Ireland’s ‘reputation’ falls to 13th

Ireland slipped one place to 13th among countries with the best reputation, although its overall score improved on 2013.

The Country RepTrak, which ranks the top 55 countries in the world by reputation, found that Switzerland had the best reputation, according to the Reputations Agency and the Reputation Institute.

Ireland’s 13th place is a considerable improvement on the 26th it ranked in 2009 during the height of the financial crisis.

“Country reputation is vital for building strong international relations, attracting tourism, foreign direct investment and providing much-needed support to domestic companies trading internationally, especially among the G8 countries which are vital trading partners and sources of revenue for Ireland,” said Niamh Boyle, managing director of the Reputations Agency.

“It is therefore encouraging to see Ireland improving its ranking ahead of other nations such as the US, Spain, France, and Italy.”

The ranking is based on levels of trust, esteem, admiration and respect, polling an online panel of more than 27,000 people representing the G8 countries. The study looks at whether the country is a safe place to visit and on the quality of its landscape. Ireland improved its position by two notches to ninth in the ‘friendly and welcoming people’ criteria. Having a ‘safe environment’ comes second in importance, and here, Ireland was ranked in 14th position. Ireland was ranked in eighth position under the criteria, ‘is a beautiful country’ — the third most important attribute in driving a country’s reputation.

“This year, Ireland has again shown some small improvements across a number of key attributes, including; ‘is run by an effective government’; ‘is a responsible participant in the global community’; ‘is a safe place’; ‘produces high-quality products and services’ and ‘offers a favourable environment for doing business’,” said Ms Boyle. “Importantly, the support of the G8 countries has also improved, in particular their propensity to invest and work in Ireland.

“However, the areas where Ireland needs to be put more focus continue to be building well-known brands and gaining recognition for being ‘technologically advanced’.”

Ireland received a score of 68.5, compared to 67.6 in 2012. Switzerland received a score of 76 on a 100-point scale. Canada, the country with the highest reputation scores in each of the past three years, was a close second with a score of 75.6.

Rounding out the top 10 are Sweden (75.1), Finland (74.6), Australia (73.8), Norway (73.7), Denmark (73.4), New Zealand (72.5), Netherlands (71.1), and Germany (69.9), countries known for their solid democracies and high living standards. Nigeria (34.9), Pakistan (30.0), and Iran (26.9) are the lowest-rated.