Brand Finance: Romania’s country brand, less valuable but stronger

Romania’s country brand value has dropped by 3% to USD 216 billion in the Brand Finance Nation Brands 2019 ranking. However, as emerging European markets are seen more favorably by foreign investors, Romania’s Brand Strength Index (BSI) score has improved from 59.0 to 62.7 out of 100, resulting in a brand strength rating upgrade from A to A+. This year, Central and Eastern Europe accounts for 9 out of the top 20 fastest-improving nation brands in terms of brand strength, according to Brand Finance.

Brand Finance evaluates the relative strength of nation brands, determined by performance on dozens of data points across three key pillars: Goods & Services, Investment, and Society. According to these criteria, Singapore has retained its title of the world’s strongest nation brand, earning the elite AAA+ rating and a BSI score of 90.5 out of 100.

Meanwhile, the United States continue to have the most valuable country brand, evaluated at USD 27.75 trillion (128 times more than Romania), up 7.2% compared to 2018. However, China is catching up fast. In the last year, China’s country brand gained 40.5%, reaching a valuation of USD 19.5 trillion. Germany remains third, despite a 5.7% decline in brand value to USD 4.85 trillion, and Japan went up to fourth place, with a brand value of USD 4.53 trillion, up 26% year-on-year, surpassing the UK (USD 3.85 trillion, up 2.7% yoy). France, India, Canada, South Korea and Italy are the other countries in top 10.

Poland has the most valuable country brand in Central and Eastern Europe, ranking 22nd in the overall ranking, followed by Czech Republic (35), and Romania (47). Hungary is 52nd, Ukraine is 56th and Bulgaria is 67th.

Find out more about the world's most valuable country brands here.

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