Johannesburg: India finds itself ranked at the 27th place, much ahead of China but a little below its IBSA partner Brazil in a new survey that measures the reputation of 50 countries among people of the G8 nations. The findings emerged in a study undertaken by New York based Reputation Institute, which placed Brazil at 22, India at 27, South Africa at 33 while China at 43 on its list of 50 industrial nations.
The global study measures the reputation of 50 countries among people in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US. Russia is placed a lowly 45, in the bottom 10 which ends with Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Disclosing the findings of the study at the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, the managing director of the Institute in South Africa, Dominik Heil, said South Africa with its average score of 46.7 out of 100 was still viewed as having a weak and vulnerable reputation, although the situation was gradually improving.
Heil said that while it was advantageous for South Africa to be associated with Brazil and India with their reasonably strong reputations, it was less of an advantage to be linked to China and Russia.
The results were based on responses from more than 60,000 participants in G8 countries.
The ratings were decided on impressions of a country based on three main factors - the attractiveness of the environment, efficiency of government and how advanced the economy was. Canada topped the list with Sweden and Australia following.
According to the survey, South Africa's strong points were its natural beauty and friendliness of its citizens. But the country lost points on views that it was an unsafe country with inefficient government. "This indicates that we can improve our reputation by working hard on safety and effective government," Heil said.
