Reputation matters and this list of 11 Countries with the Worst Reputation in the World, tries to bring this matter to light. For understanding how much reputation matters, just think, would you trust investment advisory by Warren Buffet or you would trust your hard earned money with Goldman Sachs? Would you be interested in owning the handset from your favorite brand or you would rather buy just any other handset in the market? Why is that we choose one product over the other, even when sometimes all other physical and tangible parameters are almost equivalent? The answer to this question lies in perception of buyers towards a certain product or company. Something which has made companies spend billions of dollars in order to build images which can influence buyers’ decision. (According to an agency report it is estimated that the global ad spend would be $ 540 USD in 2015). With product differentiation becoming almost insignificant, companies are relying more in building favorable reputations in the market space. Building such a reputation takes years and continuous efforts in the way companies communicate with their target group.

With the world becoming a global village and world trade increasing many folds, reputation of a nation takes centre stage. Today, many countries depend on foreign investments and technology, as well as revenues from tourism and intellectual capital by way of expatriates. An investor from USA would invest in Asia only if he/ she is assured about getting good returns without considerable risk. A tourist would visit a country only if he/ she feels it is safe enough to roam around in that country, apart from that country having good tourist locations. Keeping in view these factors, every nation is now actively undertaking, building, managing and maintaining their national reputation also called as Nation Branding. For example, Government of India has engaged world renowned Ogilvy and Mather to manage its Incredible India campaign aimed at projecting India as a favored tourist destination. Every nation is aware of the fact that a negative reputation can adversely affect its international relations as well as its economy.

This article tries to list 11 Countries with the Worst Reputation in the World. There are many studies and methods for measuring reputation of a nation. Furthermore, reputation being a perceptive measure, every individual would have different versions about reputation of a nation based on his/ her assessment. This article ranks countries based on the following parameters

1. Infrastructure – score based on the level of infrastructure developed in that country. The countries are ranked based on the Logistic Performance Index (LPI) published by World Bank. Out of the total 160 countries surveyed by World Bank, the average score of the index is 2.76

2. Safety of Women – Score based on treatment given to the women in terms equality, education and freedom. This is based on a scale prepared by Newsweek/ dailybeast and the countries are ranked out of 165 countries surveyed.

3. Ease of doing business – World Bank ranks countries based on various parameters and assesses each country for the way domestic business is conducted. The ranks are out of a total of 189 countries surveyed by the World Bank.

4. Corruption – The country as given scores based on their ranking in the Corruption Perception Index for 174 countries surveyed, published by Transparency International

5. Governance – Each country is scored based on the ability of respective government to maintain law and order within the country as well as protect the rights of its citizens. These rankings are based on the information provided in the Worldwide Governance Indicators for 215 countries a project undertaken by World Bank. This report gives percentile ranks to each country between 100 (highest rank) and 0 (lowest rank)

6. Tourism – One of the most important factors in understanding the reputation of any nation is based on the rankings given by country brand ranking by Bloom Consulting.

A total 41 countries were studied with respect to their individual rankings/ scores against each parameter. Thereafter based on the weight-age given to each parameter, a comprehensive score for each country is calculated. Countries are ranked as below with decreasing reputation. Some of the factors like ideologies and culture though have an impact on the nation’s reputation, the same have not be considered under the ranking system due to their highly subjective nature. Another article focuses specifically on parameters related to quality of life ranks 11 Countries with the Worst Quality of Life.

It is interesting to note that some countries, given their notorious past, won’t even be on this list. For example Cuba with its drug cartels, or Venezuela which is ranked very high on corruption. Even country like Iraq just misses the cut, because of its relatively better position with respect to the other countries on the list. However, it should be noted that the rankings, though about reputation, takes into account quantified scores for each country under each of the parameters. Here is the complete list.