2008/04/07

Survey Shows Germany Has an Excellent International Image

Berlin, 03.04.2008 - Who would have thought: Germany is now the most highly regarded country around the globe, according to a just-published survey by the British broadcaster BBC.

Apparently, over half of the respondents (56 percent) had positive feelings about Germany. The BBC had solicited opinions from 17,000 people in 34 countries. The runners-up were Japan, the EU, France and Britain.

Germany has a particularly good reputation in Europe: in Italy, 82 percent of respondents expressed a positive opinion about the country, followed by the Spanish, Portuguese and French. Even 62 percent of Britons and 61 percent of Russians expressed their approval.

One possible explanation may be the changing self-image of the Germans, who have begun to “reconcile” themselves with their country since the 2006 World Cup. This sort of internal attitude radiates positively beyond the country’s own borders as a newfound self-confidence.

The survey was performed by the opinion research institute GlobeScan and the University of Maryland on behalf of the BBC, from 31 October 2007 through the end of January 2008. 23 countries were surveyed. Germany was included in the study for the first time.

Download the study from the BBC (PDF, 4 MB)