South Korea was ranked 27th in the 2014 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI) overall brand ranking, 21 notches behind Japan.
In the category of exports, South Korea placed 13th, according to a study released by GfK, Germany's largest market research institute, Thursday (local time).
After holding the No. 1 place since 2009, the United States was pushed down to second place by Germany this year.
Simon Anholt, an independent policy adviser, said: “Germany appears to have benefited not only from the sports prowess it displayed on the world stage at the FIFA World Cup championship, but also by solidifying its perceived leadership in Europe through a robust economy and steady political stewardship.
"Germany's score gains in the areas of ‘honest and competent government,’ ‘investment climate’ and ‘social equality’ are among the largest it achieved across all the aspects covered by the NBI 2014 survey.”
While the United States still is seen as No. 1 in several areas, including creativity, contemporary culture and educational institutions, its role in global peace and security only ranks 19th out of 50 nations, the institute said.
Britain ranked third, followed by France, Canada, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden in that order.
The study measures global perceptions of each country, based on 23 different attributes that make up the six overall dimensions on which national image is based: exports, governance, culture, people, tourism and immigration/investment, GfK says. For the 2014 study, a total of 20,125 interviews were conducted across 20 countries.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
