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Japan has kept its position as the country with the strongest ties to the U.S. for the third consecutive year in the recently released 2026 BGR Impact Index.
The index, which is complied by BGR Analytics, ranks 197 countries based on their economic, cultural, diplomatic, institutional and geopolitical connections with the U.S.
The rest of the top five are Germany (#2), Canada (#3), the United Kingdom (#4) and South Korea (#5).
Social media sentiment was the top determinant of a country’s score, accounting for 20 percent of its ranking. Other important factors are the country’s lobbying/D.C. influence, economy size, outward orientation, cultural imprint and geopolitical nexus. Each indicator is normalized and scored before being aggregated with relevant weights to produce a total score out of a maximum possible 2,500 points.
The index measures not only absolute standing but also each country’s performance relative to its raw size—or what the index authors call the “punches above weight” calculation. The calculation compares each country’s overall rank to the simple average of its GDP rank and population rank. A large positive gap means the country’s U.S.-oriented influence and presence is greater than its economic and demographic footprint would predict.
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The Bahamas has the largest positive gap (+83) of any country in the index, which is at least partly explained by its proximity to the U.S., strong tourism flows and disproportionate foreign direct investment level.
Others in the “punches above weight” category are Jamaica, which punches 75 positions above its structural weight (driven by an outsized cultural imprint in the U.S) and Iceland (+72.5), which rose 17 places from 2024 to 2026, thanks to strong governance scores, cultural visibility, and a significant improvement in online sentiment among U.S.-based audiences.
That further illustrates the positive power of digital communications—but there can be a downside as well. For example, the 2026 Index’s biggest loser was Georgia, which plummeted from #73 in 2024 to #104 in 2026. While its underlying economic and demographic profile did not change radically in two years, the country’s online profile in U.S.-facing social media shifted sharply negative across the period—a deterioration spurred by such factors as political unrest, arrests of journalists and opposition leaders and a failed uprising attempt.
“The 2026 BGR Impact Index makes something plain that policymakers and foreign affairs professionals should take seriously: in the competition for American attention and goodwill, smaller countries can live or die by their digital reputation,” said head of BGR Analytics Frank Ahrens. “Our data show that a smart, targeted, sustained presence on U.S. social media – or an event that goes viral—can move a country’s ranking in ways that decades of traditional diplomacy may not. That is not a knock on traditional engagement. It is a recognition that the arena has expanded, and countries that ignore it are leaving influence on the table.”
Data for the index were drawn exclusively from publicly available sources, primarily the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations, U.S. government agencies and established research institutions. Social media sentiment data are provided by Meltwater. No surveying was conducted by BGR to avoid any appearance of subjectivity.
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