Which Countries are the Most Polarized?

How do you measure something that’s made headlines for half a decade but is still difficult to quantify? We’re talking about polarization.

Even within the social sciences, polarization covers everything from racial segregation, to labor skill levels, to class divide, to political ideology.

How Do You Quantify Polarization?

Edelman’s data on which countries are the most polarized comes from survey results asking respondents two very simple questions:

• How divided is their country?
• How entrenched is the divide?

The questions help bring to light the social issues a particular country is facing and the lack of consensus on those issues.

Plotted against each other, a chart emerges. A country in the top–right corner of the chart is “severely polarized.” Countries located closer to the lower–left are considered less polarized. Following Edelman’s metrics, countries with economic uncertainty and inequality as well as institutional distrust are more likely to be polarized.

Severely Polarized Countries

Here are all six of the countries considered to be severely polarized:

1. 🇦🇷 Argentina
2. 🇨🇴 Colombia
3. 🇺🇸 United States
4. 🇿🇦 South Africa
5. 🇪🇸 Spain
6. 🇸🇪 Sweden

Less Polarized Countries

Countries with fair economic outlook and high trust in institutions including China, Singapore, and India are in the bottom left sector of the chart.

1. 🇮🇩 Indonesia
2. 🇨🇳 China
3. 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
4. 🇸🇬 Singapore
5. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
6. 🇲🇾 Malaysia
7. 🇮🇳 India