Africa: Brand Finance Unveils Top African Countries with Strongest Soft Power Influence Globally as Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco Leads

Business Insider Africa has unveiled its list of the top 10 most influential African countries, in collaboration with Brand Finance, a renowned independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy.

The rankings are determined by an index that assesses a country’s soft power assets, encompassing elements such as cultural heritage, education, governance, and global reputation.

These insights provide a unique perspective on the growing influence and global standing of African nations on the world stage.

According to africa.businessinsider.com, the Global Soft Power Index is based on the most comprehensive and wide-ranging research programme, with responses from over 110,000 people across more than 100 countries, surveying perceptions of 121 nation brands worldwide.

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The stronger the nation’s soft power, the greater its ability to attract investment and market its products and services.

For nearly 20 years, Brand Finance has monitored the strength and value of national brands. Since 2020, the organisation has published the world’s most comprehensive research studies on the perception of nation brands – the Global Soft Power Index.

The index measures the strength and appeal of a country’s soft power assets, including its cultural heritage, education, governance, and global reputation.

According to the leading brand valuation consultancy, understanding those perceptions is key for national, regional, city, and corporate brands to achieve success internationally, allowing them to identify strengths and weaknesses and improve growth strategies going forward.

“An online survey was conducted among 111,364 adults aged 18-75 across 101 countries. As such, our sample is representative of the online population of each country.”

“In developing markets with relatively low internet access (below 85% across all age groups), this skews the sample somewhat towards younger people with higher education, income, and connectivity – but we deem this acceptable, as it is these groups in the population who are most likely to be affected by soft power and have some familiarity with other nations,” the report noted.

Rank Country Global rank
1 Egypt 38th
2 South Africa 40th
3 Morocco 55th
4 Mauritius 67th
5 Seychelles 74th
6 Tunisia 83rd
7 Rwanda 85th
8 Algeria 86th
9 Ivory Coast 87th
10 Ghana 92nd