China has overtaken the United Kingdom in the annual Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index, ranking second only to the United States, according to the company.
The 2025 Index is based on responses from more than 170,000 people across over 100 countries, covering all 193 UN member states. The US retained the top position despite reputational decline during a divisive presidential campaign, while China moved ahead of the UK for the first time since the survey began in 2019. Japan and Germany followed in fourth and fifth place.
Soft Power is defined by Brand Finance as the ability of a nation to influence preferences and behaviours internationally through attraction or persuasion rather than coercion. Countries are scored out of 100 across 55 metrics.
The report noted that Middle Eastern nations have generally lost momentum, with the exception of the UAE, which held 10th place. El Salvador rose 35 places, making it the fastest climber. Israel, meanwhile, experienced a reputational decline linked to its hard power activities.
Konrad Jagodzinski, Place Branding Director at Brand Finance, said: “While experts previously posited that all nation brands might experience a gradual score inflation over time, the data now suggests a zero-sum game, with winners and losers. The global public’s capacity to develop familiarity with and admiration for nation brands seems finite, favouring prominent countries and those making deliberate efforts to stand out.”
David Haigh, Chairman of Brand Finance, linked China’s performance to deliberate state-backed efforts. “China has invested heavily in enhancing its Soft Power, and now we’re seeing the result as it ranks higher than the United Kingdom for the first time in the six years Brand Finance has released the Global Soft Power Index. The 2025 rankings reflect China’s sustained efforts to enhance its economic attractiveness, showcase its culture, and boost its reputation as a safe and well-governed nation. The UK needs to keep up and the establishment of the UK Soft Power Council is a step in the right direction.”
View the full Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index 2025 here.
It was going to happen eventually, we just don’t have the money laying about to invest in developing countries and the like. Most of our softpower is based on legacy and prestige. I doubt we will drop below 3rd place though.
China has been expanding its influence in Africa through the Confucius Institute which is run by Beijing to promote Chinese language and culture (including political culture). What China is really after in Africa is cobalt, lithium and other minerals but the long term effect of the Confucius Institute could be a generation of Africans who believe Beijing’s authoritarian model of government is better than any version of Western democracy.
The Chinese plan…Three positive things
1) control and access to resources
2) control and access to ports and maritime facilities
3) development of future markets
Three negative things
1) Denial of resources to western democracies
2) Denial of future markets to the west
3) denial of control of seaports.
Sort of shows that Einstein was right about human stupidity being infinite.
Who in their right mind would trust China or the current US?
Well you have to remember the global south’s experience.. the west invaded two nations, kicked of the war on terror and then sodded off to leave them to deal with all the extremists.. China on the other hand bungs them loads of money to build ports and roads and buys all their raw materials.. who would you have the relationship with.. most of the world is not so bothered with the concept of liberal democracies good and authoritarian Bad.
I think the latter will be reflected in next year’s report. That will be very interesting whatever the results, indeed the report itself may come into question itself as a true reflection of reality under certain circumstances, certainly in terms of how ‘coercion’ is defined in regard to either of those Countries. ‘Soft’ coercion is more prolific than a report like this may reveal I fear certainly in a Trump environment where all manner of secret self serving ‘deals’ are being done behind the scenes for the benefit of the family, contacts as well as the Nation itself. The whole Govt regime is tied up in the process at some level while internal official reporting of anything that doesn’t benefit the Govt ‘message’ in the US is progressively being removed or obscured to hide it focused on making accurate non Govt assessment incredibly difficult.
This is expected the UK is nothing compared to what China is now
Always been surprised the UK registers so highly, considering the hostility that for ever seems aimed at us especially in the third World or Global South. Who are we ‘influencing’?