The poll, conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA, asked a total of 28,619 people to rate the influence in the world of 16 major nations, plus the European Union.
In the year when South Africa hosted the World Cup, the proportion positively rating its influence in the world rose significantly, from 35 to 42%. Germany was again the most positively viewed nation, with 62% rating its influence as positive (up 3 points).
Overall, positive ratings increased of 13 of the 16 nations rated. These include the USA – positive views of American influence rose an average of four points to 49%, with 31% negative.
The United Kingdom’s positive ratings rose five points to 58%, making it, for the first time, the second most positively rated country. This upwards movement for many countries counters a downward movement found in 2010, but also, in most cases, surpasses the levels found in earlier years.
In marked contrast, the three most negatively viewed countries saw their average ratings go from bad to worse, including Iran (59% negative, up 3 points since 2010), North Korea (55%, up 6 points), and Pakistan (56%, up 5 points).
There was a significant increase in negative views of Iran in key Western countries including the United Kingdom (up 20 points), Canada (up 19 points), the USA (up 18 points), and Australia (up 15 points).
However, Israel, for many years among the least positively viewed nations, bucked this trend, keeping its negative ratings at 49% and showing a slight lift in positive ratings from 19 to 21%.
The BBC World Service Country Rating Poll has been tracking opinions about country influence in the world since 2005.
The latest results are based on 28,619 in-home or telephone interviews conducted across a total of 27 countries by the international polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork between December 2, 2010 and February 4, 2011.