Scotland's International Reputation Grows - Natural Beauty, Tourism And Governance Score Highly In New Survey

11th February 2023

Scotland has achieved its highest ever reported score in an international survey which asks 60,000 adults from 20 countries what their perceptions are of 60 nations.

The Nation Brands Index (NBI) 2022 survey scores and ranks countries across six dimensions including Culture, Tourism, Governance, Immigration and Investment, Exports, and People.

Scotland's overall score has jumped to 65.3 out of 100, compared to 62.6 out of 100 in 2020, which is the highest score the Scottish Government has reported since first subscribing to the survey in 2008.

Scotland’s natural beauty was ranked 7th out of 60, while Tourism ranked 12th out of 60. Tourism also scored the highest, jumping from 68.7 out of 100 in 2020 to 72.3 in 2022. Compared to participating countries, Scotland ranked highly in key areas including ranking 9th for welcoming people, 10th for international peace and security and historic buildings and monuments.

The scoring and ranking of overall Governance has also improved, increasing from 62.9 in 2020 to 64.9 in 2022 and from 13th to 11th place.

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said "Scotland is blessed with natural beauty, vibrant cities, rich historical sites, white sand beaches and rolling hills, and it is great to see everything we have to offer being recognised by citizens from across the world. It is also encouraging to see that governance in Scotland has also scored well internationally which might be due to international interest in forward thinking and outward looking Scottish Government policies such as the baby box, free period products and our ambitious work to help tackle climate change

"Despite Scotland’s score improving to its highest since we first subscribed to the survey, we will continue to look at ways we can make things better for the people who live here. It’s been challenging in recent years with the impacts still being suffered from Brexit, the ongoing pandemic and the current cost of living crisis. The survey shows some areas that we can work on and the Scottish Government will leave no stone unturned in doing so."