57 percent of Germans hold a favorable view of NATO and only 49 percent in France | Tobias Sschwarz/AFP via Getty Images Support for NATO down in France and Germany, report says Both countries would prefer the US intervene militarily rather than their own forces.

NATO's popularity has declined markedly in France and Germany over the past years, a study published on Monday by the Pew Research Institute has found.

According to the report, 57 percent of Germans hold a favorable view of NATO, down almost 20 percentage points from the late 2000s. Over the same period, approval went down from 71 percent to 49 percent in France.

Only 34 percent of Germans and 41 percent of the French would want their country to intervene militarily if another NATO member was attacked by Russia. By contrast, 63 percent of Germans and 57 percent of the French would want to see U.S. troops to become active in such a situation.

The study found a marked difference between the two countries when it comes to whether a relationship with the U.S. or Russia is more important. In France, 60 percent favored the U.S., but only 18 percent chose Russia. Meanwhile in Germany, a mere 39 percent preferred the U.S. over Russia (25 percent).

Among NATO members, Germany showed particularly low approval for "military force to maintain order in the world" in general. Forty-seven percent said it is sometimes necessary, much less than in France (64 percent), the U.K. (71 percent) and the U.S. (78 percent).

Although not directly linked to NATO or defense topics, the study also asked respondents if they believe "parts of neighboring countries belong to them."

By far the highest result was obtained in Hungary, where 67 percent confirmed their belief in such territorial claims. Sixty percent said the same in Greece, whereas generally lower values were found in Western European countries such as Spain (37 percent), France (33 percent), Germany (30 percent) and the U.K. (23 percent).