A majority of people around the world view US President George W. Bush unfavourably and think the United States was wrong to invade Iraq, according to a BBC poll published on Monday.

A US Army soldier keeps watch as infantry and military police raid an Iraqi house at dawn to search for weapons June 16, 2003 in the town of Khaldiya, 80 km west of Baghdad. [Reuters]

The poll, which surveyed more than 11,000 people in 11 countries, showed 57 percent of those asked had "a very unfavourable or fairly unfavourable attitude towards the American president", the British broadcaster said in a statement.

Some 56 percent felt the United States was wrong to attack Iraq, including 81 percent of Russian respondents and 63 percent of those polled in France.

In Jordan and Indonesia, well over half of those asked felt the United States posed a greater danger to world peace and stability than al Qaeda.

In five of the 11 countries polled, a majority of respondents believed the United States was more dangerous than Iran, named by Bush as part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea.

And in eight of the 11, respondents said the United States was more dangerous than Syria, a country which Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.

However, attitudes towards America, rather than the Bush administration, were slightly more positive.

Half rated the country "fairly" while 40 percent considered it "unfavourable".

Asked if their country was becoming more like America, 81 percent of Australians and 64 percent of Britons said "Yes".

The survey, conducted in May and June by the BBC and pollsters around the world, covered Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

It was commissioned for a TV programme called "What the World Thinks of America".

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