This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu, visualizes the results of an Ipsos poll that asked adults whether they thought aliens would visit Earth.

The survey consisted of 24,471 adults across 36 countries, conducted between October and November, 2022.

Where E.T.’s Existence Would be Most Accepted

India, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had the highest share of respondents who believe an alien visit would be likely.

It’s hard to ascertain any one reason these three countries believe in aliens so strongly. It may be due to rich mythologies where the acceptance of various gods, djinn, and other magical beings translates into acceptance of alien life.

There might also be a religious element at play. Ongoing discussions about what the Quran states about other forms of life, except for humans, have generated interest on the internet.

It could also be an effect of mass media: the Star Wars movies, for example, were very popular in India.

However, the same influence for some countries clearly doesn’t work for others. The U.S., home to Hollywood—which seems to release at least one movie about aliens a year—sits firmly middle of the pack.

And then there’s Japan, where only 8% of those surveyed believed a visit was likely.

This is somewhat surprising, given the country’s strong technological advancements and fascination with futuristic themes in popular culture.

So… Do Aliens Exist?

NASA has said that so far, no credible evidence exists for extraterrestrial life. And despite multiple “strange light sightings,” over the years, the Department of Defense’s most recent report states there’s no “verifiable evidence” that all the “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (a new term for UFOs) actually represents alien life.

However, as a case study for probability, the odds of humans being the only advanced civilization in the whole universe is one in ten billion trillion. Or really, really, small.

So, purely mathematically, the chances of alien life existing are likely.

Now whether they’d visit—is another question entirely.

If aliens did visit, they’d probably bump into one of the many satellites hovering over the planet. Check out Operational and Planned Low Earth Orbit Internet Satellite Projects by creator MadeVisual to see which companies own what constellations.