Where the UK ranks in a new list of the ‘most polite’ countries in the world

Sometimes, Brits can be polite to a fault. We’ll always say our please and thank yous, we’ll always let someone else through the door first, we’ll always form an orderly queue and if someone trips us up on the pavement or smacks us in the face, we’ll probably be the one to profusely apologise. British good manners are world-famous. And, in case you needed proof, a new survey has crowned us the third politest nation on the planet. 

Financial services provider Remitly did some digging to uncover which countries are considered the most well-mannered. It asked 4,600 people from 26 different nations  about their perception of their own politeness and asked them to name the place that they perceive to have the politest population. 

Just over six percent of the survey’s respondents perceived the UK as the politest country in the world. The only two countries that had more votes were Canada, which was voted the politest by 13.5 percent of respondents, and Japan, which got an overwhelming 35.15 percent of the vote. See the top 25 in full here. 

Having good manners is not quite the same as being friendly (the worst person you know could also be the politest), but there’s certainly overlap. And in Time Out’s most recent Best Cities survey, three British cities were voted among the most friendly in the world: Brighton, Belfast and Glasgow. You can read more about what makes them so welcoming here. 

Did you see that four UK destinations are in the top 50 most beautiful places in the world? 

Plus: This countryside afternoon tea has been named one of the world’s greatest things to do in 2026 by TIME magazine. 

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