How many people think aliens and UFOs exist? Here's what we know

Connor Parker
Updated ·4 min read
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Former intelligence officer David Grusch said the US government was in possession of alien aircraft. (Getty)
Former intelligence officer David Grusch said the US government was in possession of alien aircraft. (Getty)

The internet is abuzz with talk of aliens and UFOs after the much-anticipated congressional hearing in America saw whistle-blowers claim the US government was hiding information about unidentified flying objects.

In recent years the Pentagon has ramped up its investigation into unidentified flying objects but has avoided saying they were created by aliens.

On Wednesday David Grusch, a whistle-blower former intelligence official, told the congressional hearing the US government has conducted a "multi-decade" programme designed to reverse-engineer UFOs.

Grusch has previously claimed the US is in possession of intact alien aircraft.

The hearing was packed with journalists at the time and has since received global coverage with social media full of questions about whether aliens are real.

It also shone a light on attitudes towards all things extraterrestrial - so Yahoo News has taken a look at what those beliefs are.

How many Brits think aliens are real?

According to a YouGov survey carried out in 2021, half of Brits think aliens are real, with 7% claiming they have seen a UFO

Half of Britons say aliens exist, including a fifth who think they've been to Earth. (YouGov)
Half of Britons say aliens exist, including a fifth who think they've been to Earth. (YouGov)

Around a fifth of respondents said they believed aliens had visited Earth at some point.

Only slightly more (29%) said they did not think aliens existed at all.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Britons are not as convinced by the existence of aliens as Americans are with YouGov finding in 2022 almost 60% of people in the US saying they probably exist.

One in fourteen Britons claim to have seen an UFO. (YouGov)
One in fourteen Britons claim to have seen an UFO. (YouGov)

In terms of UFOs, one in 14 Brits (7%) believe they have seen one themselves, with men more than twice as likely as women to think that.

The same research indicated that if the existence of aliens is proven, 39% of Brit's think that humans should keep their hands down and not make contact, as opposed to 31% who reckon we should

In the US, almost a quarter of people said they had seen something they believed was a UFO.

Is the UK government searching for UFOs?

Despite the US's new interest in finding UFOs, the UK doesn't share the same enthusiasm.

The last time a minister was asked about it, Baroness Goldie said in the House of Lords in 2021 that the UK had "no opinion on the existence of extraterrestrial life."

The US Congress is becoming increasingly interested in UFOs. (Getty)
The US Congress is becoming increasingly interested in UFOs. (Getty)

She also said the UK does not investigate sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and has no plan to carry out a report into them because, in the past 50 years, they had not presented a military threat to the UK.

After the Chinese balloon was seen over the US Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the government would review its stance on investigating UFOs.

Could UFO sightings be connected to aliens?

Although the Pentagon has not released its justification for its new focus on UFOs and UAPs, it is believed to be more likely connected to the Chinese balloon incident in early 2023 rather than alien life.

After the balloon was shot down the US identified and destroyed several UAPs. Few details about these objects have been released but the Pentagon did say they believed they were man-made.

The Chinese spy balloon has sparked new interest in UFOs. (Getty)
The Chinese spy balloon has sparked new interest in UFOs. (Getty)

At the congressional hearing on Wednesday Grusch said the US likely has been aware of "non-human" activity on Earth since the 1930s.

In a statement, the Pentagon denied most of Grusch's claims but did not directly mention his assertations about alien life.

How are we searching for alien life?

Although some people believe the US is hiding the existence of alien life from humanity, there is a public effort underway to try and find intelligent life out in the universe.

The majority of scientific effort is focused on finding any biological life by looking at planets for simple indicators of life or signs life could exist on the surface.

But there are several stations dedicated to finding intelligent life by trying to intercept radiowaves.

In 2016 a $100m project called Breakthrough Listen was launched, with most of the funding being spent on thousands of hours of dedicated telescope time.

It is believed to be the most comprehensive search for alien communications to date and is searching for radio waves and lasers that only an intelligent life could have given off.