Reviewing Nation Branding Indexes: An Approach to Their Methodologies and Results

Definition

Nation branding refers to the strategic management of a country’s image to ensure that it is a fair, balanced, and useful reflection of the country itself. A strong nation brand is fundamental to its diplomacy, economy, and the well-being of its inhabitants, among other elements. To monitor the degree of this strength, different international indexes are periodically created and published. This entry focuses on introducing the concept of nation branding, and on describing the methodologies and latest results of the rankings that are currently considered most relevant in both academia and industry. These rankings are divided into two categories, namely, general nation branding indexes (Nation Brands Index, Future Brand Country Index, RepCore Nations, Good Country Index, Best Countries ranking) and field-specific nation branding indexes (Global Soft Power Index, Country Brand Ranking Tourism Edition, Country Brand Ranking Trade Edition, World Economic Outlook, Better Life Index).

1. Introduction

The external perception of a nation has become a critical factor for its economic, social, political, and cultural development, particularly in an increasingly globalized world where interdependence among different territories is significantly growing. Countries, whether consciously or unconsciously, fight to enhance the well-being of their inhabitants and attract tourism, commerce, talent, residents, and investment. As Simon Anholt [1] argues, becoming a brand is not merely an option but an essential and unavoidable necessity.

Since Anholt himself coined the term nation brand in 1996 [2]; the concept has evolved over time, with numerous authors contributing to the field. Fan [3] (p. 98) stated that place brands are formed by the sum of all the perceptions that international stakeholders have of that place in their minds. Aronczyk [4] (p. 16) defined place branding as the result of the interpenetration of public and commercial sector interests, aimed at communicating national priorities to external and internal audiences for various purposes. Zenker and Braun [5] (p. 275) considered it “a network of associations in the place consumers’ mind based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place and its stakeholders”.

These associations differ in their influence within the network and in their importance for the attitudes and behaviors of place consumers. Boisen, Terlouw, Groote, and Couwenberg [6] (p. 7) introduced the concepts of image and reputation to the discussion by explaining that the image of a territory is directly related to how that territory is perceived. Corbacho, Míguez, and Valderrama [7] highlighted the importance of the country brand as a distinctive seal of recognizable quality, which should be carried with pride by those who are considered ambassadors of it, in a broad sense, given that a recognized and strong country brand benefits those who form or contribute to it. More recent articles have upheld theories that are largely similar to the original ones regarding the concept’s background, such as the work by Vasist and Krishnam [8], which states that “in a highly competitive global market, a nation’s image is vital to its perception and helps countries compete to attract tourists, investors, and customers” (p. 12).

The 3-Gap Model, created by Robert Govers and Frank Go [9], can be used as a guide for the practical application of these theories to actual geographic or political entities. This system is based on the idea of using place brand management as a tool to bridge the gap between perception and reality; it aims to find the elements that influence the way in which the image of a place is formed in the minds of its audiences, highlighting the errors to be avoided and how to bridge these gaps [9,10]. The first of these gaps, focused on strategy, occurs when the projected image does not reflect the reality of the place, but its unique characteristics could be used as a competitive advantage. In this case, efforts should focus on finding both an adequate offer of products to be communicated and a coherent way of communicating them. When this is not achieved, the gap between the identities of the territories and the images they project grows. The second gap, based on performance, appears when the expectations of consumers/visitors differ from their experience (always with respect to a territory). In this case, even if the projected image is adequate and aligns with the identity of the territory, the staging and results may fail, causing disappointment. The third gap focuses on satisfaction. In this case, the staging may be correct, but the image that the consumer/visitor has of a territory is previously influenced by other aspects. It is often a question of cultural perspectives, which form expectations that do not correspond to the reality of the country. In this case, the effort should be focused on conveying an adequate image of the country. In order to discover how to bridge these gaps, the existing perceptions of the territories must be analyzed and measured, which leads us to the following section of this entry, which focuses on the indexes.

