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The Swedish Institute's report 2009 on Sweden's image abroad now released

“One positive aspect about Sweden is that many people want to have a Swedish friend or hire a Swede,” says Liselott Bergman, senior analyst at SI. “Swedes are considered to be nice and reliable. However, on the minus side, there are limited opportunities for education and business, and in many places people don’t know about Sweden.”

Since 2007, SI has published an annual report about Sweden’s image, which provides an up-to-date overview of how Sweden is perceived. This year, Sweden’s image has been investigated more closely in the Middle East and North Africa (see table 2 below).

Included in the report is the Nation Brands Index (NBI) global survey, measures the strength of country brands. In the study, 20,000 people in 20 countries present their view of 50 other countries. The 20 countries are in different regions and account for the lion’s share of the world’s purchasing power.

Sweden falls one place in the overall ranking
In the study, various categories are investigated that are considered important for a country’s national brand: exports, governance, culture and heritage, people, tourism, and investment and immigration as means of attracting people. A number of questions are then asked in each of these categories. Sweden fell one place in the new survey, from ninth place overall in last year’s world ranking to tenth place this year.

“There are two reasons that Sweden fell compared to last year’s ranking,” says Olle Wästberg, SI’s director-general. “One is that the choice of countries being investigated changed compared to previous years. The other is that the competition has become tougher as a result of globalization.”

Wästberg continues, “It’s really important now that Sweden remains on the offensive, even during the financial crisis. Information about Sweden, investments to attract immigrant labor and marketing higher education are all examples of important areas, and China and India are examples of countries we should be marketing ourselves in.”

The environment has a good reputation, business and education less so
Still, Sweden maintains its top ranking on the environment. Other strong aspects are governance and people. “But actually coming to Sweden isn’t always that attractive for many people, partly because it’s not considered that easy to pursue a career and make money here,” says Liselott Bergman. “Swedish business isn’t visible enough in the rest of the world and there are too few well-known Swedish brands.”

In addition, Swedish universities and other institutions of higher education are not seen as doing well against international competition. “As someone put it in one of the surveys, ambitious people travel to Canada to study; Sweden is seen as a country for asylum seekers,” says Bergman. “Moreover, Swedish education is best known in many places because it doesn’t cost anything.”


SI’s 2009 report on Sweden’s image can be downloaded at no charge from:
http://www.si.se/upload/Sverige%20i%20världen/rapporter/Sverigebildsrapporten_2009.pdf


For more information, please contact:

Liselott Bergman, senior analyst, Swedish Institute, phone: +46 (0)8-453 78 31, cell phone: +46 (0)73-231 85 30, e-mail:

Joakim Lindberg, press and information manager, Swedish Institute, phone: +46 (0)8-453 78 01, cell phone: +46 (0)73-684 20 22, e-mail:

www.si.se

Table 1. Overall results in the NBI survey.



Table 2. Awareness of Sweden in the Middle East and North Africa.