Soft Power

Future of Soft Power: 2026 National Capability Ratings

🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇸🇬 Singapore and 🇨🇭 Switzerland share first position, each reaching the Capability Frontier (Tier 1) across all three Soft Capability domains: Human Capital, Information & Influence and Governance & Integrity.
🇳🇴 Norway and 🇸🇪 Sweden share fourth position, each holding Tier 1 in Information & Influence and Governance & Integrity, with Tier 2 in Human Capital.
🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇮 Finland and 🇰🇷 South Korea share sixth position, each holding Tier 1 in one Soft Capability domain and Tier 2 in the remaining two.

This article presents a domain-based assessment of soft power, evaluated across multiple foundational pillars such as culture, diplomacy, education, information and influence, and people-to-people connectivity. Rather than relying on composite indices, countries are assessed using Pareto tiering, which preserves the structure and balance of soft-power systems without collapsing them into a single score. Countries are placed into domain-specific tiers, and relative ordering is derived using a competition-style ranking that reflects the concentration of higher-tier capabilities rather than marginal differences.

The core analytical device is a single matrix chart showing countries as rows, soft-power domains as columns, tier placement in each cell, and rank applied only where profiles differ. This structure reveals not only who leads in soft power, but how influence is constructed—exposing asymmetry, structural ceilings, and regional variation. Applied globally and across regional groupings, the framework demonstrates that soft-power leadership is scarce, while meaningful differentiation persists well below the frontier.

Figure X. Top 20 Nations: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability		Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	T1	T2	T3
1	🇪🇪 Estonia	T5	T3	T5	T1	T1	T1	T5	T2	T1	4	1	1
1	🇸🇬 Singapore	T3	T1	T3	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	7	-	2
1	🇨🇭 Switzerland	T2	T2	T6	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	6	2	-
4	🇳🇴 Norway	T3	T1	T5	T2	T1	T1	T2	T4	T3	3	2	2
4	🇸🇪 Sweden	T3	T2	T5	T2	T1	T1	T2	T1	T2	3	4	1
6	🇩🇰 Denmark	T4	T2	T6	T2	T2	T1	T3	T2	T2	1	5	1
6	🇫🇮 Finland	T4	T2	T6	T2	T2	T1	T4	T2	T3	1	4	1
6	🇰🇷 South Korea	T2	T1	T3	T2	T1	T2	T3	T1	T2	3	4	2
9	🇳🇱 Netherlands	T1	T1	T4	T3	T1	T2	T2	T2	T2	3	4	1
10	🇯🇵 Japan	T2	T1	T3	T4	T1	T3	T2	T1	T2	3	3	2
11	🇨🇳 China	T1	T1	T2	T3	T1	T7	T2	T1	T2	4	3	1
11	🇺🇸 United States	T1	T1	T1	T3	T1	T7	T1	T1	T1	7	-	1
13	🇩🇪 Germany	T1	T1	T4	T4	T1	T4	T2	T2	T3	3	2	1
13	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	T2	T3	T3	T4	T1	T4	T2	T4	T4	1	2	2
15	🇫🇷 France	T1	T1	T2	T4	T1	T5	T2	T3	T3	3	2	2
16	🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	T4	T1	T4	T4	T2	T2	T2	T3	T2	1	4	1
17	🇮🇱 Israel	T2	T1	T2	T3	T2	T3	T4	T1	T3	2	3	3
18	🇦🇺 Australia	T3	T3	T4	T4	T2	T3	T3	T4	T4	-	1	4
19	🇳🇿 New Zealand	T5	T4	T6	T5	T3	T2	T4	T5	T5	-	1	1
20	🇮🇪 Ireland	T4	T3	T9	T5	T2	T4	T5	T3	T4	-	1	2

Introduction
National Soft Power Assessments
Regional Soft Power Profiles
National Case Studies
Scenarios and Sensitivity Analysis
Data and Definitions

Introduction

Soft power is assessed across multiple irreducible domains, including:

Cultural Reach and Creative Influence
Diplomatic Networks and Global Engagement
Education, Research, and Talent Attraction
Information, Media, and Narrative Influence
People-to-People Exchange and Global Communities

Each domain is evaluated independently. No aggregation, weighting, or averaging is applied across domains.

Rather than producing a single index, each country is assigned a tier within each soft-power domain based on Pareto dominance. This preserves the multidimensional nature of influence and avoids allowing excellence in one area—such as cultural exports or media reach—to mask weakness in others, such as diplomacy or educational pull.

Overall rank is derived, not calculated.

Countries are ordered by the concentration of higher-tier placements across domains, beginning with Tier 1, then Tier 2, then Tier 3. Countries with identical domain-tier profiles share the same rank, and competition ranking is applied (e.g. 1, 1, 3, 4). Rank never determines tier placement, and tiers are not scores—they are structural categories that describe how national soft power is built and sustained.

