A new global survey finds that public support for international cooperation is rising again after several years of decline. According to Global Nation’s 2026 Global Solidarity Report, support for global solidarity increased in most countries surveyed, while disagreement with internationalist statements fell overall.
The report is based on polling conducted by Ipsos among more than 22,000 adults in 31 countries. Global Nation measures what it calls global public solidarity through three indicators: whether respondents consider themselves more citizens of the world than citizens of the country they live in, whether their taxes should go towards solving global problems, and whether, for certain problems such as environmental pollution, international institutions should have the right to enforce solutions.
Across the 31 countries surveyed, support rose on all three indicators in 24 countries. No country recorded declines on all three. Global Nation describes the findings as a “surprising and very pronounced reversal” of a previous downward trend.
Four in ten consider themselves more a world citizen
On global citizenship, four in ten respondents said they identify more as citizens of the world than as citizens of their own country, up from around one third in 2025. Global Nation notes in the report that this does not necessarily conflict with patriotism, since many respondents who agree with the statement will also feel attached to their own country. The result instead points to a stronger layer of global identity, they say.
On financial contribution, more than four in ten respondents said their taxes should help solve global problems, compared with a little over one third in 2025. The report treats this as an important test of whether support for international cooperation goes beyond general approval and includes a willingness to contribute materially to shared action.
The strongest support was recorded on international enforcement. Nearly two thirds of respondents said that international institutions should have the right to enforce solutions for certain problems such as environmental pollution, up from a little over half in 2025. Only around one in ten respondents opposed this proposition.
Nearly two thirds support enforceable international solutions
The findings thus represent a reversal from previous assessments which reported declining support for global solidarity between 2024 and 2025. The new survey results suggests that the public mood may now be shifting again as conflict, trade tensions, economic anxiety and climate disruption make global interdependence harder to ignore.
The rebound cuts across major demographic groups. Support increased across generations, income groups and education levels. Gen Z recorded the largest increase and overtook Millennials as the most internationalist generation in the survey. Baby Boomers also moved in the same direction, which the report describes as notable because attitudes among older respondents are usually more settled.
Support also rose across income groups. High income households showed the strongest increase, including on the question of using taxes to address global problems. Low income respondents moved as well, with a majority now backing enforcement powers for international institutions. Across education levels, highly educated respondents remained the most internationalist overall, but support also rose among those with lower levels of education. Among this group, support for international enforcement powers moved from net disagreement in 2025 to net agreement in 2026.
Global Nation concludes that public opinion may be turning back towards internationalism precisely because the international order is under strain. “The public mood is moving and the question is whether internationalists can seize the opportunity”, the report notes.
Earlier this year a 101-country survey commissioned by Democracy Without Borders found that there was a relative majority among respondents globally in support of a “citizen-elected world parliament” that handles global issues.
