One of Africa’s richest countries, South Africa, has been crowned the world’s “friendliest” by a digital financial services company. A study by Remitly came to this conclusion after testing 3,000 participants from 27 countries on the “agreeableness” trait from the Big 5 Personality Test.
The Big Five framework is a widely accepted psychological test, defining five broad dimensions of personality: openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism. People high in agreeableness are typically kind, empathetic, caring, and easy to get along with.
The test asked each participant questions, which gave them a score between one and 30 on how “agreeable” they really are.
The higher the participants scored, the more friendly they were perceived.
Remitly then calculated the average score of all the participants from each country to find each nation’s “friendliness” score. South Africa came out as the winner, with an average score of 34.63 out of 40. In comparison, the UK ranked 18th and the US 15th.
South African locals speak 11 languages, and travellers praise them for their hospitality.
The findings noted: “Known for being warm and welcoming, South Africans are generally happy to engage in conversation, socializing, and plenty of jokes, helping visitors and new arrivals feel at ease.
“Their affable nature, coupled with the country’s varied landscapes and affordable cost of living, makes it a popular place to move or travel to.”
Alongside being a “friendly” country, South Africa is also a desirable holiday hotspot during Britain’s early spring, as it enjoys highs of 20C on average during the month of March.
Greece secured second place with a score of 33.71 out of 40, earning the title of the friendliest country in Europe, while Croatia followed closely in third with 33.5.
Mexico ranked fourth, making it the friendliest nation in North America, while Sweden completed the top five.
