The UK has been ranked as the third most popular nation in the latest GfK Anholt Nations Brand Index (NBI), with the 2012 Olympic Games proving a driving force in increasing other nations' positive perceptions of Britain.

The NBI is put together annually following scores collated from 20,000 consumers across 20 differing panel countries.

Respondents are asked to score the 50 nations in the index on issues such as tourism, culture and welcoming provided, as well as those relating to governance, immigration and exports.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the index for the UK is the fact that it has managed to score consistently highly across the six categories considered, with a fourth-place finish being awarded to Britain in five of the six fields studied.

These results have been especially encouraging given the number of high-profile advertising and promotional campaigns other European nations have been running in the recent past.

The UK managed to finish fourth-placed in the categories of tourism, culture, exports, people and immigration and investment, with a sixth-placed finish coming in relation to governance.

The results also show that Britain has made improvements in certain aspects of its tourism, culture and people offerings, with the UK improving in its positions when being measured on ‘excels at sport’, ‘rich in natural beauty’ and ‘people would make me feel very welcome’.

“These results prove that Britain has retained, and built on, the global image boost of hosting the Olympics,” said Sandie Dawe, CEO of VisitBritain.

“Our GREAT campaign has promoted culture, heritage and countryside – so to see historically weaker areas such as ‘Welcome’ and ‘Natural Beauty’ markedly improve is a considerable achievement.

“This wave of interviewing, one year on from the Olympics, gives us a reliable, long-term view and tells us that positive post-Games perceptions were certainly not short-lived.

“Our reputation across the world has firmly changed for the better and we will continue to build on this to promote Britain for tourism around the world. The figures speak for themselves, with record numbers of holidaymakers choosing to come here.”

More information on Britain’s performance in the index is available to view here