Nation Brands Index: 2022 report for Northern Ireland

Date published: 21 December 2022

This report provides a measure of Northern Ireland’s international reputation.

Key Findings

• Northern Ireland’s international reputation remains stable, achieving an overall ranking of 24 out of 60 nations. Our reputation is strongest with North America, the UK and European nations. In 2022, NI received its highest rank from the United States (20th), the only country to rank NI in the top 20 nations. The lowest rank in 2022 was from China, who placed Northern Ireland 58th.
• Northern Ireland achieved a Nation Brands Index score of 60.89 – this is the second highest score achieved since inclusion in the Index in 2016, with the highest score being achieved in 2021 (61.27). Our highest score in 2022 was from India (69.13) and the lowest score came from Japan (51.02).
• As in all previous years, “Natural beauty” was the attribute with the highest score in 2022 with 5.26 out of 7. The lowest scoring attribute was “Invest in Business” scoring 4.07 in 2022.
• Visiting Northern Ireland or digital exposure to NI (through buying NI products / visiting websites) was associated with significantly higher scores for all Six Dimensions and for the overall NBI score.

About the Anholt Ipsos Nation Brands IndexSM 2022

The NBISM is an annual global survey which attempts to evaluate the international image and reputation of 60 nations across six dimensions of national competence: Exports; Governance; Culture; People; Tourism; and Immigration and Investment.

The 2022 NBI involved the completion of over 60,000 online surveys, in 20 panel countries, with at least 3,000 people surveyed per panel country.

The report, infographics and associated data tables are available on the Statistics and Research section of the Executive Office website: https://www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/topics/statistics-and-research/nation-brands-index