AKIPRESS.COM - Europe is starkly divided between east and west on attitudes towards minorities and social issues such as gay rights and abortion, data shows, Guardian reports.

Despite the fall of the iron curtain and the eastward expansion of the EU, the attitudes of people in central and eastern countries differ significantly from those in western Europe, according to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center involving 56,000 adults.

Asked if they would be willing to accept a Muslim or a Jew into their family, fewer than half of respondents in almost all central and eastern European countries said yes compared with more than half in western European countries. Only Croatia and Italy bucked the trend.

Armenia was the country least accepting of minorities, with 7% saying they were open to a Muslim joining their family and 28% saying the same about a Jew. The Netherlands came out on top at the other end of the scale, with 88% saying they would accept a Muslim and 96% a Jew.