The Anholt Nation Brands Index®: 2024 report for Scotland

Introduction

Scotland’s National Performance Framework (NPF) sets out in its purpose, values and National Outcomes, a clear, unified vision for Scotland.

A wide range of National Indicators are used to assess progress towards the purpose, values and the different National Outcomes. These provide a broad measure of national wellbeing, incorporating a range of economic, social and environmental indicators. Scotland’s National Outcome for International – as part of the NPF – is that ‘we are open, connected and make a positive contribution internationally’. One of the indicators for this National Outcome aims to assess and monitor Scotland’s reputation internationally.

The way a country is perceived can make a difference to the success of its business, trade and tourism efforts, as well as its diplomatic and cultural relations with other countries. Since 2008 the Scottish Government has used the Nation Brands Index^® (NBI) to measure Scotland’s reputation internationally. Conducted annually since 2008, the NBI examines the reputation of 50 countries.^[8] Scotland subscribed to the survey annually in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and thereafter biennially in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Scotland did not subscribe to the 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 surveys, but was included in the sample of evaluated countries in these years.

Previously, the total NBI sample size was 20,000 until 2020 and increased to 60,000 in 2021. In 2024, 42,107 interviews were conducted with adults aged 18 and over in 20 panel countries.^[9] The fieldwork took place over July and August 2024. The panel countries in 2024 remain the same as 2022. However, due to international sanctions it was not possible for interviews to be conducted within the Russian Federation, and so data from 3,004 interviews with the Russian panel in 2023 has been used in the NBI 2024. The 50 nations whose reputation is measured change between years. See the methodology report found in the supporting files alongside this publication for further details.

The NBI aims to measure and rank a country’s broad reputation along six dimensions of national competence, all of which are weighted equally. Scotland’s NBI score is presented as a score out of 100, calculated as an average of the scores given for the six underlying dimensions. The six dimensions are: Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism, and Investment and Immigration.

The rank and scores together provide an overall indication of a country’s reputation. Looking at the scores and ranks together is useful, as individually they may deliver different messages about Scotland’s reputation.

The rank^[10] is informative of a country’s reputation relative to other countries, and may change in relation to other countries’ performance.

The score^[11] may be regarded as a reliable indicator of a country’s reputation over time.

If a panel country tends to give higher scores in general to all countries, they may give Scotland a high score but this may not necessarily translate into a high rank (for example Mexico); countries which give lower scores overall may give Scotland a low score but this may not necessarily translate into a low rank (for example France).

While being the best available measure of Scotland’s reputation for the purpose of the National Performance Framework, the NBI does not provide an insight into how others view specific Scottish Government policies. NBI data should be viewed as a snapshot of people’s attitudes and perceptions of Scotland at a particular point in time, which are useful in helping us to understand more about Scotland’s international reputation.

This report compares the 2024 data to the most recent previously published data from 2022, as well as previous years where relevant. Please note that any increase or decrease mentioned in this report has not been significance tested. The methodology report that accompanies this document provides details of how the Scottish Government has adopted some aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics on a voluntary basis for the Nation Brands Index^®: 2024 report for Scotland.

In line with the National Performance Framework guidelines, assessment of any change in Scotland’s reputation is based on Scotland’s absolute NBI score as it compares to that of the previous reporting year. An increase of one point or more in Scotland's absolute NBI score suggests that the indicator is “improving”, whereas a decrease of one point or more in Scotland's absolute NBI score suggests that the indicator is “worsening”.

This report uses these guidelines and will only consider an increase or decrease in Scotland’s absolute NBI score if it exceeds one point, otherwise it treats the indicator as “maintaining”.