Spain's reputation in the world

The Elcano Royal Institute has published the 2021 edition of its study "Spain's reputation in the world", which aims to analyze how the country is perceived inside and outside its borders. The study, prepared between January and March 2021, with surveys of citizens from 24 countries, reflects a general decline in the reputation of countries due to the prevailing pessimism after the economic, health and social crisis arising from the pandemic.

Among the main results of the study, the following stand out:

• Generalized decline in the internal and external evaluation of the countries. The economic crisis arising from the Covid-19 crisis has created a depressive climate that reduces the international prestige of the countries.
• Spain ranks 14th in the global prestige ranking of the world's top 55 economies. Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden are in the top 5, all of them have in common that they are rich countries, with consolidated democracies, considered egalitarian and with a peaceful diplomatic strategy. The USA is well below the average and both China and Russia are at the bottom of the ranking.
• Spain improves its position in 14 of the 17 attributes analyzed. Spain is highly valued in terms of "quality of life" (safe country, natural ecosystem, friendly people ...), which makes it an attractive country to travel and live. Its ranking is worse in terms of institutional quality, technology and innovation, economic environment or education. Tourism in Spain is recovering from the impact of the pandemic. Spain improves its position as a recommended destination, rising from 14th in 2020 to 9th in 2021.