The majority of Ukrainians have a neutral attitude towards Egypt, positive assessments decreased to 28.1% — study

The attitude of Ukrainians towards Egypt continues to be dominated by a neutral position: in August 2026, it was expressed by 61.3% of respondents. The country is assessed positively by 28.1% of respondents, negatively by 6.9%. Compared to March, the share of positive ratings decreased, while the share of negative ratings increased, reports the information and analytical center Experts Club.

According to the results of the August survey, 7.2% of Ukrainians have a completely positive attitude towards Egypt, mostly positive — 20.9%. 61.3% of respondents take a neutral position. For the most part, 6.3% evaluate the country negatively, 0.6% completely negatively, another 3.7% could not decide.

The balance of positive and negative evaluations according to the above indicators is plus 21.2 percentage points. Thus, the positive attitude toward Egypt outweighs the negative by about four times, but the main characteristic of its perception remains precisely the high proportion of neutral answers.

Compared to March 2026, the attitude has slightly worsened. In the previous wave, 10.5% of respondents rated Egypt completely positively, 21.9% mostly positively, that is, the total positive indicator was 32.4%. 62.5% of respondents were neutral, and the share of negative evaluations in the aggregated results was about 3.7%. 

So, in five months, the share of positive answers decreased by 4.3 percentage points. - from 32.4% to 28.1%, while negative ones increased by approximately 3.2 percentage points. — up to 6.9%. The share of neutral assessments changed slightly — from 62.5% to 61.3%. The balance of positive and negative attitudes, respectively, decreased from approximately plus 28.7 to plus 21.2 percentage points.

The founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center, candidate of economic sciences Maksym Urakin believes that the case of Egypt well shows the difference between the economic weight of the country for Ukraine and the level of its presence in public consciousness.

"Egypt is very important for Ukraine sales market, primarily for agricultural and food products. At the same time, for the majority of Ukrainians, this country remains a tourist destination rather than an economic partner. That is why we see such a high share of neutral assessments: economic connections are significant, but they are not always visible to the general public," Urakin said.

According to him, the positive trade balance with Egypt makes this direction especially important for Ukraine in the conditions of the general deficit of foreign trade.

"When a country provides Ukraine with a significant positive trade balance, it is no longer a secondary partner. Such markets should be considered strategically - from the point of view of preserving exports, expanding the range of supplies and long-term economic ties. In the case of Egypt, the potential for this is obvious, and public perception has yet to keep up with the country's real economic role," Urakin added.

Thus, Egypt demonstrates a noticeable gap between economic significance and public perception. Despite the fact that the country is one of the most profitable trade partners for Ukraine in terms of balance, more than 60% of Ukrainians continue to treat it neutrally. This indicates limited awareness and low emotional involvement rather than a negative attitude.

The survey was conducted in August 2026 by self-completion of online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and over. The previous wave also included 800 respondents; the sample was representative in terms of age, gender and region, the maximum theoretical error for indicators at the 50% level was ±3.5 percentage points.