IA, candidate of economic sciences Maksym Urakin emphasized that it is appropriate to consider the study of public perception together with the actual indicators of foreign trade.
"Therefore, we it is very important to analyze our main partners. Be open to questions, requests from the mass media, from the public," Urakin said. According to him, the results of sociology can be used to assess international relations and their further development.
Director of Active Group Oleksandr Poznii drew attention to the need to combine the formation of a positive image of states with the practical development of bilateral economic ties.
"It is better to develop not only general awareness. We need to expand cooperation with countries where we can have a positive balance," said Pozniy. According to him, both state structures and business associations should be involved in this process.
The research was conducted in August 2026 by self-filling online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel. 800 citizens of Ukraine over the age of 18 were surveyed. According to the organizers, the sample is representative in terms of age, gender and region, the maximum theoretical statistical error at a confidence level of 95% is 3.5%. This is the third wave of the survey after the August 2025 and March 2026 surveys.
