Taiwan was rated the 25th-most reputable country in the world, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Reputation Institute, a global consulting firm specializing in reputation management.
Taiwan was ranked in the middle tier in this year’s Country RepTrak, an annual study measuring the public perception of 50 major countries around the world.
Canada earned the highest reputation in the rankings, followed by Sweden, Australia, Switzerland and New Zealand.
The Reputation Institute said the high reputation of these countries could be attributed to their steady democracies, high GDP per capita, focus on active lifestyles, well developed political systems and perceived neutrality with regard to international political upheavals.
Taiwan was ahead of South Korea, which was ranked 34th; China at No. 43; and Russia at No. 45.
The Reputation Institute study measures the overall trust, esteem and admiration the public holds toward different countries. It also considers public perception of 16 different attributes, including quality of life, safety of the living environment and attention to the environment. This year’s rankings were based on results obtained from more than 42,000 people surveyed worldwide.
The institute said its latest survey showed some big movements between 2009 and this year, such as Spain, Ireland and Greece dropping by five, six and seven places respectively. In contrast, Germany climbed five spots during that period to 11th place.
Japan was ranked 12th in this year’s survey, Singapore 20th and the US two notches ahead of Taiwan at 23rd.
According to the institute, being perceived as a safe country and a country with friendly people are very important attributes that drive a country’s reputation. That could explain Mexico’s plunge from 24th in 2009 to 35th this year, as it struggles with an image of a violent, lawless country.
The three lowest ranked countries — Pakistan, Iran and Iraq — were generally perceived as struggling with political instability, the report said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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