This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu, visualizes the results of an Ipsos poll that asked adults whether they thought aliens would visit Earth.

The survey consisted of 24,471 adults across 36 countries, conducted between October and November, 2022.

Where E.T.’s Existence Would be Most Accepted

India, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had the highest share of respondents who believe an alien visit would be likely.

Country
Likely (%)
No response
Unlikely
🇮🇳 India
43
17
40
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
38
19
43
🇦🇪 UAE
36
23
41
🇹🇭 Thailand
29
25
46
🇨🇴 Colombia
26
23
51
🇨🇳 China
25
10
65
🇵🇪 Peru
23
21
56
🇮🇩 Indonesia
22
16
62
🇸🇬 Singapore
22
21
57
🇲🇽 Mexico
21
23
56
🇲🇾 Malaysia
21
23
56
🇹🇷 Turkey
20
18
62
🇿🇦 South Africa
19
19
62
🇧🇷 Brazil
19
18
63
🇨🇱 Chile
19
19
62
🇦🇷 Argentina
18
26
56
🇩🇰 Denmark
18
11
71
🇺🇸 U.S.
17
19
64
🇩🇪 Germany
17
11
72
🇦🇺 Australia
16
13
71
🇮🇪 Ireland
15
11
74
🇪🇸 Spain
15
17
68
🇸🇪 Sweden
15
10
75
🇮🇹 Italy
13
15
72
🇷🇴 Romania
13
20
67
🇫🇷 France
12
15
73
🇰🇷 South Korea
12
13
75
🇭🇺 Hungary
12
16
72
🇨🇦 Canada
12
18
70
🇳🇱 Netherlands
11
11
78
🇬🇧 UK
10
12
78
🇨🇭 Switzerland
10
13
77
🇮🇱 Israel
10
12
78
🇵🇱 Poland
10
14
76
🇧🇪 Belgium
10
11
79
🇯🇵 Japan
8
24
68

It’s hard to ascertain any one reason these three countries believe in aliens so strongly. It may be due to rich mythologies where the acceptance of various gods, djinn, and other magical beings translates into acceptance of alien life.

There might also be a religious element at play. Ongoing discussions about what the Quran states about other forms of life, except for humans, have generated interest on the internet.

It could also be an effect of mass media: the Star Wars movies, for example, were very popular in India.

However, the same influence for some countries clearly doesn’t work for others. The U.S., home to Hollywood—which seems to release at least one movie about aliens a year—sits firmly middle of the pack.

And then there’s Japan, where only 8% of those surveyed believed a visit was likely.

This is somewhat surprising, given the country’s strong technological advancements and fascination with futuristic themes in popular culture.

So… Do Aliens Exist?

NASA has said that so far, no credible evidence exists for extraterrestrial life. And despite multiple “strange light sightings,” over the years, the Department of Defense’s most recent report states there’s no “verifiable evidence” that all the “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (a new term for UFOs) actually represents alien life.

However, as a case study for probability, the odds of humans being the only advanced civilization in the whole universe is one in ten billion trillion. Or really, really, small.

So, purely mathematically, the chances of alien life existing are likely.

Now whether they’d visit—is another question entirely.

If aliens did visit, they’d probably bump into one of the many satellites hovering over the planet. Check out Operational and Planned Low Earth Orbit Internet Satellite Projects by creator MadeVisual to see which companies own what constellations.