Politics

The USA’s reputation isn’t that great. Blame Canada

Bob CollinsBob Collins Jul 17, 2015
9

When it comes to reputation, Canada rules.

For the fourth time in six years, Canada has come out in the top spot on the Reputation Institute‘s annual ranking of countries by perceived image.

The institute surveyed the 55 countries with the highest GDPs, by interviewing more than 48,000 people living in G8 countries.

Questions were based on these categories:

Effective government — Social and economic policies, efficient use of public resources, ethical, etc.

Appealing environment — Beautiful country, welcoming people, appealing lifestyle, etc.

Advanced economy — High-quality products and services, well-known brands, values education, etc.

According to the CBC…

Canada ranked particularly high in the environment category, but was bested by Japan in how the world perceives its level of development. Sweden took the top spot in the government category.

Along with questions about the perceived physical beauty, available experiences and institutional organization of different countries, respondents were also asked which countries they admired, which gave them a “good feeling” and which they themselves would like to interact with.

This is where Canada really scored some points.

More respondents would rather live, visit, work and study in Canada than in any other country in the top 10 list, though Switzerland was preferred for buying, investing and attending events.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the absence of a certain country in the discussion.

In fact, the United States doesn’t even make the top 20.

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The U.S. finished just outside the top 20.

“The US has an average reputation … because they don’t have the highest scores in all the different attributes. They have very strong ones in technology, in having strong brands, but not as much in other ones.” the institute’s Fernando Prado tells CTV. He says there’s a negative “emotional halo” surrounding the US, citing that the US scored well in rational areas but less so in emotional ones.

The U.S., however, finishes in the “above average” category.

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Egypt and Iran were among the country’s with the most improved reputations, although Iraq and Iran are at the bottom of the list. Russia and Ukraine are among those with the biggest declines.