The question "If there was a war that involved your country would you be willing to fight?" was posed by Win/Gallup International to the inhabitants of 63 countries.
The percentage of Portuguese and the European average of those willing to go to war in defence of their countries was under a third, with the number of potential 'volunteers' in Portugal just 28%.
Overall, 60% of respondents said ‘yes’, 27% said ‘no’ and 12% did not know or refused to answer the question.
These results "have very significant differences between the countries under review," reports the commentary from Marktest on the results of the study.
Fiji, Morocco, Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh recorded over 85% of residents willing to take up arms if their ciountries were at war.
In Japan only 11% of respondents said they were up for it with 43% saying they would not fight, and in the Netherlands just 15% would go to war.
Three other European countries, Germany (18%), Belgium (19%) and Italy (20%) saw a low 'yes' response rate.
Overall, "it is in Western Europe that fewer respondents say they are willing to fight for their countries” with an average of 25% willing to volunteer.
The highest positive response rates were from the Middle East and North Africa, regions where 77% of respondents would be willing to fight for their country.
The study by Win Gallup was conducted between October and November 2014, with a sample of 64,909 respondents living in 65 countries.
