Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands IndexSM: 2018 report for Scotland

How Scotland sees itself

In the 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 NBI^SM surveys, Scotland was included as an additional core panel country, with 500 interviews carried out in Scotland, to explore how Scotland sees itself^[24]. Figure 13 illustrates how Scotland has scored itself since 2010.

Scotland scored and ranked itself higher in 2018 than it did in 2016. In 2016, Scotland scored itself 67.8 and ranked itself 3^rd behind Canada and the United Kingdom while in 2018 Scotland gave itself a score of 72.7 and ranked itself 1^st. See Figure 13.

Figure 13: NBI^SM How Scotland sees itself by score (2010-2018)

Figure 14 illustrates the score for how Scotland viewed itself across the six dimensions of reputation between 2010 and 2018. The score for how Scotland viewed itself increased each year between 2010 and 2014 across all six dimensions. This was followed by a decrease across all six dimensions between 2014 and 2016 by an average of eight points. However, the score has increased between 2016 and 2018 across all six dimensions. The dimension which experienced the greatest increase was Exports, rising by seven points.

Figure 14: NBI^SM How Scotland sees itself according to the six dimensions of reputation by score (2010-2018)

In terms of rank, Scotland consistently ranked itself 1^st overall between 2010 and 2014. In 2016, Scotland did not rank itself 1^st on any of the six dimensions. In addition, each dimension fell by an average of three rank places. However, in 2018 Scotland ranked itself 1^st overall. For individual dimensions Scotland ranked itself 1^st for People, Tourism and Immigration and Investment, 2^nd for Exports, 3^rd for Governance and 4^th for Culture. See Table 10.

Table 10: NBI^SM How Scotland sees itself according to the six dimensions of reputation by rank (2010-2018)

Tables 11 and 12 show the score and rank for dimensions disaggregated by their underlying attributes. In 2018, Scotland’s view of itself, in terms of score, was higher than 2016 on 20 of the 23 attributes within the dimensions. The attribute which increased the most during this period was willingness to live and work in Scotland, which increased from 5.0 in 2016 to 5.8 in 2018. Two attributes maintained over this period (fair and respectful of citizens' rights and excellence at sports) whilst one attribute (efforts to reduce global poverty), dropped by 0.1 points. See Table 11.

In terms of rank, Scotland’s view of itself in 2018 was higher than in 2016 across 19 of the 23 attributes. The attribute whose rank increased the most during this period was would visit if money were no object, which increased from 8^th to 1^st. Three attributes stayed the same across this period and one of the attributes, excellence at sports, declined by one rank. See Table 12.

Favourability towards Scotland consistently ranked 1^st between 2010 and 2014. However, in 2016, Scotland ranked itself 3^rd overall behind the United Kingdom (1^st) and Canada (2^nd). In 2018, Scotland ranked itself 1^st again on how favourable respondents were towards Scotland.

Table 11: NBI^SM How Scotland sees itself disaggregated by the 23 attributes by score
(2010 – 2018)

Table 12: NBI^SM How Scotland sees itself disaggregated by the 23 attributes by rank
(2010 – 2018)