Filipinos have earned a place on the global stage for courtesy and warmth, with a new international survey placing the Philippines in the top 10 for both politeness and friendliness.
Financial services company Remitly, which surveyed over 4,600 people across the world, ranked the Philippines 6th among the most polite countries, with 2.3 percent of respondents citing Filipinos as standouts in courtesy. Japan led that ranking by a wide margin — 35.15 percent of those surveyed pointed to Japanese people as the most polite — while Canada and the United Kingdom followed in second and third place at 13.35 percent and 6.23 percent, respectively. China and Germany rounded out the top five.
On friendliness, the Philippines placed 8th, with 4.16 percent of respondents selecting it. Canada again topped the list at 10.5 percent, with Brazil and Australia trailing behind at 7.96 percent and 5.10 percent. Japan and Spain also made the top 10.
One finding, however, complicated the picture. While the rest of the world views Filipinos as notably polite, Filipinos themselves ranked 22nd when it came to self-perception of their own politeness, scoring 8.86 out of 10. Brazil and Chile led the self-rating list, each at 9.46, followed by India, Sweden, and France.
Remitly attributed the gap to cultural differences in how politeness is expressed. “Supporting friends and family is a social expectation, while saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ may not be,” the company said.
Ryan Riley, Remitly’s vice president of marketing, said the findings pointed to something broader about the migrant experience. “Small acts of courtesy, whether that’s patience over a language barrier, or giving up a seat on public transport, can have a real impact on someone who is starting over thousands of miles from their home,” he said. He added that what the research revealed most clearly was “the gap between how nations see themselves and how the rest of the world sees them.”
Remitly noted that cross-cultural perceptions of both politeness and friendliness can differ considerably depending on where one comes from.
