Germany loved...China...eh not so much.

A BBC poll last week had Germany ranked #1 as the most liked country in the world. Germany came in with a whopping 61% favorable worldwide rating. That is up from last year's 55%. Can you blame them? The land of delicious chocolates, amazing architecture, beautiful people, big pretzels and bigger beers has definitely been on my short list of places to see. Luckily I may be able to swing by Germany in June when I venture into Eastern Europe for a month. Dresden here I come!


As for how well other countries fared on this list?

***Britain moved up 7%, with 58% of people rating it as having a positive influence.



***Negative views about Russia were up 8% with 42% among the 13,000 people questioned in 21 countries.

***The 2008 Olympic host China did not get much love either on this list. 39% of the people polled found China's role in the world to be a negative.

***Rejoice USA...but not so much. The poll, taken after Barack Obama was elected president, saw the United States rise in the poll for the first time in a few years. 43% of the people polled still had a negative view when asked about the good old US of A. However, this is an improvement from 47% in 2008. It is definitely still way too early for the world to change their attitude towards America since Obama still has that new President smell on him.

***The USA for the first time since 2005 was less hated by the world than Russia. Oh yes Mother Russia has not seen as favorable by the worldwide audience.



The same countries were asked the same questions at the same time last year and saw both Russia and China as favorable countries. The drop in love comes as no surprise to Russia, who were blasted by many people around the world after their treatment to Georgia. China on the other hand, while not completely shocking, does probably have some people scratching their heads since China tried very hard during the Summer games to come off like good guys.

Rounding out the list of the least liked countries were the usual suspects: Iran, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea.