A survey of 1202 New Zealanders has found 22.3% would not like gay people as neighbours. And of 2048 Australians surveyed, one in four said they didn't want gays living next door. John Mangan, professor of economics at the University of Queensland, is co-author of a paper interpreting statistics from the Human Beliefs and Values Survey, conducted in 24 Western countries between 1999 and 2002. He said the results showed anti-gay prejudice was by no means confined to Australia. "The conclusion is the most prevalent form of bigotry is homophobia. It's everybody except Scandinavians, so it's not a particularly Australian thing." The figure was exceeded by survey respondents in Austria (26.7%), Greece (26.8), the Republic of Ireland (27.5) Italy (28.7) and Portugal (25.6). And Northern Ireland came out on top, with 36% saying they did not want gay neighbours. The least prejudiced nationality in the survey was Sweden, where only 6% said they would object. Australia fared relatively well in other categories, with only 4.6% of people saying they would not like people of a different race as neighbours and 4.5% objecting to immigrants or foreign workers next door. In New Zealand, 3% of those surveyed said they would not like neighbours of a different race, while 5.4% said they would object to immigrants or foreign workers next door. Professor Mangan said the reasons the various national attitudes evolved would be the subject of further research. Factors influencing bigotry included income, employment, education levels and political leanings. "Tolerance seems to rise with education more than anything else," he said. "But you can have quite wealthy people who are older and probably have less formal education who tend to have more fixed beliefs." Women are less likely to be bigoted than men, and the young (15-29 years) and middle-aged (30-49) were less liely to be bigoted than those aged over 50. The paper, entitled "Love Thy Neighbour: How Much Bigotry Is There In Western Countries?" was co-authored by Professor Vani Borooah of the University of Ulster. The research is available to view as a PDF on the link below. Otherwise, Google stores it as a cached page - search for 'Love Thy Neighbour Queensland'. Related links: A survey of 1202 New Zealanders has found 22.3% would not like gay people as neighbours. And of 2048 Australians surveyed, one in four said they didn't want gays living next door. John Mangan, professor of economics at the University of Queensland, is co-author of a paper interpreting statistics from the Human Beliefs and Values Survey, conducted in 24 Western countries between 1999 and 2002. He said the results showed anti-gay prejudice was by no means confined to Australia. "The conclusion is the most prevalent form of bigotry is homophobia. It's everybody except Scandinavians, so it's not a particularly Australian thing." The figure was exceeded by survey respondents in Austria (26.7%), Greece (26.8), the Republic of Ireland (27.5) Italy (28.7) and Portugal (25.6). And Northern Ireland came out on top, with 36% saying they did not want gay neighbours. The least prejudiced nationality in the survey was Sweden, where only 6% said they would object. Australia fared relatively well in other categories, with only 4.6% of people saying they would not like people of a different race as neighbours and 4.5% objecting to immigrants or foreign workers next door. In New Zealand, 3% of those surveyed said they would not like neighbours of a different race, while 5.4% said they would object to immigrants or foreign workers next door. Professor Mangan said the reasons the various national attitudes evolved would be the subject of further research. Factors influencing bigotry included income, employment, education levels and political leanings. "Tolerance seems to rise with education more than anything else," he said. "But you can have quite wealthy people who are older and probably have less formal education who tend to have more fixed beliefs." Women are less likely to be bigoted than men, and the young (15-29 years) and middle-aged (30-49) were less liely to be bigoted than those aged over 50. The paper, entitled "Love Thy Neighbour: How Much Bigotry Is There In Western Countries?" was co-authored by Professor Vani Borooah of the University of Ulster. The research is available to view as a PDF on the link below. Otherwise, Google stores it as a cached page - search for 'Love Thy Neighbour Queensland'. Ref: New Zealand Herald, Pinknews.co.uk (m)