The survey found that 46% of the world’s adult population, an estimated 2.2 billion people, harbor horrific anti-Semitic views.
By Rachel Avraham
Almost half of all people worldwide hold significant anti-Semitic beliefs, the Ant-Defamation League reported after conducting its latest Global 100 Survey. The survey found that 46% of the world’s adult population, an estimated 2.2 billion people, harbor horrific anti-Semitic views, which is more than double compared to ADL’s first worldwide survey a decade ago and the highest level on record since the ADL began tracking global opinion.
Apparently, 20% of the adult population worldwide has never heard that six million Jews were massacred in the Holocaust, the worst genocide in human history. Only 48% of the global population recognizes the Holocaust’s historical accuracy and that figure drops to 39% among 18 to 34-year-olds, highlighting a worrying trend for the future. Respondents younger than 35 also have elevated levels of anti-Semitism, standing at 50%, which is 13 percentage points higher than respondents over 50.
The Anti-Defamation League reported that the Global 100 Index Score represents the percentage of respondents who answered “definitely true” or “probably true” to six or more of the 11 negative stereotypes about Jews that were tested. Three quarters (76%) of respondents in the Middle East and North Africa believe most of the 11 tropes to be true. Around half of the respondents in Asia (51%), Eastern Europe (49%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (45%) harbor high levels of antisemitic attitudes. The Americas (24%), Western Europe (17%), and Oceania (20%) have relatively lower levels of antisemitic attitudes, yet still around one in five adults harbor these sentiments.
According to the survey, the countries and territories with the highest Index Scores include the West Bank and Gaza (97%), Kuwait (97%), and Indonesia (96%), while those with the lowest Index Scores are Sweden (5%), Norway (8%), Canada (8%), and the Netherlands (8%).
The ADL reported that 40% of those under age 35 affirm “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars,” while only 29% of those over 50 feel this way, worldwide. 23% of respondents worldwide express a favorable opinion of Hamas and that statistic increases to 29% when speaking to people under 35, worldwide. And regarding Holocaust recognition, only 16% of respondents in the Middle East and North Africa, and 23% of respondents in Sub-Saharan Africa recognize the historical accuracy of the Holocaust.
“Antisemitic tropes and beliefs are becoming alarmingly normalized across societies worldwide,” said Marina Rosenberg, ADL Senior Vice President for International Affairs. “This dangerous trend is not just a threat to Jewish communities—it’s a warning to us all. Even in countries with the lowest levels of antisemitic attitudes globally, we’ve seen many antisemitic incidents perpetrated by an emboldened small, vocal and violent minority. This is a wake-up call for collective action, and we are committed to continuing our work with our partners around the world to confront and mitigate this deeply ingrained antisemitism.”
“Antisemitism is nothing short of a global emergency, especially in a post-October 7 world. We are seeing these trends play out from the Middle East to Asia, from Europe to North and South America,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, stressed. “Negative attitudes towards Jews are an important pillar that ADL uses to assess overall levels of antisemitism within a country, and our findings are deeply alarming. It’s clear that we need new government interventions, more education, additional safeguards on social media, and new security protocols to prevent antisemitic hate crimes. This fight requires a whole-of-society approach – including government, civil society and individuals and now is the time to act.”
