UAE ranked world’s third strongest nation brand

The UAE has been ranked the world’s third strongest nation brand in a report released by valuation consultancy Brand Finance.

The emirates scored 88.8 for brand strength in the sub-list placing it behind Singapore and Switzerland but ahead of Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and the UK.

It also improved its position in the company’s list of most valuable nation brands, climbing from 25th last year to 21st this year thanks to a 24 per cent increase in brand value to $594bn.

“In the Middle East, the UAE is the absolute champion of nation brand management. It is the world’s third most powerful, coming behind only Singapore and Switzerland, and the most valuable as well as fastest growing nation brand in the region,” said Andrew Campbell, managing director of Brand Finance Middle East.

Elsewhere in the GCC, Saudi Arabia jumped from 23rd to 22nd with brand value up 19 per cent to $575bn, Qatar saw its position decline from 36th to 42nd with a 6 per cent reduction in brand value to $223bn, Kuwait maintained its position in 51st with a 22 per cent increase in brand value to $170bn and Oman climbed from 74th to 70th with a 22 per cent increase in brand value to $50bn.

Finally, Bahrain dropped from 80th to 86th with a 2 per cent decline in brand value to $28bn.

The list was led by the US, which maintained its position in first with a brand value of $21,055bn. China also maintained its position in second with a brand value of $10,209bn, as did Germany in third ($4,021bn), Japan in fourth ($3,439bn) and the UK in fifth ($3,129bn).

France maintained its position in sixth ($2,969bn), Canada climbed one place to seventh ($2,056bn), India dropped one place to eighth ($2,046bn), Italy maintained its position in ninth ($2,034bn) and South Korea climbed from 11th to 10th ($1,845bn).