Spain's reputation in the world is on the rise

The 2017 edition of the study entitled “Spain's reputation in the world”, which analyzes foreigners' perception of Spain, sees signs of recovery after the decline that took place between 2011 and 2013. The reputation, trustworthiness, respect and good impression generated by Spain was up 3.7 points over 2016, meaning that Spain has risen four places in the ranking of the 55 countries in the study to number 13.

The analysis, part of the report entitled "Country RepTrak 2017" compiled by the Reputation Institute for the Real Instituto Elcano, shows that Spain has undergone the fastest rise of all the 20 top countries in the ranking. Among others, Spain is now ahead of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and the United States.

The Reputation Institute calculates that each extra point represents a 1.4% rise in the investment ratio in terms of GDP, 5% in visits and 1.2% in dollar exports. Marca España estimates that in the last five years, the improvement in Spain's perception abroad has contributed around 37 billion euros to its economy.

Strengths and weaknesses

The variables related to the Spanish character, lifestyle, natural environment and leisure and entertainment options remain the same. Spain's main weaknesses are its technology and innovation levels, the recognition of brands and companies, and the educational system.

The perception is measured among citizens from 23 countries, with the members of the G8 playing a special role. For them, ethics and transparency, international respect, the institutional environment and social well-being, coupled with the efficient use of resources and culture, are the factors that have improved most significantly since 2016.

The variables that had undergone the sharpest decline since 2013, but which began to recover in 2014 and continue to improve, are institutional quality and the economic-business environment.

Spaniards' own perception of themselves is gradually approaching the perception foreigners have of them, after the sharp drop suffered between 2009 and 2014. Since 2015, with the recovery of the economic macroindicators, Spaniards' perception has continued to improve, although it is still far from the levels seen before the crisis.

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