good country index

Anholt and Cull continue their discussion of the 2020 Good Country Index in the third and final part of the series.

An introduction to Simon Anholt's virtual country designed to foster international collaboration.

Over the past decade, Sweden’s public diplomacy has been quick to affirm the low-hanging fruit of cosmopolitan global public opinion, which might be summarized as the belief that Sweden could well be the most fairly organized society in the world. It is the country that, according to the Good Country Index, makes the most prolific contribution to the global commons. Its feminist foreign policy is currently making waves at the UN Security Council. 

April 8, 2017

The concept behind the Good Country Index is to determine what each country gives to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away, in relation to its size. By using a massive collection of data from the United Nations and other international organizations, the GCI gave each country some sort of a balance sheet to quickly show whether it is a net creditor to humankind, an oppressive burden on the planet, or something in between.

December 14, 2016

Contrary to its designer's expectations, the rolling research tracking the relative strength of national brands, now known as the Anholt/GFK Roper Nation Brands Index, is one of the most boring runs of numbers known to humanity. Unlike the Billboard music chart or the "Who's Hot" list in the celebrity-watch magazines, the nation brands index is astonishingly stable. 

The government will create a national brand to lift the country’s image in the global arena in order to boost its economic earnings, an official from the presidential office has said. “Indonesia’s image is still low compared to other countries,” Sumartono Darmanto, deputy senior advisor for analysis and oversight of strategic issues on economic affairs at the Presidential Office, during a focus group discussion on Thursday in Jakarta. 

A protester holds Adbuster's American Corporate flag

The conclusion of Michael Ardaiolo's two-part blog on best public diplomacy practice.

July 3, 2014

Simon Anholt has recently established a new method to evaluate a country's reputation and image. The Good Country Index measures "what each country on earth contributes to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away." Various factors are considered in the evaluation including: science and technology, culture, international peace and security, world order, planet and climate, prosperity and equality, and health and wellbeing.