[Kaiserschmarrn]

This is old but I doubt it has changed much.

Some of the variation can no doubt be explained by threat perception, relatively recent historical events, and perhaps also by draft vs professional military.

Still, there is Sweden with a high percentage which I thought was unexpected.

Also, Germany is quite disappointing, as it's losing badly to Japan. There clearly needs to be a concerted effort to get to single digits ASAP.

Percentage of Europeans Who Are Willing To Fight A War For Their Country

The map above shows the percentage of residents in various European countries who are willing to fight and go to war for their country.

Full results below:

From high to low, these are the percentages by country:

74% – Finland
73% – Turkey
62% – Ukraine
59% – Russia
58% – Kosovo
55% – Bosnia and Herzegovina
55% – Sweden
54% – Greece
47% – Poland
46% – Serbia
41% – Latvia
39% – Switzerland
38% – Ireland
38% – Macedonia
38% – Romania
37% – Denmark
29% – France
28% – Portugal
27% – United Kingdom
26% – Iceland
25% – Bulgaria
23% – Czech Republic
21% – Austria
21% – Spain
20% – Italy
19% – Belgium
18% – Germany
15% – The Netherlands

The results are from a 2015 WIN/Gallup International global survey. The sample size and methodology was as follows:

"A total of 62,398 persons were interviewed globally. In each country a representative sample of around 1000 men and women was interviewed either face to face (30 countries; n=32258), via telephone (12 countries; n=9784) or online (22 countries; n=20356). Details are attached. The field work was conducted during September 2014 – December 2014. The margin of error for the survey is between 2.14 and 4.45 +3-5% at 95% confidence level."

Europe is the continent with the fewest people willing to fight a war for their country. Globally, an average of 61% of respondents in 64 countries said they would. Morocco (94%), Fiji (94%), Pakistan (89%), Vietnam (89%) and Bangladesh (86%) had the highest percentage willing to fight.

The country with the fewest people willing to go to war was Japan, with just 11% of respondents saying they would fight.

Since World War Two, Europe has been relatively peaceful with major exceptions of the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s and various political suppressions during the Cold War. However, the 19th century was also a relatively peaceful time for Europe that ended with the start of World War I.

[Rugoz]

The entire list:





I think the question is too generally put. The response seems to depend largely on the perceived threat level respectively the expectations about the kind of war to fight in. Claiming to be willing to "fight for one's country" might also signal virtue in some countries and not in others (e.g. Germany). I'm a bit surprised about Japan though, given that they have China at their door step.

[One Degree]

I think the lists clearly shows the difference of those, due to their circumstances, live based upon their reality. Those who have abandoned reality for idealism have no reason to fight. Everything can be solved without war in a pretend world.

[demima]

I'm not sure how accurate this is. For example, Turkey. Although a very nationalistic people, they are also prone to bravado and and showing how macho they are. When the fighting starts, I would expect actual number to be lower, though not as low as Western Europe. The same goes for middle easterners.

Furthermore, Western Europeans are generally quite understated/unassuming in their character, however, when it comes to fighting, they are probably some of the most violent people around. Once they start, it would be difficult to get them to stop. I would expect, should a war for their country's existence start, the number would be much higher.

[B0ycey]

Surely this study can't have much relevance with the figures published. It depends on the war. I doubt many Western nations would be willing to invade another ME country for their country, but if their nation was to get invaded, I expect most would fight if they had to.

[SolarCross]

There seems to be some relationship between wealth and unwillingness to fight, I'd guess. Something like the richer you are the more dependent on comforts you become and so the less attractive the prospect of enduring discomfort and horror in the course of fighting. In contrast the poorer you are the less have to lose, smaller the gap between the discomfort of fighting and the discomfort one endures in life anyway.

I don't suppose it matters too much now though as the AI revolution will probably make the tactic of conscripted human cannon fodder entirely obsolete for the richer countries.

[Ned Lud]

I'd guess that in the UK something might well depend on which country we are talking about. Who'd want to die for tory 'England'?

[Negotiator]

I'm a german and my answer would largely depend upon the question what exactly would be fought for.