Regional Ratings

East Asia and Pacific

East Asia and the Pacific is home to some of the world's most influential soft power actors, with a cultural and institutional reach that has expanded dramatically over recent decades. From Japan's post-war investment in education and technological innovation to South Korea's global cultural exports and Australia's world-class university system, the region has developed formidable soft capability assets. China's vast human capital base and growing information infrastructure add further weight, while smaller states such as Singapore and New Zealand have built outsized reputations for governance quality and institutional transparency. The region's soft power trajectory reflects both deep historical traditions of scholarship and administration and a more recent, deliberate effort to project influence through knowledge, media and institutional credibility.

The data confirm the region's strength in global soft capability rankings. Six East Asian and Pacific nations appear in the global top 20 for soft rank, with Singapore, New Zealand and Australia each achieving T1 status across multiple soft domains. Japan and South Korea perform strongly in human capital and information influence, while several Pacific Island states and less developed Southeast Asian economies occupy the lower tiers, reflecting persistent gaps in education systems, media reach and governance frameworks. The region's soft power landscape is thus sharply bifurcated: a cluster of globally leading nations at the top, and a long tail of states where institutional and human capital development remains a work in progress.

Figure X. East Asia and the Pacific: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	T1	T2	T3
1	1	🇸🇬 Singapore	T3	T1	T3	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	7	-	2
2	6	🇰🇷 South Korea	T2	T1	T3	T2	T1	T2	T3	T1	T2	3	4	2
3	10	🇯🇵 Japan	T2	T1	T3	T4	T1	T3	T2	T1	T2	3	3	2
4	11	🇨🇳 China	T1	T1	T2	T3	T1	T7	T2	T1	T2	4	3	1
5	18	🇦🇺 Australia	T3	T3	T4	T4	T2	T3	T3	T4	T4	-	1	4
6	19	🇳🇿 New Zealand	T5	T4	T6	T5	T3	T2	T4	T5	T5	-	1	1
7	29	🇹🇼 Taiwan	T4	T4	T5	T4	T4	T4	T5	T3	T3	-	-	2
8	30	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	T5	T2	T8	T4	T4	T5	T4	T6	T5	-	1	-
9	53	🇲🇾 Malaysia	T7	T4	T7	T7	T6	T9	T5	T6	T7	-	-	-
10	62	🇮🇩 Indonesia	T7	T7	T7	T11	T6	T10	T6	T11	T8	-	-	-
11	63	🇵🇭 Philippines	T11	T9	T8	T12	T6	T13	T9	T15	T12	-	-	-
12	70	🇻🇳 Vietnam	T8	T6	T7	T9	T7	T10	T7	T11	T8	-	-	-
13	79	🇧🇳 Brunei	T13	T5	T10	T8	T9	T8	T9	T17	T15	-	-	-
14	81	🇹🇭 Thailand	T7	T5	T8	T8	T8	T12	T6	T10	T8	-	-	-
15	96	🇲🇵 Northern Mariana Islands	T6	T7	T5	T10	T9	T9	T9	T9	T11	-	-	-
16	97	🇬🇺 Guam	T7	T6	T5	T11	T9	T9	T13	T17	T16	-	-	-
17	100	🇹🇻 Tuvalu	T7	T10	T6	T13	T11	T9	T6	T6	T8	-	-	-
18	104	🇲🇴 Macao	T10	T6	T7	T10	T11	T10	T11	T11	T14	-	-	-
19	121	🇵🇫 French Polynesia	T15	T15	T10	T18	T14	T11	T9	T10	T12	-	-	-
20	126	🇳🇨 New Caledonia	T12	T7	T8	T12	T14	T12	T13	T16	T15	-	-	-
21	135	🇼🇸 Samoa	T20	T15	T9	T20	T13	T15	T11	T12	T12	-	-	-
22	140	🇫🇯 Fiji	T17	T13	T11	T21	T13	T17	T15	T21	T18	-	-	-
23	144	🇲🇳 Mongolia	T14	T11	T10	T17	T14	T15	T12	T17	T15	-	-	-
24	145	🇦🇸 American Samoa	T10	T11	T7	T18	T15	T14	T11	T8	T12	-	-	-
25	153	🇳🇷 Nauru	T13	T14	T8	T19	T14	T17	T9	T10	T12	-	-	-
26	156	🇹🇴 Tonga	T18	T17	T11	T22	T14	T19	T14	T15	T15	-	-	-
27	170	🇰🇭 Cambodia	T16	T13	T11	T21	T15	T19	T14	T21	T15	-	-	-
28	179	🇻🇺 Vanuatu	T21	T19	T11	T22	T16	T19	T13	T14	T14	-	-	-
29	189	🇵🇼 Palau	T22	T21	T12	T23	T17	T20	T19	T21	T19	-	-	-
30	193	🇹🇱 Timor-Leste	T21	T17	T12	T24	T18	T20	T16	T21	T18	-	-	-
31	194	🇱🇦 Laos	T17	T13	T13	T24	T18	T21	T19	T25	T18	-	-	-
32	196	🇸🇧 Solomon Islands	T15	T16	T14	T26	T18	T21	T21	T28	T24	-	-	-
33	201	🇰🇮 Kiribati	T22	T21	T12	T25	T18	T23	T18	T18	T18	-	-	-
33	201	🇲🇭 Marshall Islands	T22	T22	T12	T25	T18	T23	T15	T21	T20	-	-	-
35	203	🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea	T18	T13	T12	T24	T19	T21	T18	T23	T19	-	-	-
36	209	🇰🇵 North Korea	T11	T12	T7	T27	T19	T27	T22	T27	T25	-	-	-
37	211	🇲🇲 Myanmar	T15	T14	T8	T26	T20	T24	T20	T24	T21	-	-	-
38	212	🇫🇲 Micronesia	T23	T17	T14	T28	T20	T25	T20	T26	T23	-	-	-

