10 Most Reputable Countries and Canada Takes Top Spot

I regularly write about lists and reports that rank how Canada is perceived globally and have featured our great country in posts such as the smartest countries, the happiest countries, the best countries for entrepreneurs, the best countries to live, the most competitive countries to do business in the world, and even the most peaceful countries in the world. Today, I’m continuing on in this vein by looking at the list of the countries with the best reputation.

This list is based on the 2012 Country RepTrak™ study, which was published by the Reputation Institute. The Reputation Institute is the world’s leading reputation management consultant and have been measuring a cross-section of reputations since 1999.

When deciding eligible countries, the “selection was based on a combination of the following criteria: (a) largest economies, (b) largest populations, (c) country of interest due to recent economic, political, or natural events. [They] then measured the perceptions of the selected countries across the world’s G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States of America).”

Rankings were determined according to a “standardized scorecard that measures perceptions of countries based on key performance indicators designed to assess the relative appeal of the country to respondents on 16 characteristics organized into 3 dimensions: Advanced Economy (produces high quality products and services, has many well-known brands, important contributor to global culture, technologically advanced, well-educated and reliable workforce and values education); Appealing Environment (beautiful country, enjoyable country, offers an appealing lifestyle and the people are friendly and welcoming); and Effective Government (offers a favorable environment for doing business, run by an effective government, has adopted progressive social and economic policies, responsible participant in the global community, is a safe place and operates efficiently).”

The scores are out of 100 and based on the following scale: Above 80 – Excellent/Top Tier; 70-79 Strong/Robust; 60-69 Average/Moderate; 40-59 Weak/Vulnerable; and Below 40 Poor/Bottom Tier. The top 10 countries with the best reputation according to this study are:

1. Canada – Score: 77.77. Canada retained their top spot for the second year in a row.
2. Australia – Score: 75.21. Australia was able to move up one place from a 2011 rating of third.
3. Sweden – Score: 75.16. Sweden moved down one on the list to finish third.
4. Switzerland – Score: 74.78. For the third year in a row Switzerland maintain their fourth place finish.
5. Norway – Score: 73.90. Moving up one from a 2011 showing of sixth allows Norway to break into the top five.
6. New Zealand – Score: 72.94. New Zealand fell one sport to six this year, and is thus out of the top five.
7. Finland – Score: 72.05. Finland was able to move up one space this year to finish seventh.
8. Denmark – Score: 71.72. Denmark fell to eighth in the 2012 list from a 2011 place of seventh.
9. Austria – Score: 70.55. Austria was able to maintain their ninth place finish from 2011.
10. Netherlands – Score: 69.52. Rounding out the top ten for the second year in a row is the Netherlands.

The model for this ranking was based on the “degree to which people Trust, Admire, Respect and have a Good Feeling for a place or their emotional bond to the country.” The bottom 5 countries were Saudi Arabia (36.74), Nigeria (31.54), Pakistan (26.59), Iran (21.34) and at the bottom was Iraq (20.32).

A country’s global reputation will determine people’s “willingness to: visit it, live in it, invest in it, buy products and services from it, study in it and work in it largely”. An improved country reputation can lead to increased tourism, exports, Foreign Direct Investment and Gross Domestic Product.

Well done Canada.

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