Germany has knocked USA off the top spot to second place for “best nation”, and now takes the lead in the Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index (NBI).
Score gain on “sport excellence” helps propel Germany to top spot on NBI. (Image credit: joris484/iStock)
According to the annual study, Germany achieved the largest overall NBI increase partly due to its score gain on “sport excellence”, which is the largest gain seen this year for any single attribute across the 50 measured nations.
People around the world now have more positive perceptions of Germany than of the 49 other developed and developing countries.
The NBI study measures global perceptions of each country based on exports, governance, culture, people, tourism and immigration/investment. For the 2014 study, a total of 20,125 interviews were conducted across 20 countries.
Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor, explained: “Germany appears to have benefited not only from the sports prowess it displayed on the world stage at the FIFA World Cup championship, but also by solidifying its perceived leadership in Europe through a robust economy and steady political stewardship.”
Germany’s score gains in the areas of “honest and competent government”, “investment climate”, and “social equality” are among the largest it achieved across all the aspects covered by the NBI 2014 survey.
U.S. downgraded heavily by Russia and Egypt for role in global peace and security. (Image credit: dibrova/iStock)
In contrast USA, which has held the top spot for the past five years, has shown the least impressive NBI gain among the developed nations. While it is still seen as number one in several areas including creativity, contemporary culture, and educational institutions, its role in global peace and security only ranks 19th out of 50 nations.
Xiaoyan Zhao, senior vice president and director of NBI at GfK, said: “In a year of various international confrontations, the United States has lost significant ground where tension has been felt the most acutely. Both Russia and Egypt have downgraded the U.S. in an unprecedented manner, particularly in their perception of American commitment to global peace and security, and in their assessment of the competence of the U.S. government.”
On a global level, however, it is Russia that has received the strongest criticism from public opinion. In previous years the country had shown upward momentum, but in the study it stands out as the only nation out of 50 to suffer a precipitous drop.
Russia’s largest decline is registered on the governance dimension, especially for the attribute of its perceived role in international peace and security. This is the most drastic score drop seen for any single attribute across the 50 nations. Overall in this year’s study, Russia has slipped three places to 25th, overtaken by Argentina, China, and Singapore.
Zhao added: “International diplomacy clearly reaches beyond the realm of public opinion – however, policy makers need to be keenly aware that the way in which a country is perceived globally can make a critical differ- ence to the success of its business, trade and tourism efforts, as well as its diplomatic and cultural relations with other nations. As our partner Simon Anholt often says, the only superpower left in today’s world is global public opinion.”
