Ranked: UAE in top 10 world’s most influential countries 2020

Dubai: The UAE has been ranked in the top 10 world’s most influential countries 2020, beating out countries like Australia, the US and the UK.

A global study published earlier this week by FutureBrand has globaly ranked the UAE as the ninth most influential country, while Dubai was also listed as the ninth most influential city in the world.

Australia was ranked at 11, while the US and UK came in at 13th and 20th place respectively.

The Country Index is an in-depth and nuanced ranking of global country brands. Conducted six months into the coronavirus pandemic, it draws on qualitative and quantitative data gathered from over 2,500 influential individuals including chief executives, civil servants and other high-ranking professionals across the globe. Respondents were also required to evaluate the image and reputation of the World Bank’s top 75 countries by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Conducted six months into the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Country Index reveals unexpected resilience during a year of crises, at least for those countries who have achieved genuine ‘country brand’ status.

“While the news headlines have been awash with stories of government incompetence and mishandling of Covid-19, there are, nevertheless, various countries whose citizens believe they are handling the crises well,” read the report.

When describing the UAE, the report explained: “Its leaders placed strict and unbreakable rules and regulations to deal with Covid-19 which were heavily enforced. [It] also proactively provided masks and sanitiser in many public places.”

Positive perceptions

For the most part, people were either very positive or very negative — there was very little in-between. The following countries feel that the rest of the world perceives them very positively as a country brand: Japan, China, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Thailand, and UAE. The next set of countries feel that the rest of the world has mixed feelings about them as a country brand: US, UK, Brazil, France, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey. In contrast, Argentina felt that the rest of the world was negative about them as a country brand.

“The UAE in particular is one of the Middle East’s most important economic centres. Although traditionally conservative, it is nevertheless one of the most liberal Gulf nations and, this year, became the first Gulf State to forge diplomatic relations with Israel. Now regarded as a regional powerhouse, this small but ambitious nation is most definitely one to watch.”

Furthermore, in the majority of cases, the ambition to relocate to another country was far outweighed by a desire to stay put. In the study of where residents would most like to live, 65 per cent of respondents in the UAE said they were extremely satisfied where they live at the moment, 13 per cent said they preferred to live in countryside, 19 per cent said they would like to live another country, and 3 per cent said another city would be preferable.

Top 10 world’s most influential countries

Top 10 world’s most influential cities

Source: FutureBrand