Britain has been named the second most powerful country in the world in what has been called a “huge Brexit victory”. According to Brand Finance’s 2024 Global Soft Power Index, the UK has retained second place behind the US and has increased its score since 2023.
It is believed the UK’s increasing score is in part due to the closer relationship it now has with the top-ranking country after it left the EU in January 2020.
The table’s creator said that “temporary instability” under Liz Truss in late 2022 had caused a “soft power risk” for the nation which it had since overcome.
The US’s 2024 rating of 78.8 is an all-time high since the table began, increasing from 74.8 in last year’s rankings.
The rankings judge countries’ ability to achieve their objectives using non-aggressive means, such as working alongside other countries.
Elsewhere in the rankings, China climbed to third place in the table jumping above both Japan and Germany, with the latter falling to 5th position.
The rest of the top 10 which is made up of France, Canada, Switzerland, Italy and the UAE remained as it was in 2023.
But Israel and Russia saw their scores fall due to conflict which has seen them plummet down the table.
David Haigh, Chairman and CEO of Brand Finance said: “Donald Trump’s confrontational politics – both domestically and internationally – caused a serious erosion of the nation’s soft power in his final year in office, reflected in the United States temporarily losing its 1st rank in the 2021 Index which has since recovered under the Biden administration.
“The upcoming presidential election in November 2024 will be momentous in terms of future direction for the USA and how the nation is perceived globally.
“Our research shows that world opinion on individual countries and their actions differs widely, as demonstrated by the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine.
“This fractured perception can be traced to a lack of free and fair media and communication, resulting in opinions that are formed based on biased or partial knowledge. The World Economic Forum identifies misinformation and disinformation as the biggest threat to world peace.”