Countries like Iraq, Iran, and Russia find themselves in the headlines daily due to their ongoing military conflicts, human rights violations, and oppressive regimes.
Unsurprisingly, a report issued today by the Reputation Institute ranks them among the least reputable countries in the world.
On the other side are the most admired and reputable countries, of which Canada leads the pack.
The Reputation Institute's Country Reptrak report "measures the reputation of 55 (largest by GDP) countries based on levels of trust, esteem, admiration and respect based on an online panel of more than 27,000 people representing the G8 countries."
The report looks at 16 attributes for each nation. Evaluations include the country's safety, if the residents are welcoming, if the government is effectively progressive socially and economically, and even the beauty of the countryside itself.
Given these criteria, here are the top 20 most reputable countries in the world:
The Reputation Institute's Fernando Prado told CTV, "We all love Canada because of several things ... absence of corruption ... a high level of welfare for the inhabitants, and with friendly and welcoming people."
Eight of the top ten nations are very far North, seven of them (all European nations) are or have been militarily neutral in the past, and five are NATO members.
Surprisingly, the US falls just short of cracking the top 20.
Prado explains that, "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."
Prado describes a negative "emotional halo" surrounding the US, citing that the US scored well in rational areas, but less so in emotional ones.
Significantly, the most improved countries included Iran (+10.8%), China (+7.9%), and India (+7.4%).
The chart below displays all 55 countries rankings, with the US floating just above the global average.
This years report also offers interesting data on how country's reputations have changed since 2014.
The chart below shows nations like Egypt and Iran actually gaining a fair amount of credibility:
The chart below shows the nation of Qatar declining in reputation, which is likely related to reports of human rights violations and their involvement with the FIFA scandal that blew up earlier this year.
Russia and the Ukraine also lost points, as they spent much of the year mired in a mutual and bloody conflict.