Europe and Central Asia

Europe and Central Asia encompasses the world's deepest concentration of soft power, anchored by centuries of institutional development, educational excellence and cultural production. Western and Northern European states have long set global standards in governance transparency, press freedom, higher education and diplomatic influence, while the European Union itself functions as a normative soft power actor of considerable weight. The region also includes the post-Soviet states of Central Asia and the Caucasus, where soft capability trajectories have diverged sharply since independence, creating one of the widest internal ranges of any World Bank region.

The rankings reflect this breadth. European nations dominate the upper reaches of the global soft capability table, with the Nordic states, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom all achieving T1 across multiple soft domains. Germany, France and several smaller Western European states sit close behind. By contrast, the Central Asian republics and several states in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe occupy considerably lower positions, with governance integrity and information influence emerging as the domains where the gap between the region's leaders and laggards is most pronounced. The sheer depth of soft power talent at the top, however, makes Europe and Central Asia the strongest region in aggregate soft capability.

Figure X. Europe and Central Asia: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	T1	T2	T3
1	1	🇪🇪 Estonia	T5	T3	T5	T1	T1	T1	T5	T2	T1	4	1	1
1	1	🇨🇭 Switzerland	T2	T2	T6	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	T1	6	2	-
3	4	🇳🇴 Norway	T3	T1	T5	T2	T1	T1	T2	T4	T3	3	2	2
3	4	🇸🇪 Sweden	T3	T2	T5	T2	T1	T1	T2	T1	T2	3	4	1
5	6	🇩🇰 Denmark	T4	T2	T6	T2	T2	T1	T3	T2	T2	1	5	1
5	6	🇫🇮 Finland	T4	T2	T6	T2	T2	T1	T4	T2	T3	1	4	1
7	9	🇳🇱 Netherlands	T1	T1	T4	T3	T1	T2	T2	T2	T2	3	4	1
8	13	🇩🇪 Germany	T1	T1	T4	T4	T1	T4	T2	T2	T3	3	2	1
8	13	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	T2	T3	T3	T4	T1	T4	T2	T4	T4	1	2	2
10	15	🇫🇷 France	T1	T1	T2	T4	T1	T5	T2	T3	T3	3	2	2
11	20	🇮🇪 Ireland	T4	T3	T9	T5	T2	T4	T5	T3	T4	-	1	2
12	21	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	T5	T3	T7	T3	T3	T3	T5	T5	T5	-	-	4
13	22	🇦🇹 Austria	T3	T3	T7	T3	T3	T4	T5	T4	T4	-	-	4
14	24	🇮🇸 Iceland	T6	T3	T9	T4	T3	T4	T8	T6	T7	-	-	2
15	26	🇱🇹 Lithuania	T6	T4	T6	T6	T3	T5	T6	T5	T7	-	-	1
15	26	🇵🇹 Portugal	T5	T4	T6	T6	T3	T5	T6	T5	T6	-	-	1
17	28	🇪🇸 Spain	T4	T3	T4	T6	T3	T6	T3	T5	T5	-	-	3
18	31	🇧🇪 Belgium	T3	T3	T5	T5	T4	T5	T4	T3	T4	-	-	3
18	31	🇱🇮 Liechtenstein	T7	T4	T10	T4	T5	T5	T8	T7	T9	-	-	-
20	34	🇨🇿 Czechia	T5	T4	T6	T6	T4	T7	T6	T5	T5	-	-	-
21	35	🇮🇹 Italy	T3	T4	T3	T7	T4	T7	T6	T6	T5	-	-	2
22	36	🇵🇱 Poland	T5	T4	T4	T7	T4	T8	T5	T5	T6	-	-	-
23	39	🇺🇦 Ukraine	T7	T7	T5	T13	T4	T13	T12	T14	T13	-	-	-
24	40	🇸🇮 Slovenia	T6	T4	T7	T6	T5	T6	T6	T5	T5	-	-	-
25	41	🇱🇻 Latvia	T8	T5	T7	T7	T5	T6	T7	T6	T8	-	-	-
26	43	🇲🇹 Malta	T10	T5	T10	T7	T5	T9	T8	T8	T8	-	-	-
27	44	🇭🇷 Croatia	T7	T5	T7	T8	T5	T8	T7	T9	T7	-	-	-
28	45	🇬🇷 Greece	T6	T5	T5	T9	T5	T8	T7	T9	T7	-	-	-
29	47	🇭🇺 Hungary	T6	T4	T7	T8	T5	T10	T6	T7	T7	-	-	-
30	50	🇲🇨 Monaco	T8	T5	T8	T6	T6	T7	T8	T10	T12	-	-	-
31	51	🇨🇾 Cyprus	T9	T6	T9	T7	T6	T8	T9	T11	T9	-	-	-
32	53	🇸🇰 Slovakia	T7	T4	T8	T7	T6	T9	T7	T8	T7	-	-	-