2. Nation Branding Indexes

Based on the previous considerations, it seems obvious that a strong nation brand is an advantage—an asset that can be used as the basis for diplomatic actions, a driver of the economy, and a support for the well-being of a country’s population. But when is a nation’s brand considered strong? How is this assessed? In order to monitor this level of robustness, there are international measurement indexes that take into account different factors. For this entry, two categories have been created, namely, general nation branding indexes (Section 2.1) and field-specific nation branding indexes (Section 2.2). In both cases, the five rankings currently considered more relevant in both academia and industry have been chosen [11,12,13,14,15,16]. The following sections describe the selected indexes, including their data compilation systems, as well as the country dimensions and performance indicators considered in the creation of each ranking.

2.1. General Nation Branding Indexes

2.1.1. Anholt Ipsos Nation Brands Index (NBI)

Simon Anholt explained the rationale behind creating his Nation Brands Index (NBI) in 2005—it is used to measure the images and reputations of nations and to track their profiles over time. The ranking is developed in collaboration with Ipsos, a market research and consulting company, and it is compiled by polling over 40,000 people from 20 countries [17]. Its 2024 edition, the latest one issued so far, includes at least 2000 interviews per country [18].

The report provides scores for 50 countries across six dimensions. The first dimension, exports, assesses the image of each country’s products and services. The second dimension, governance, measures opinions on the competence and fairness of governments. The third dimension, culture, includes film, music, art, sports, and literature. The fourth segment, people, measures the reputation of the inhabitants in different aspects. The fifth one, tourism, reflects the interest in visiting a nation. And the last dimension, investment and immigration, determines the ability to attract people and businesses [19].

The final NBI score that a country receives results from the average of the scores from the six dimensions above. The 2024 edition provided the following top ten results (Figure 1).

2.1.2. Future Brand Country Index (FCI)

Future Brand designed its Future Brand Country Index (FCI) to measure the strength of country brands; this involves studying them in the same way as commercial brands. It uses focus groups and interviews to measure the perceptions of 2530 travelers from 17 countries and gathers opinions on 75 nations. The index is prepared in collaboration with QRi Consulting, an international research firm [20].

Its methodology is based on the Future Brand Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) and includes seven areas of study. The first area is called awareness and measures whether respondents have heard of the country and if it comes to mind first when thinking of nations. The second one, familiarity, indicates the extent to which respondents know the country. The third area, associations, refers to the qualities that the public associates with the country. The fourth one, preference, evaluates the esteem and feelings respondents have toward the country. The fifth field, consideration, evaluates whether the country is among the respondents’ options for visits or investments. The sixth one, decision, measures whether respondents decide to visit or invest in the country. And the last area, advocacy, explores whether recommendations are made regarding the country [21].

Their latest report was issued in 2020 and provided the following top ten results (Figure 2).

2.1.3. ReputationLab’s RepCore Nations

The RepCore Nations ranking analyzes the degree of admiration, respect, and trust that a country deserves. Although it is a relatively new index, with only two editions so far, it is based on (and considered the natural evolution of) the Country RepTrak model, which had a proven quality trajectory [22]. Several governments and public and private institutions have replaced the first index with the most recent one [23,24,25,26].

Its methodology is an adaptation of the company’s RepCore model. It measures the reputation of countries using specific attributes, assigning scores based on the degree of admiration, respect, and trust to which each nation is held by international public opinion. This includes 22 rational attributes that cover economic, political, social, and cultural elements. The attributes are merged into five dimensions: institutional quality, quality of life, level of development, human factor, and ethics and responsibility [27].

Its 2024 edition interviewed 37,613 individuals across 28 countries, covering the 60 largest countries by GDP [28]. The first ten positions in this ranking can be seen in Figure 3, below:

2.1.4. Good Country’s Good Country Index (GCI)

The previous sections described three rankings that have proven to be valuable references and useful tools for companies, governments, and communication experts. However, two accredited specialists in the nation branding field—Simon Anholt (author of the above-mentioned NBI) and Robert Govers (co-author of the above-mentioned 3-Gap Model)—believed that an important perspective was missing in all of them. Thus, in 2014, a new index was born, namely, the Good Country Index (GCI) [29].