Freedom of my country, figthing off a direct attacker - sure.

The interest of the superrich, attacking some foreign country for its resources, and some other b.s. like that - no thank you. The superrich can do those wars on their own, thank you very much.

I'm also for converting the current german military into a civilian militia, purely defense of own territory only, much like the swiss military.

There seems to be some relationship between wealth and unwillingness to fight, I'd guess.

There is no shortage of poor people in germany.

[Decky]

Who in the UK would want to die for a German queen? I would fight for the West Midlands to be independent of London but for the UK Frankenstein state run by a bunch of Saxe Coburg Gotha reptiles? I think not. The only legitimate reason to join the British army is being born in some shithole estate somewhere like Glasgow and needing to avoid going into drug dealing or being on the dole for your entire life.

[SolarCross]

There is no shortage of poor people in germany.

I'd bet the "poor" of Germany have an objectively higher standard of living than the well-to-do of Bangladesh or similar.

I could cry about how poor I am relative to the average earnings of the UK, but I have a car, live in a house with reliable electric, plumbed water and heating, have spare cash for treats and entertainment, plenty to eat... It's alright.

People in the UK think they are poor if they can't afford extravagant luxuries. People in Bangladesh think they are rich if they can eat regularly.

[fokker]

German wealth is overvalued. How many people in Germany own a house or a flat? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... rship_rate . People in top countries are too fanatical about owning a home, but I certainly wouldn't want to live in Germany as wealthy "homeless" person .

On the topic of willingness to fight a war - the opinion poll is meaningless as there are too many options. What more important is "war readiness" - skilled personnel, equipment. Countries with very low support for wars (full of lefties) lose war readiness and should war occur - even a defensive one, they would fail regardless of public support. It is crazy that some mad lefties like Schultz from SPD in Germany are willing to reduce "war readiness" for more welfare state, when Germany is already weak militarily.

[Oxymoron]

Can we correlate this graph to national honesty?

[hartmut]

..

Also, Germany is quite disappointing, as it's losing badly to Japan. There clearly needs to be a concerted effort to get to single digits ASAP.
...

what from is your disappointment being extracted?
Are we (Germany) not sufficiently aggressive to follow our targets?
Does readiness for war inherit higher chance for survival by itself?

The answers are , predictably, nonsense, or "Kaiserschmarrn", as Austrians tend to say.

[Political Interest]

It's hardly surprising that so many would be unwilling to fight such a war. Most Europeans know that wars these days would be against the national interest of the countries in which they are citizens. Most Europeans know that these wars would only really be for certain interests of the top 10 percent of the population and special corporate interests. Mercantile wars do not interest young European men who would rather enjoy life than give their lives in order to teach Iran how to become a gay friendly liberal democracy.

[Potemkin]

15% – The Netherlands

Even the Belgians are more patriotic than the Dutch. And they would be fighting and dying to defend Belgium.

[Zionist Nationalist]

Europe is doomed

[Kaiserschmarrn]

what from is your disappointment being extracted?

I would have expected the Germans to be at least as effective in "pacifying" themselves as the Japanese, yet almost a fifth of Germans are still warmongers. Merkel and von der Leyen really need to get their act together to get the percentage down. This rotten culture needs to change.

[Ned Lud]

Europe is doomed

Don't put money on it. Zionism will last a Thousand Years. I take it?

[Vanasalus]

I don't know how meaningful to discuss about these figures. Nationalism, patriotism, valor, or whatever you name it has nothing to do with the fighting ability of a country.

It is all about logistics, logistics, logistics.

It's always been about logistic capacity and logistic capabilities.

Rome, Ottomans, Britain, USA...

Ottoman Empire enjoyed being a super power for 300 years not because an average Turk has more willingness to fight for their country than others, but because Ottoman state was able to move much bigger and better equipped armies over long distances compared to any other contemporary state of the time.

[snapdragon]

I'm not sure how trustworthy these surveys really are. A similar one was carried out at Cambridge university before the second world war began, but a large number of under graduates enlisted straight away.

I'll see if I can find out more about it.

Anyway, when the chips are down, things change.