Windhoek
Namibia has been ranked second among African countries with a high level of tolerance for people living with HIV/Aids, below Botswana and ahead of Zimbabwe in third position and Swaziland in fourth position.
South Africa is ranked fifth by the 2014/2015 Afrobarometer report released on Monday.
The study, which evaluated 33 countries in Africa, ranked Botswana first at 96 percent followed by Namibia at 94 percent, Zimbabwe in third position with 94 percent and Swaziland with 93 percent followed by South Africa at 93 percent.
Respondents were asked whether they would like having people who have HIV/Aids as neighbours.
Other countries that made the top 15 were Malawi, Gabon, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Cape Verde and Uganda.
The bottom five were listed as Niger at 22 percent, Madagascar with 23 percent, Sierra Leone with 23 percent, Guinea at 30 percent and Morocco with 42 percent.
The report says that Africans express a high degree of tolerance for people from different ethnic groups, people of different religions, immigrants and people living with HIV/Aids.
According to the report, tolerance levels are particularly high in regions and countries that are ethnically and religiously diverse, suggesting that experience is an important factor in inculcating an attitude of tolerance among African citizens.
Similarly, tolerance for people living with HIV/Aids is highest in countries with a high HIV/Aids prevalence, providing further evidence that intolerance and stigmatization can be unlearned through personal encounters.
The report states that a large majority of African citizens, however, are intolerant of homosexual citizens.
Across the 33 countries, an average of 78 percent of respondents said they would “somewhat dislike” or “strongly dislike” having a homosexual neighbour.
But not all of Africa is strongly homophobic. The majority of respondents in four countries (Cape Verde, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa) and more than four in 10 citizens in three other countries would like or not mind having homosexual neighbours.
The report titled “Good neighbours? Africans express high levels of tolerance for many but not for all” is available in English, French and Portuguese.
The Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions and related issues across Africa.