The GCI “tries to measure how much each country on earth contributes to the planet and to the human race, relative to its size (measured in GDP)” [30] (para. 1). The index is included in The Good Country initiative, directed at global leaders, with the goal of helping them recognize that they are responsible for their own countries as well as the broader world.

Based on 35 parameters retrieved from data collected by the UN and other reputable international organizations, each country receives different scores in seven areas: science and technology, culture, international peace and security, world order, planet and climate, prosperity and equality, and health and well-being. The index includes a total of 174 countries, which receive scores for each of the above-mentioned indicators, ranging from 0 to 1 (0 = maximum, 1 = minimum) on all data obtained, excluding countries for which sufficient data are not available [31].

Its latest edition (1.6), released in 2024, can be found, together with the previous ones, on its interactive website, where different visualization options are available for the data. The general top ten positions are depicted in Figure 4, below:

2.1.5. U.S. News’ Best Countries Ranking

The Best Countries ranking is developed by the media company U.S. News, in collaboration with global marketing and communications firm WPP, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania [33]. This ranking is part of a broader initiative that also features news and analysis, aimed at assessing global perceptions of countries.

The evaluation encompasses 89 nations and its results are based on a survey of 16,960 respondents from 36 nations. The evaluation measures 73 attributes that may influence trade, travel, and investment, thereby impacting national economies directly [33]. Those attributes are grouped into ten sub-rankings: adventure, agility, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, quality of life, and social purpose [34].

The Best Countries ranking is designed as an online platform that, in addition to presenting the rankings, offers several visualization tools, interactive data, and videos. In their 2024 edition, the weights assigned to each factor in calculating the overall rankings scores were as follows: movers (16.58%), quality of life (13.21%), entrepreneurship (12.91%), agility (12.65%), social purpose (12.53%), open for business (9.65%), cultural influence (9.30%), adventure (5.62%), power (4.34%) and heritage (3.22%) [34]. The final 2024 results yielded the following top ten positions (Figure 5).

2.2. Field-Specific Nation Branding Indexes

2.2.1. Brand Finance’s Global Soft Power Index

The Global Soft Power Index is mainly used for governance assessment. It studies the evolution of soft power as nations face changes and challenges. Soft power, according to the ranking website [35], is defined as a nation’s ability to influence the preferences and behaviors of various actors on the international stage through attraction and persuasion, rather than coercion.

Brand Finance, a consulting company, releases the Global Soft Power Index, drawing on responses from over 170,000 international participants from more than 100 countries. This study evaluates perceptions from all 193 United Nations member states, aiming to provide an in-depth analysis of how nations shape global preferences and behaviors through attraction and persuasion, instead of coercion [36], or, in their words, “the means of culture, business, or diplomacy, rather than military force or economic sanctions” [37] (p. 22).

Through three key performance indicators, namely, familiarity, reputation, and influence, eight soft power pillars—business and trade, international relations, education and science, culture and heritage, governance, media and communication, sustainable future, and people and values—are measured in this index. The 2025 results yielded the following top ten list (Figure 6).

2.2.2. Bloom Consulting’s Country Brand Rankings: Tourism and Trade Editions

Bloom Consulting, an international firm, periodically issues two country rankings, namely, Tourism Edition and Trade Edition. These indexes—rather than focusing on surveys, interviews, or expert opinions—capture numerical data, which are analyzed with Bloom Consulting’s proprietary software, D2 Digital Demand, formed by customized statistical models. The data are organized in separate dimensions based on the Bloom Consulting Nation Brand Wheel, which includes the following five objectives: attraction of investment, attraction of tourism, attraction of talent, strengthening prominence (public diplomacy efforts), and strengthening exports [38]

• The first ranking, focused on the tourism sector, measures the impact that international perception and reputation have over time in the tourism field. Its algorithm examines the tangible economic success of the countries’ tourism promotion strategies, calculated according to the international tourism receipts and growth reported by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and/ or the different national tourism organizations (NTOs). The volume of online searches for tourism-related activities and tourist attractions in each country is also considered, while the accuracy of the NTO’s strategic positioning is reviewed by verifying the alignment between an NTO’s strategy and what international tourists are searching for. The country’s overall online presence, via website and social media analytics, is also considered [39]. The top ten positions from the latest edition of Country Brand Ranking—Tourism Edition (2024/2025) are depicted in Figure 7, below:

Figure 7. Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking—Tourism Edition 2024/25, top ten positions. Source: Bloom Consulting, 2024 [40].