33	59	🇷🇴 Romania	T6	T5	T5	T9	T6	T9	T6	T8	T8	-	-	-
34	60	🇷🇺 Russia	T4	T5	T3	T9	T6	T11	T10	T9	T11	-	-	1
34	60	🇹🇷 Türkiye	T5	T5	T5	T9	T6	T11	T7	T8	T9	-	-	-
36	65	🇬🇬 Channel Islands	T10	T7	T11	T9	T7	T7	T7	T8	T10	-	-	-
37	66	🇦🇩 Andorra	T12	T7	T10	T8	T7	T9	T11	T17	T16	-	-	-
38	82	🇸🇲 San Marino	T11	T6	T8	T10	T8	T9	T11	T14	T14	-	-	-
39	84	🇷🇸 Serbia	T9	T7	T7	T9	T8	T14	T8	T12	T10	-	-	-
40	85	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	T9	T6	T7	T10	T8	T11	T7	T12	T10	-	-	-
41	90	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	T11	T5	T6	T11	T8	T11	T7	T13	T8	-	-	-
42	93	🇦🇲 Armenia	T9	T10	T8	T12	T8	T14	T12	T6	T12	-	-	-
43	97	🇫🇴 Faroe Islands	T6	T7	T5	T9	T9	T11	T8	T9	T11	-	-	-
44	99	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	T8	T6	T6	T10	T9	T11	T8	T10	T9	-	-	-
45	104	🇬🇪 Georgia	T12	T8	T6	T11	T10	T10	T8	T8	T9	-	-	-
46	106	🇲🇪 Montenegro	T13	T11	T8	T10	T12	T10	T8	T6	T7	-	-	-
47	107	🇮🇲 Isle of Man	T9	T9	T6	T12	T10	T11	T7	T8	T9	-	-	-
48	112	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	T12	T11	T9	T15	T11	T12	T11	T14	T12	-	-	-
49	114	🇲🇩 Moldova	T14	T12	T6	T13	T11	T13	T9	T9	T12	-	-	-
50	122	🇧🇾 Belarus	T9	T8	T6	T11	T14	T19	T16	T15	T15	-	-	-
51	127	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	T11	T8	T8	T15	T12	T14	T10	T14	T12	-	-	-
52	134	🇦🇱 Albania	T13	T12	T10	T18	T13	T15	T12	T18	T14	-	-	-
53	148	🇽🇰 Kosovo	T12	T15	T13	T22	T14	T16	T15	T22	T17	-	-	-
54	159	🇬🇱 Greenland	T12	T13	T11	T20	T16	T15	T13	T17	T16	-	-	-
55	164	🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina	T13	T12	T11	T19	T15	T18	T15	T20	T16	-	-	-
56	169	🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	T15	T14	T10	T22	T15	T18	T16	T22	T17	-	-	-
57	184	🇹🇲 Turkmenistan	T15	T9	T10	T25	T16	T23	T18	T23	T20	-	-	-
58	192	🇹🇯 Tajikistan	T16	T15	T10	T25	T17	T22	T19	T25	T21	-	-	-

Latin America and Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean has a distinctive soft power profile shaped by its rich cultural traditions, widespread educational expansion and a complex, often turbulent governance history. The region's cultural influence, from literature and music to sport and media, has long exceeded what its economic weight alone might suggest. Several Latin American states have built credible democratic institutions and invested significantly in public education, though the region as a whole continues to grapple with uneven governance quality and institutional trust deficits that constrain its soft capability potential.

The soft capability rankings place the region's leaders in the upper-middle tiers globally rather than at the frontier. Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica emerge as the regional standouts, with relatively strong performances in governance integrity and human capital that distinguish them from their neighbours. The Caribbean microstates show mixed results, with some achieving respectable information influence scores but struggling in human capital depth, while the larger economies of Brazil, Mexico and Argentina sit further down than their global prominence might suggest, reflecting persistent challenges in translating cultural and demographic assets into top-tier institutional and educational outcomes. No nation in the region achieves T1 in any soft domain, underscoring the distance that remains to the global frontier.

