The Dublin-based Reputations Agency, which is part of the DDFH&B Group, and Reputation Institute has published details of its annual Country Rep Trak study which shows that Ireland is ranked 11th by the general public in terms of its overall reputation. Canada topped this year’s survey.
Ireland’s reputation rose two places from 13th place in 2014 to 11th place in 2015, improving its score by 5.2 percentage points, from a moderate score of 68.5 out of 100 in 2014 to a strong score of 72 in 2015.
Just 12 countries hold a strong score in this year’s study, while eight hold Moderate scores, 30 hold Weak scores and five hold Poor scores. Ireland was ranked ahead of the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and France and the US in the study.
The Country RepTrak study measures the reputation of 55 countries based on levels of trust, esteem, admiration and good feeling, polling an online panel of more than 48,000 consumers representing the G8 countries. The study measures a country’s perceptions based on three dimensions: effective government, appealing environment, and advanced economy. These dimensions are further broken down into 17 attributes.
Of the 17 attributes measured, the most important attribute in driving the reputation of a country is “Friendly and welcoming people”, where Ireland was ranked in ninth position. Having a “Beautiful country” comes second in importance and here Ireland was ranked in 6th position overall. Ireland also came tenth in the list of countries that G8 consumers would like to visit.
Niamh Boyle, managing director, The Reputations Agency said; “An increasingly globalised world with intensified competition makes country reputation matter more than ever. Attracting tourists, FDI and high-skilled workforce, improving international diplomacy, and being able to sell Irish products abroad are all facilitated by having a strong country reputation. The G8 countries are important trading partners and sources of revenue for Ireland so improving our reputation scores amongst these nations is great news for Ireland’s economy.”
Canada received a score of 78.1 on a 100-point scale. Norway came second with a score of 77.1. Rounding out the Top 10 are Sweden (76.6), Switzerland (76,4), Australia (76.3), Finland (75.1), New Zealand (75.0), Denmark (74.5), Netherlands (73.7) and Belgium (72.3) – countries known for their political stability, solid democracies, strong infrastructures and high standards of living. Nigeria (36.3), Russia (35.1), Pakistan (31.5), Iran (29.8), Iraq (22.5) are the lowest rated countries.