Figure 7. Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking—Tourism Edition 2024/25, top ten positions. Source: Bloom Consulting, 2024 [40].

• The second ranking focuses on international trade information. Its data combination includes the tangible economic success of a country’s investment promotion strategy, based on inflows and growth reported by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and/or national investment promotion agencies (IPA). Furthermore, a dedicated tool measures the online search volume for socio-economic factors and investment-related sectors in a specific country. In addition, a country brand obtains a high score if its IPA’s strategy is shaped around the trade-related brand tags with the highest demand in terms of search volume. IPA data are also used through website analysis and social media data to determine the general visibility of the country brand [41,42]. The 2024/2025 edition of the Country Brand Ranking—Trade Edition provided the following top ten results (Figure 8).

2.2.3. International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook (WEO)

Based on data from, and prepared by, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this index is considered a key indicator for assessing the performance of national economies at the global level. It ranks countries around the world, using their gross domestic product (GDP) as the main indicator. According to the IMF’s website, “GDP is the most commonly used single measure of a country’s overall activity. It represents the total value at current prices of final goods and services produced within a country during a specified time period” [44] (par. 1).

To develop their WEO reports, the IMF divides data into groups, according to both world regions and each country’s level of economic development. The full publication, typically released biannually with interim updates, is a comprehensive assessment of global economic prospects and policies conducted by IMF’s staff. It provides in-depth analyses and forecasts for the global economy in the short and medium term; it examines key issues that may impact advanced, emerging, and developing economies and explores topics of current relevance [45].

As of February 2025, the general GDP ranking provided the following top ten results (Figure 9).

2.2.4. OECD’s Better Life Index (BLI)

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international body that “works to build better policies for better lives” [46] (para. 1), created its Better Life Index (BLI) in 2011. Since then, five editions of their summary report “How is life” have been published, with the latest one dated in 2020. Nevertheless, its website is often updated with information from the OECD itself, and includes data from the United Nations Statistics, National Statistics Offices, and the Gallup World Poll. The index includes the 38 countries that are members of the OECD and 3 more nations, namely, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa [47].

The BLI is part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, which “focuses on developing statistics to capture aspects of life that matter to people and that shape the quality of their lives” [48] (para. 3). The BLI compares well-being in different countries, based on 11 themes that the OECD has identified as essential to material living conditions and quality of life, namely, housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety, and work-life balance [49]. It is presented as an online interactive tool, with the aim of allowing users to see how countries perform across different topics, according to the importance they give to each of them. Consequently, it is arguably the most subjective of the approaches discussed in this paper. Even though the original data are objective and reliable, the weights of the topics are proactively assigned by the users, who build and customize their own index, rating each of them from 0 (“not important”) to 5 (“very important”) [50].

Figure 10 below shows the current (February 2025) top ten country rankings, when assigning a value of 5 to all 11 categories, in order to provide the best possible non-personalized global picture. Norway is in the 1st position, while Canada ranks number 10.

3. Conclusions

This entry provides a general overview of the most relevant international nation branding indexes for both industry and academia. It begins with an introduction to the concept of nation branding—covering its definition and evolution—and then presents the five main general indexes, followed by five specialized rankings for different sectors. The methodologies used for each index are outlined, along with the top positions achieved in the latest editions of all the rankings considered. While limited by the fact that only the main indexes have been included and only their latest editions considered—aspects that present opportunities for future research—the analysis reveals that, although certain countries are featured in most classifications, the specific aims and data presented in each index influence the final results, making them complementary, as each one serves a different purpose. Their role in governmental decision-making and international communication strategies varies across countries. However, the information these rankings provide is evidently relevant for those involved in promoting a nation’s international image, economy, and diplomatic strategies.