Figure X. Latin America and Caribbean: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	T1	T2	T3
1	33	🇺🇾 Uruguay	T9	T5	T9	T6	T4	T6	T9	T10	T9	-	-	-
2	37	🇲🇽 Mexico	T7	T5	T8	T10	T4	T9	T6	T9	T7	-	-	-
3	42	🇨🇱 Chile	T6	T4	T6	T7	T5	T7	T5	T6	T6	-	-	-
4	49	🇯🇲 Jamaica	T13	T8	T11	T14	T5	T11	T11	T16	T13	-	-	-
5	51	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	T10	T6	T8	T7	T6	T8	T7	T7	T8	-	-	-
6	57	🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	T8	T7	T7	T10	T6	T8	T7	T7	T8	-	-	-
7	70	🇧🇧 Barbados	T14	T7	T11	T9	T7	T10	T12	T17	T15	-	-	-
8	73	🇨🇴 Colombia	T10	T7	T7	T10	T7	T11	T7	T8	T9	-	-	-
9	76	🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands	T7	T8	T5	T11	T7	T12	T7	T7	T7	-	-	-
10	80	🇰🇾 Cayman Islands	T11	T7	T11	T10	T8	T8	T10	T18	T14	-	-	-
11	85	🇦🇼 Aruba	T15	T8	T12	T11	T8	T10	T13	T21	T17	-	-	-
11	85	🇧🇷 Brazil	T6	T6	T6	T10	T8	T11	T7	T9	T10	-	-	-
13	88	🇵🇦 Panama	T10	T6	T8	T13	T8	T10	T10	T14	T9	-	-	-
14	90	🇦🇷 Argentina	T7	T8	T7	T11	T8	T11	T12	T13	T12	-	-	-
15	92	🇲🇫 Saint Martin	T6	T7	T6	T12	T8	T13	T9	T11	T11	-	-	-
16	95	🇩🇴 Dominican Rep.	T12	T8	T9	T16	T8	T14	T12	T16	T13	-	-	-
17	102	🇨🇺 Cuba	T6	T8	T8	T9	T13	T17	T19	T22	T17	-	-	-
18	108	🇵🇪 Peru	T11	T7	T6	T13	T10	T12	T8	T14	T10	-	-	-
19	109	🇻🇮 US Virgin Islands	T13	T14	T8	T14	T13	T10	T8	T7	T10	-	-	-
20	110	🇧🇸 Bahamas	T14	T13	T10	T19	T11	T11	T12	T16	T15	-	-	-
21	115	🇳🇮 Nicaragua	T6	T9	T7	T13	T11	T16	T14	T14	T14	-	-	-
22	116	🇻🇨 St Vincent & Grenadines	T16	T16	T8	T18	T13	T11	T8	T7	T10	-	-	-
23	117	🇨🇼 Curaçao	T14	T12	T9	T14	T11	T14	T8	T10	T11	-	-	-
24	118	🇬🇩 Grenada	T10	T10	T7	T14	T11	T16	T10	T10	T12	-	-	-
25	125	🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago	T12	T6	T8	T12	T12	T12	T11	T10	T11	-	-	-
26	129	🇪🇨 Ecuador	T12	T10	T8	T15	T12	T15	T11	T16	T13	-	-	-
27	137	🇱🇨 St Lucia	T18	T15	T9	T17	T13	T16	T10	T8	T9	-	-	-
28	141	🇸🇻 El Salvador	T15	T13	T9	T20	T13	T18	T15	T18	T15	-	-	-
29	145	🇸🇷 Suriname	T15	T14	T8	T18	T14	T15	T11	T12	T13	-	-	-
30	151	🇰🇳 St Kitts & Nevis	T12	T12	T7	T17	T14	T18	T13	T16	T15	-	-	-
31	154	🇬🇹 Guatemala	T14	T12	T10	T21	T14	T18	T16	T19	T15	-	-	-
32	156	🇦🇬 Antigua & Barbuda	T19	T16	T11	T22	T14	T19	T15	T20	T18	-	-	-
33	161	🇧🇴 Bolivia	T15	T11	T11	T20	T15	T17	T15	T21	T19	-	-	-
34	162	🇩🇲 Dominica	T20	T16	T12	T21	T15	T17	T11	T18	T14	-	-	-
34	162	🇬🇾 Guyana	T16	T12	T11	T21	T15	T17	T14	T22	T15	-	-	-
36	171	🇧🇿 Belize	T19	T15	T10	T23	T15	T19	T18	T22	T19	-	-	-
37	172	🇭🇳 Honduras	T15	T12	T10	T20	T15	T20	T16	T18	T15	-	-	-
38	174	🇻🇪 Venezuela	T14	T12	T8	T25	T15	T24	T18	T23	T21	-	-	-
39	175	🇵🇾 Paraguay	T15	T11	T11	T20	T16	T17	T15	T21	T17	-	-	-
40	177	🇸🇽 Sint Maarten	T17	T15	T10	T21	T16	T18	T15	T21	T18	-	-	-
41	182	🇭🇹 Haiti	T21	T19	T11	T24	T16	T21	T15	T13	T15	-	-	-

Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa occupies a complex position in the global soft power landscape. The region's historical contributions to scholarship, science and governance are among the oldest in the world, yet contemporary soft capability is shaped by a more uneven picture of institutional development, media environments and educational outcomes. The Gulf states have invested heavily in higher education infrastructure, cultural institutions and media platforms in recent decades, while several North African and Levantine states possess deep human capital traditions constrained by governance challenges and conflict legacies.

The rankings reflect both the region's ambitions and its constraints. The United Arab Emirates and Israel lead the region in soft capability, each drawing on distinct strengths: Israel in human capital and information influence, the UAE in institutional modernisation and governance reform. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have made notable investments in soft power projection, though their overall tier placements suggest these efforts have not yet translated into frontier-level outcomes across all three soft domains. At the lower end, conflict-affected states such as Syria and Yemen rank among the weakest globally, dragging the regional average down and illustrating how political instability can erode soft capability assets that took generations to build.

Figure X. Middle East and North Africa: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	T1	T2	T3
1	16	🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	T4	T1	T4	T4	T2	T2	T2	T3	T2	1	4	1
2	17	🇮🇱 Israel	T2	T1	T2	T3	T2	T3	T4	T1	T3	2	3	3
3	24	🇶🇦 Qatar	T5	T2	T6	T4	T3	T4	T4	T7	T6	-	1	1
4	37	🇲🇦 Morocco	T10	T5	T6	T10	T4	T9	T6	T7	T6	-	-	-
5	45	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	T5	T4	T5	T8	T5	T9	T3	T6	T7	-	-	1
6	63	🇪🇬 Egypt	T9	T6	T6	T12	T6	T13	T7	T13	T11	-	-	-
7	67	🇧🇭 Bahrain	T9	T4	T7	T7	T9	T9	T6	T7	T9	-	-	-
7	67	🇴🇲 Oman	T9	T4	T7	T9	T7	T9	T7	T13	T10	-	-	-
9	73	🇯🇴 Jordan	T11	T6	T8	T10	T7	T11	T11	T15	T13	-	-	-
10	83	🇰🇼 Kuwait	T9	T3	T8	T9	T8	T11	T6	T20	T15	-	-	1
11	113	🇹🇳 Tunisia	T10	T9	T9	T12	T11	T17	T13	T14	T13	-	-	-
12	124	🇮🇷 Iran	T6	T8	T4	T15	T11	T19	T16	T13	T15	-	-	-
13	130	🇩🇿 Algeria	T10	T7	T6	T18	T12	T16	T14	T19	T13	-	-	-
14	143	🇱🇧 Lebanon	T14	T14	T10	T21	T13	T21	T20	T22	T20	-	-	-
15	150	🇵🇸 Palestine	T16	T16	T10	T17	T14	T17	T9	T12	T12	-	-	-
16	166	🇮🇶 Iraq	T14	T8	T8	T21	T15	T18	T16	T24	T17	-	-	-
17	195	🇩🇯 Djibouti	T13	T14	T12	T25	T18	T21	T20	T23	T14	-	-	-
18	208	🇸🇾 Syria	T18	T16	T8	T27	T19	T25	T21	T25	T22	-	-	-
19	214	🇱🇾 Libya	T17	T12	T9	T26	T21	T26	T18	T26	T21	-	-	-
20	216	🇾🇪 Yemen	T21	T18	T10	T31	T22	T27	T20	T25	T23	-	-	-

North America

North America's three nations represent a striking range of soft power capacity despite the region's small membership. The United States has long been regarded as the world's pre-eminent soft power, with unmatched global influence in higher education, media, cultural production and institutional design. Canada complements this with consistently strong governance quality, a well-regarded education system and a diplomatic brand built on multilateralism and openness. The region's soft capability is underpinned by deep institutional foundations, large research university systems and media ecosystems with genuinely global reach.

The rankings bear out this standing. The United States achieves T1 across all three soft domains, placing it at the very top of the global soft capability table alongside a handful of European and Asia-Pacific peers. Canada performs strongly, with T1 in human capital and near-frontier placements in information influence and governance integrity. Mexico, by contrast, sits considerably lower, with mid-tier scores across the soft domains that reflect ongoing challenges in educational outcomes, institutional trust and media environment quality. The gap between Mexico and its two northern neighbours is among the widest intra-regional disparities in any three-nation grouping, highlighting how proximity to soft power leaders does not automatically translate into shared capability levels.

