Fewer than four in 10 Africans see Russia’s economic and political influence on their country as positive, well below assessments for China, the United States, and international organisations, the latest Afrobarometer (www.Afrobarometer.org) survey findings reveal.

Data from 38 African countries show that views of Russia’s influence vary widely across 38 surveyed countries, from overwhelming approval in Mali to majority negative, neutral, or “don’t know” responses across much of the continent.

Among citizens who have heard of the Russia-Ukraine war, most want their own government to adopt a neutral stance on the war.

Key findings

• On average across 38 African countries, 36% of respondents say Russia’s economic and political influence on their country is “somewhat positive” or “very positive,” while 23% say it is somewhat or very negative. But a plurality (42%) do not offer an assessment (Figure 1).
• By a wide margin, Malians offer the most positive assessments (88%), followed by Cameroon (60%), Guinea-Bissau (55%), and Côte d’Ivoire (55%). In contrast, fewer than one in six respondents hold positive views in four Southern African countries: Zambia (15%), Lesotho (14%), Eswatini (14%), and Botswana (13%).
• Positive perceptions of Russia fall far below those for China (62%), regional economic organisations (56%), the African Union (55%), the United States (52%), and the European Union (50%) (Figure 2).
• Seven in 10 Africans (70%) say they have heard about the Russia-Ukraine war, ranging above nine out of 10 citizens in Cabo Verde (98%), Seychelles (94%), and São Tomé and Príncipe (91%) (Figure 3).
• Among those who have heard about the war, more than seven in 10 (72%) say their country should remain neutral. Mali is the only surveyed country where a majority favour one side (72% for Russia) (Figure 4).

Afrobarometer surveys

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, nonpartisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Ten survey rounds in up to 45 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 10 surveys (2024/2025) cover 38 countries.

Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face-to-face interviews with nationally representative samples of adults in the language of the respondent’s choice that yield country-level results with margins of error of +/-2 to +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.