Nearly 80 years after the collapse of British India led to the formation of independent India and Pakistan, a new study has found that the majority of people in each country view each other as the greatest geopolitical threat. Moreover, the extremely unfavorable attitude of Indians towards Pakistan and vice versa reflects the ongoing hostility between these two long-time rivals.
The two countries also differ in their views of the world’s major powers. Indians tend to view the United States and Russia favorably (and as their most important allies). They have an unfavorable opinion of China, see it as a serious threat and do not trust President Xi Jinping.
Pakistanis, for their part, have a very favorable view of China and overwhelmingly call it their main ally, while their views of Russia are more negative than positive. They are also highly skeptical of the US and Israel, citing both as major threats – although less frequently than India. Pakistanis also consider Saudi Arabia one of their most important allies.
The survey also shows that both Indians and Pakistanis are skeptical about the extent to which the other country’s government and people are committed to good bilateral relations.
And in India, there are differences in how Hindu and Muslim respondents view Pakistan, with Indian Muslims generally expressing more favorable views than Indian Hindus. (Pew Research Center estimates for 2020 that India’s Muslim population is about 15%).
These surveys were conducted in India among 3,566 adults from February 8 to April 27, 2026, and in Pakistan among 1,039 adults from April 8 to May 7, 2026.
We began researching Pakistan just as peace talks between the US and Iran were beginning in Islamabad. (Notably, Pakistan was one of the few countries where views of the United States became more positive during the 2026 survey period.) The India survey comes ahead of recent “cockroach” protests over irregularities in national university entrance exams and youth unemployment.
Connected: Public opinion in India is mixed across 36 countries.
How do people in India and Pakistan treat each other?
In general, people in India and Pakistan have mostly unfavorable views of the other country.
About nine in ten Pakistanis have an unfavorable opinion of India, with about three-quarters (73%) saying their opinion is unfavorable. Very adverse. This sentiment is widely held across demographic groups in Pakistan.
In turn, 78% of Indians have an unfavorable opinion of Pakistan, including 65% who have a very unfavorable opinion. (Another 15% did not respond.) Muslims in the Hindu-majority country view Pakistan somewhat more favorably (21%) than Hindus (6%).
According to Pew Research Center polls, Indians’ views of Pakistan were overwhelmingly negative. No more than two in ten respondents have a positive view of Pakistan since 2013.
While there are no comparable trends in Pakistan over the past decade, previous Center research dating back to the early 2000s shows similarly negative assessments of India among Pakistanis. Proportions with a favorable prognosis ranged from single digits to one-third.
Connected: How do South Asians feel about other countries in the region?
When asked whether the governments and people of India and Pakistan are committed to good relations with each other, it is clear that people have faith only in their own country.
For example, a majority of Indian adults say that the Indian people and government are committed to good bilateral relations. But most Pakistani adults say the Indian people and government are not committed to the cause.
Likewise, a majority of Pakistani adults say their country’s people and government are committed to good bilateral relations. Meanwhile, most Indians say the Pakistani people and government are not committed. (About a quarter of Indians were unsure.)
About a third of Indian Muslims say the Pakistani people and government are committed to good relations, significantly higher than the share of Indian Hindus who say the same.
What do people in India and Pakistan think about major powers?
Indians and Pakistanis generally agree on one thing: their biggest geopolitical threat is something else. More than half of Indians (54%) name Pakistan as the biggest threat to their country, while 43% of Pakistanis name India. About a third of Indian Muslims (34%) name Pakistan as their main threat, compared with 57% of Hindus.
Indians also see China as a top threat (cited by 21%). Pakistanis, for their part, consider Israel (24%) and the United States (24%) their next biggest threats.
When asked about their most important ally, Pakistanis clearly point to China (75%) and, to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia (12%). About a third of Indians believe that Russia is their main ally (36%), and 16% name the United States. About a third of Indians did not answer this question.
Because the United States, China and Russia play such huge roles in world affairs, the divergent views of these major powers and their leaders are notable.
Indians, for example, show much more positive views of Russia (58% positive) and President Vladimir Putin (51% confident) than Pakistanis (39% and 32%). In fact, Indians are among the most positive toward Russia and Putin in 37 countries surveyed this spring.
When it comes to views of the US, Indians feel three times more favorable than Pakistanis. Indians are also expressing greater confidence in President Donald Trump.
Pakistanis have an overwhelmingly positive view of China (90% positive) and President Xi Jinping (83% confident). But only about a quarter of Indians express a positive opinion of China or its president. Indian Muslims are more likely than Indian Hindus to have a positive view of China and trust Xi Jinping, but their overall opinion of both is negative.
Indeed, among the 36 countries, the gap in favorability between the US and China is largest in Pakistan. India is one of the most comparatively pro-American countries surveyed, and one of six where people express more positive views of the United States than China.
Across a range of issues about the roles of the United States and China in the world (such as being reliable as a partner, taking into account the interests of other countries, intervening in the affairs of other countries, and maintaining global peace and stability), a similar pattern emerges: Indians have a more positive view of the United States, while Pakistanis have a much more positive view of China.
Connected: People in many countries now view China more positively than the United States