Figure X. North America: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	T1	T2	T3
1	11	🇺🇸 United States	T1	T1	T1	T3	T1	T7	T1	T1	T1	7	-	1
2	22	🇨🇦 Canada	T3	T3	T5	T4	T3	T3	T4	T3	T4	-	-	5
3	72	🇧🇲 Bermuda	T8	T9	T7	T10	T7	T10	T9	T10	T12	-	-	-

South Asia

South Asia is a region of vast demographic scale and deep intellectual traditions whose soft capability remains substantially below its potential. India, home to the world's largest population, possesses an enormous human capital base, a vibrant free press and a globally influential diaspora, yet its aggregate soft power performance is constrained by the sheer challenge of delivering education, governance quality and information infrastructure at continental scale. The region's other states range from Sri Lanka's relatively established institutional frameworks to Afghanistan's near-total collapse of soft capability, with Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan occupying various points along a spectrum defined more by aspiration than by achieved outcomes.

The soft capability data place every South Asian nation in the lower half of the global rankings, with India leading the region at G#48 but no state achieving T1 in any soft domain. Bhutan's comparatively strong governance integrity score and Bangladesh's progress in human capital development offer points of relative brightness, but the region as a whole faces deep structural challenges in translating its cultural and demographic weight into measurable soft power. Afghanistan's position near the bottom of the global table, with T26–T30 scores across the soft domains, underscores the devastating effect of prolonged conflict on institutional and human capital. South Asia's soft power story is ultimately one of unrealised potential, where the ingredients for influence exist but the systems to harness them remain underdeveloped.

Figure X. South Asia: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	F1	F2	F3
1	48	🇮🇳 India	T5	T5	T4	T9	T5	T11	T6	T7	T8	-	-	-
2	101	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	T11	T10	T8	T13	T9	T15	T11	T16	T13	-	-	-
3	103	🇧🇹 Bhutan	T18	T12	T10	T20	T9	T14	T12	T15	T15	-	-	-
4	128	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	T11	T11	T9	T14	T12	T16	T14	T17	T14	-	-	-
5	141	🇵🇰 Pakistan	T11	T10	T5	T20	T13	T18	T12	T18	T13	-	-	-
6	151	🇳🇵 Nepal	T15	T13	T9	T18	T14	T17	T13	T17	T17	-	-	-
7	158	🇲🇻 Maldives	T16	T14	T11	T15	T15	T18	T15	T22	T19	-	-	-
8	215	🇦🇫 Afghanistan	T21	T19	T14	T30	T22	T26	T21	T27	T25	-	-	-

Sub Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's youngest and most rapidly growing region, with a soft power trajectory that is still in its early chapters. The region's cultural vibrancy, linguistic diversity and expanding youth populations represent significant latent soft capability, yet decades of underinvestment in education systems, weak institutional frameworks and governance deficits have left most states far from the global frontier. A small group of nations, notably Rwanda, Mauritius and Botswana, have pursued deliberate strategies of institutional reform and human capital investment that set them apart from their regional peers, while South Africa's established university sector and media ecosystem give it a distinctive profile among the continent's larger economies.

The rankings confirm Sub-Saharan Africa's position as the weakest region in global soft capability, but also reveal meaningful internal variation. Rwanda leads at G#55, a remarkable placement for a low-income state, driven primarily by its governance integrity and information influence scores. Mauritius and Botswana follow closely, both benefiting from small-state governance advantages and sustained investment in education. The long tail of the table, however, tells a harder story: nearly half the region's 48 nations rank below G#180, with Burundi, South Sudan and Sudan clustered near the bottom of the global table. No Sub-Saharan African state achieves T1 in any soft domain, and the region's median soft capability scores are the lowest of any World Bank grouping, reflecting systemic challenges that will require generational investment to overcome.

