Pakistan Among Least Popular Countries

India and China drop in ratings, and Germany emerges as most popular country in the world.

Pakistan is among the least popular countries in the world, narrowly beating out Iran for the bottom spot, an annual poll for the BBC World Service revealed on Thursday.

Over 26,000 people from across the world were asked to rate 16 countries on whether their global influence was “mainly positive” or “mainly negative.” Some 55 percent of those polled rated Pakistan as having a negative influence—four points less than Iran—while Germany emerged as the most popular country with 59 percent of those polled citing it as having a positive influence.

Iran and Pakistan both came in last with only 15 percent of respondents rating them as having a positive influence on the world.

Meanwhile, India and China dropped in the polls, which have been conducted annually since 2005. New Delhi came in 12th with negative views (35 percent) outnumbering positive ones (34 percent) for the first time. Beijing also dropped to its lowest positive since the polls started, scoring 42 percent positive views against 39 percent negative.

Germany displaced Japan at the top of the table, with the Asian giant’s popularity falling from 58 percent last year to 51 percent. Canada and Britain scored second and third, both with 55% positive ratings.

The positive influence ratings of the remaining countries were France (49 percent), European Union (49 percent), Brazil (46 percent), U.S. (45 percent), South Korea (36 percent), South Africa (35 percent), Russia (30 percent), Israel (21 percent), and North Korea (19 percent).

The poll was conducted for the BBC by GlobeScan and PIPA, and quizzed randomly selected people in 25 countries.