The London-based Portland Communications prepares an annual “soft power ranking” for countries.11 In 2018, the top ten places were taken by the UK, France, Germany, the US, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark. Hungary was placed 25th, with China, Russia, Brazil, and Argentina behind it in the Top 30 (Portland Communications 2018). The Soft Power Survey ranking by Monocle is as follows: US, Germany, Japan, UK, France, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark. Similar results can be seen in the Soft Power World Rankings and the Elcano Global Presence Report. In a certain sense, The Henley Passport Index (Figure 29) also measures soft power, as it shows the number of countries a nation’s passport allows us to enter without a visa, and the extent to which the given passport enables its owner free movement and visa-free travel, in other words the strength of a country’s passport.

Based on the 2019 list, the passport of the United Arab Emirates is the strongest with 167 countries, followed by Germany with 166 countries, then third place is shared by Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, South Korea, and the United States with 165 countries (Passport Index).