Figure X. Sub Saharan Africa: 2026 Soft Capability Ratings

Soft Capability			Hard Capability			Soft Capability			Econ Capability			Frontiers
R#	G#	Nation	CT	SI	NS	HC	II	GI	FS	PI	TI	F1	F2	F3
1	55	🇷🇼 Rwanda	T14	T7	T8	T10	T6	T7	T10	T13	T12	-	-	-
2	56	🇲🇺 Mauritius	T13	T6	T10	T9	T6	T8	T6	T10	T8	-	-	-
3	58	🇧🇼 Botswana	T14	T7	T9	T11	T6	T8	T7	T14	T13	-	-	-
4	67	🇿🇦 South Africa	T6	T6	T6	T9	T7	T9	T7	T9	T9	-	-	-
5	75	🇨🇻 Cabo Verde	T17	T15	T11	T18	T7	T10	T14	T18	T16	-	-	-
6	76	🇰🇪 Kenya	T12	T7	T8	T11	T7	T12	T9	T13	T11	-	-	-
7	78	🇳🇬 Nigeria	T12	T10	T6	T14	T7	T13	T10	T14	T12	-	-	-
8	89	🇬🇭 Ghana	T13	T9	T8	T14	T8	T10	T10	T14	T12	-	-	-
9	94	🇸🇳 Senegal	T13	T11	T8	T16	T8	T13	T10	T16	T13	-	-	-
10	111	🇸🇨 Seychelles	T14	T13	T10	T11	T13	T12	T14	T18	T17	-	-	-
11	119	🇳🇦 Namibia	T13	T10	T9	T17	T14	T11	T12	T15	T14	-	-	-
11	119	🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire	T14	T7	T9	T17	T11	T14	T9	T15	T12	-	-	-
13	123	🇨🇬 Rep. of Congo	T18	T12	T8	T20	T14	T11	T7	T7	T9	-	-	-
14	131	🇨🇫 Central African Rep.	T23	T20	T10	T25	T16	T12	T6	T14	T12	-	-	-
15	132	🇹🇿 Tanzania	T14	T11	T10	T19	T12	T17	T13	T19	T14	-	-	-
16	133	🇰🇲 Comoros	T17	T19	T8	T22	T13	T13	T9	T8	T8	-	-	-
17	135	🇬🇳 Guinea	T19	T15	T9	T20	T15	T13	T12	T8	T13	-	-	-
18	137	🇺🇬 Uganda	T15	T13	T9	T17	T13	T16	T12	T18	T14	-	-	-
19	139	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	T12	T12	T9	T19	T13	T17	T16	T19	T14	-	-	-
20	147	🇪🇷 Eritrea	T20	T16	T8	T21	T15	T14	T7	T7	T10	-	-	-
21	148	🇲🇷 Mauritania	T13	T12	T8	T22	T14	T16	T11	T14	T13	-	-	-
22	155	🇦🇴 Angola	T14	T11	T9	T23	T14	T18	T13	T20	T15	-	-	-
23	159	🇿🇲 Zambia	T15	T9	T12	T20	T15	T16	T11	T18	T14	-	-	-
24	165	🇨🇲 Cameroon	T15	T13	T9	T20	T15	T18	T13	T17	T14	-	-	-
25	166	🇱🇸 Lesotho	T19	T16	T9	T21	T15	T18	T12	T14	T13	-	-	-
25	166	🇲🇬 Madagascar	T17	T15	T9	T21	T15	T18	T12	T15	T14	-	-	-
27	173	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	T15	T14	T11	T22	T15	T20	T16	T21	T16	-	-	-
28	176	🇬🇲 Gambia	T19	T18	T10	T21	T16	T17	T13	T15	T14	-	-	-
29	178	🇲🇿 Mozambique	T16	T12	T11	T24	T16	T18	T15	T22	T15	-	-	-
30	180	🇧🇯 Benin	T18	T14	T12	T23	T16	T19	T14	T21	T16	-	-	-
31	181	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	T19	T16	T9	T24	T16	T19	T12	T13	T13	-	-	-
32	183	🇸🇴 Somalia	T21	T17	T10	T27	T16	T22	T14	T17	T18	-	-	-
33	185	🇬🇦 Gabon	T15	T12	T10	T22	T17	T19	T13	T18	T17	-	-	-
34	186	🇲🇼 Malawi	T17	T15	T10	T23	T17	T19	T16	T20	T18	-	-	-
35	187	🇹🇬 Togo	T17	T14	T10	T24	T17	T19	T14	T19	T15	-	-	-
36	188	🇸🇿 Eswatini	T16	T15	T11	T22	T17	T20	T17	T21	T16	-	-	-
37	189	🇳🇪 Niger	T20	T18	T10	T23	T17	T20	T12	T12	T13	-	-	-
38	191	🇨🇩 DR Congo	T18	T15	T9	T24	T17	T20	T15	T19	T16	-	-	-
39	196	🇱🇷 Liberia	T20	T17	T11	T26	T18	T21	T17	T24	T19	-	-	-
40	198	🇹🇩 Chad	T22	T19	T8	T24	T18	T22	T19	T19	T16	-	-	-
41	199	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	T19	T13	T11	T25	T18	T22	T17	T23	T19	-	-	-
41	199	🇲🇱 Mali	T19	T16	T11	T25	T18	T22	T14	T22	T18	-	-	-
43	204	🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	T22	T20	T10	T29	T19	T21	T12	T18	T17	-	-	-
44	205	🇸🇹 São Tomé & Príncipe	T22	T20	T13	T27	T19	T22	T19	T25	T22	-	-	-
45	206	🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	T19	T17	T12	T25	T19	T24	T14	T23	T20	-	-	-
46	207	🇸🇩 Sudan	T17	T15	T9	T26	T19	T24	T18	T23	T20	-	-	-
47	210	🇸🇸 South Sudan	T24	T20	T9	T30	T20	T22	T16	T17	T15	-	-	-
48	213	🇧🇮 Burundi	T21	T19	T13	T27	T21	T24	T20	T24	T20	-	-	-