Türkiye – Country Performance, Brand Strength and Reputation

Türkiye (Turkey) was, for a long time, one of the world’s leading countries in vacation tourism, attracting millions of visitors each year eager to discover the country’s fascinating history and beautiful beaches. But have recent years of political instability and terror attacks negatively influenced Türkiye’s reputation and attractiveness? What do international rankings say about its economic and environmental performance, its soft power, and brand strength?

Let’s take a closer look at:

• Türkiye’s soft power and brand strength
• Its appeal to skilled labour, investors, and visitors
• The country’s global contribution to peace and wellbeing
• How well it fares in terms of happiness and sustainability

Soft Power and Country Brand Strength

In the Global Soft Power Index 2023 by Brand Finance, Türkiye secures the 23^rd spot, sitting behind Singapore (21^st) and Finland (22^nd). Although its score has shown growth, rising from 47.8 in 2022 to 50.4 this year, it dropped one position from last year’s index.

In the U.S. News Best Countries 2023 ranking, Türkiye secures the 32^nd position, behind India (30^th) and Saudi Arabia (31^st). Notably, it excels in one key area: Heritage (8^th), assessing cultural accessibility, richness of history, food quality, and geographic/cultural attractions. However, Türkiye dropped two positions from 2022, with lowest scores in social purpose and open for business factors.

The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brand Index (NBI) calculates its ranking based on averaging the scores of six different factors: exports, governance, tourism, culture, people, and immigration. According to the NBI 2023 ranking, Türkiye secures the 37^th position, a drop of one place since 2022.

Sustainability

The 2022 edition of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks Türkiye 172^nd, sitting between Sudan (171^st) and Haiti (173^rd). The EPI analyzes the performance of 180 countries, scoring and ranking these countries on their environmental performance using the most recent year of data available as well as providing calculable changes in scores over the previous decade. Türkiye has experienced a change in score of negative 0.5.

The Sustainable Development Report 2023 ranks Türkiye in 72^nd position, highlighting that the country continues to face significant and major challenges. However, the No Poverty and Quality Education goals are on track.

Appeal to Investors, Trade, and Travel

The Bloom Consulting biannual Country Brand Ranking Trade Edition 2022-2023 assesses investment-related variables, emphasizing perceptions of a country’s trade-specific brand and evaluating branding performance. Regionally, Türkiye continues to place 9^th, behind Italy (7^th) and Spain (8^th). Globally, it dropped one position and now holds the 20^th position.

In addition, the Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking Tourism Edition 2022-2023 places Türkiye at the 11^th global position, placing one position higher than the previous ranking. Regionally, it continues to hold the 6^th position.

In the IMD 2023 World Competitiveness Ranking, Türkiye secured the 47^th position, showing a jump of five positions from the 2022 ranking. Currently, it sits just behind Croatia (45^th) and Hungary (46^th) while surpassing Romania (48^th) and Greece (49^th).

In terms of specific characteristics, Türkiye’s economic performance dropped six positions to the 43^rd spot in 2023. It holds the 57^th position for government efficiency, experiencing an increase of one position compared to 2022. Lastly, the country jumped eleven positions to the 44^th position for business efficiency and holds the 48^th spot for infrastructure, an increase of two positions since 2022.

According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2023, Türkiye belongs to the last group, Emerging Innovators, alongside Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. Türkiye’s performance has increased by 0.4% points during the period between 2016 and 2023. Its strengths are: Government support for business R&D, Job-to-job mobility of HRST, Sales of innovative products, Most cited publications, and Knowledge-intensive services exports. Its weaknesses are: Employed ICT specialists, Design applications, Employment in knowledge-intensive activities, International scientific co-publications, and Public-private co-publications.

Peace and Happiness

The Global Peace Index 2023 ranks Türkiye 147^th, jumping five positions from last year’s index. It sits behind Myanmar (145^th) and Pakistan (146^th). Türkiye falls under the low sector of the ‘State of Peace’ spectrum as defined by the Institute for Economics & Peace. The country positioned last regionally amongst its fellow European countries, led by Iceland and Denmark.

The Institute for Economics & Peace similarly ranks Türkiye within the high impact (dark orange) zone in terms of ‘Impact of Terrorism’ in the 2022 Global Terrorism Index. Türkiye ranks 23^rd, sitting between Yemen (22^nd) and Indonesia (24^th).

Meanwhile, the World Happiness Report 2023, which displays the Ranking of Happiness based on a three-year average from 2020–2022, ranks Türkiye 106^th; this ranking is only based on the 2020 and 2021 average, as no data was collected for 2022.

Türkiye a “Good” Country?

In the Caf World Giving Index 2023, Türkiye secured the 126^th position, showcasing a drastic drop of 63 positions from the previous year. It performs most admirably in the subfactor of helping a stranger, where 54% of its adult population helped a stranger in the past year.

In the Good Country Index, Türkiye currently holds the 53^rd position overall, with notable subfactors as follows: Science & Technology (41^st), Culture (81^st), International Peace & Security (124^th), World Order (52^nd), Planet & Climate (74^th), Prosperity & Equality (39^th), and Health & Wellbeing (59^th). It’s worth mentioning that in 2022, Türkiye was ranked 56^th, and in 2021, it held the 59^th position, showcasing a general upward trend for the country. The factors which have shown the most significant growth are Prosperity and Equality and Culture.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index 2023, Türkiye ranked in the light orange zone (4-5 range) with a 4.35 out of 10.

The 2022 Corruption Perception Index ranks Türkiye 101^st with a score of 36/100, tying with Albania, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Panama, Peru, Serbia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Its score has decreased by two points since 2021.

How Attractive for Talent?

The Expat Insider 2023 ranks Türkiye in 51^st position out of 53 countries, below Germany (49^th) and South Korea (50^th). Türkiye ranks best in the Leisure Options metric, placing 23^rd.

Türkiye, classified as an upper-middle-income country within the Northern Africa and Western Asia regional group, currently holds the 81^st position in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2023. Notably, Türkiye performs most remarkably in the Grow pillar, where it holds the 50^th position, and its main challenge is the Attract pillar, where it ranked 107^th.

Last updated in November 2023. More country profiles here.

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Disclaimer: The information in this article is intended to provide a general overview of Türkiye’s economic and cultural landscape and facilitate comparison over time. While we strive for accuracy and completeness, we are not responsible for any typographical errors or inaccuracies. The data is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. Users should verify any information before relying on it for decision-making purposes.