Interculturality: Global Views

Germany:
The Most Popular Country Worldwide!

To some, the news may come as a surprise. But since the publisher of the information is the English BBC – a country not always in favour of German attitudes throughout history – the source appears to be reliable. Anyway, however unbelievable it may seem, here is the proof: Germany is the most popular country worldwide!

Last year, the BBC World Service Poll surveyed over 13,000 people in 21 countries around the globe. And the results leave no doubt: 61% of the interviewees rate Germany’s influence in the world as mainly positive, while only 15% see it as mainly negative.

On second and third place, respectively, come Canada with 57% / 14% and the United Kingdom with 58% / 19%. The missing data to fill the hundred percent is owed to the answers “depends”, “neutral” or “do not know / no answer”.




With reference to other countries, the results also reflect current political changes on a worldwide scale. Public views of China and Russia have dropped considerably during the past year: For both countries, the negative opinion outweighs the positive impressions. Thanks to the Obama-effect, the USA has gained some ground, but the overall tendencies are still predominantly negative.

The overall perception of Germany has actually grown over the last year, moving from 56% to 61% mainly positive perception. The 2008 poll actually shows the opinion about Deutschland broken down by country. It becomes obvious that the most widespread positive views are found amongst the European neighbours. Interestingly enough, the only two countries where the negative image of Germany prevails are Turkey and Egypt.



For those interested, the published results of the survey can be found under the following links:

BBC World Service Poll 2008

BBC World Service Poll 2009


And for the German-speaking community, here is the respective article published in Der Spiegel in February 2009:

Spiegel online: „Globale Umfrage kürt Deutschland zum beliebtesten Staat“


Well, and what is there to learn in the end? That maybe in the end, Germany is not such a bad place after all… :-)


Andreas Hauser