New Zealand not so racist

Liberals often despair over the state of race relations in New Zealand, viewing the masses as being particular backward on racism. But a recent comparative survey of countries shows that NZ is less bigoted than most other comparable nations. The survey found that in NZ, 3% of society would not like neighbours of a different race. This compared to 16% in Italy. Apparently we are second lowest (out of 23 countries) for racism, with only Sweden beating us (2.6%). On other issues NZers are similarly bigoted to other nations. When asked if they minded living next to a gay neighbour, the survey found 22% did. The countries with the highest homophobia were the macho and/or Roman Catholic countries such as Greece (26.8), the Republic of Ireland (27.5) Italy (28.7) and Portugal (25.6), although interestingly enough, it was Northern Ireland that easily came out on top, with 36% saying they did not want gay neighbours. In Sweden only 6% said they would object. There's more info in the Herald article, as well as commentaries by NoRightTurn and Kiwiblog.