Thailand drops two spots from 29^th to 31^st in the Nation Brands Index 2018 out of a total of 100 rankings worldwide, according to Brand Finance, a British consultancy firm on the assessment of brand value.

Thailand’s brand value calculated from the country’s leading brandnames was estimated to worth 509 billion dollars or 16.6 trillion baht – a five percent increase from last year’s 483 billion dollars or 15.7 billion baht.  Thailand’s brand rating was upgraded to AA level from AA- last year.

Indonesia tops the Nation Brands Index this year among Asean countries being ranked at 16^th followed by Singapore and the Philippines being placed at 28^th and 29^th respectively.  Vietnam and Myanmar are ranked at 43^rd and 73^rdrespectively.

Of the 100 countries rated by Nation Brands Index, the US came on top for two years running with its brand value estimated at 25.8 trillion dollars or 844 trillion baht followed in the second place by China with its brand value estimated at 12.7 trillion dollars.

The nation brand rating was based on five factors: the strength of the brand based on the product quality and service, investment and social responsibility, revenue, costs and business value.

The Nation Brands Index, a project run jointly by Simon Anholt and a polling firm called Global Market Insite (GMI), is the only major source for numerical data on the relative strengths of national brands. Every three months, Anholt and GMI record the opinions of consumers in thirty-five different countries, mainly in developed markets, tracking their perceptions of several different aspects of a country’s image. Anholt divides the idea of nation branding into six main subfields. These are: tourism, exports, governance, people, culture and heritage, and investment and immigration.