UN has 50% median approval with unequal support between countries

In the report entitled “How the World Evaluates the United Nations”, the US-based analytics and consulting company noted that the UN will soon enter a new phase – through the election of a new Secretary-General – with a global majority assessing its performance positively, but with a deeply fragmented public opinion by country and region.

“ As the United Nations enters a crucial period of leadership transition, a median of 50% of adults worldwide approve of the work the organization is doing, while 26% disapprove of it — resulting in a net approval score of +24 points,” Gallup said.

The current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, assumed the leadership of the organization in January 2017, having been re-elected to a second term of five years, which ends in December.

So far, there are seven candidates to succeed you, with several Member States claiming that the next person to lead the UN is a woman, a scenario that has never occurred in 80 years of history.

Many countries also hope that the next Secretary-General can help the organization to dispel the time of multifaceted crisis that is going through and forging a new direction.

“ Even in this context, the median approval of 50% of the UN is higher than Gallup’s median approval rates of 2025 for the leadership of Germany (48%), China (36%), the United States (31%) and Russia (26%), although the issues are not directly comparable,” the company explained.

Despite the crisis scenario, the majority approves the UN in 67 of the 137 reporting countries. In 92 countries, approval exceeds disapproval by at least 10 percentage points, and in another seven have a positive trend towards lower margins.

A much smaller number of countries have a negative view of the UN. Most disapprove in only nine countries and disapproval surpasses approval in at least 10 points in 19 countries.

Net approval ranges from +75 in Vietnam, +74 in Cambodia and +71 in Laos and -61 in Israel, -58 in Russia and -48 in Tunisia.

Overall, the UN has a positive advantage in almost all regions and among young people.

Support is stronger in Southeast Asia (+51 net approval) and Sub-Saharan Africa (+43). Positive opinions also prevail in Europe, South Asia, North America and post-Soviet Eurasia.

The Middle East and North Africa are the only regions where disapproval is substantially higher than approval, with a net approval of -23.

Adults aged 15 to 29 years have the highest median net approval in all regions, except North America, where opinions vary little by age group.

In many countries, a considerable number of people claim that their view of the UN depends on the circumstances, reports not knowing the organization or says they do not know enough to give their opinion.

Knowledge is more limited in South Asia, where a median of 16% claims to be unaware of the UN. Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest median percentage of people who do not know or refuse to respond, with 16%.

Among the States that joined the Security Council in 2026, approval ranges from 79% in Denmark to 15% in Russia.

Among the countries that will join this UN body in 2027, approval exceeds 60% in Zimbabwe, Portugal and Austria, compared to 39% in Kyrgyzstan.

From 1 January next year and until the end of 2028, Portugal will again sit on the Security Council as a non-permanent member, an election that ensured for the first time in the first round.

'Where the UN has a substantial operational presence, approval is not uniform — reaching 70% in Kosovo, but falling to 9% in Israel, which shows that the mere presence does not translate into approval', says the report.

“President Lincoln [16th head of state] once said that, with the support of public opinion, nothing can fail, and without him, nothing can succeed. If Lincoln was right, the United Nations has what they need. Worldwide, many more people approve of what they disapprove of the work the UN is doing. This may be the least publicized fact in geopolitics,” said Jon Clifton, executive director of Gallup, quoted in a statement.