Rothman Consumer Reputation Index 2026: In Central and Eastern Europe, China Is Closing the Consumer Trust Gap with the West
- Published in News from Asia
Consumer trust in the four most reputable Asian countries, China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, has strengthened significantly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the past five years. Western Europe’s reputation in the region has remained stable, but trust in the United States has declined sharply, the Rothman Intelligence Unit’s 2026 Consumer Reputation Index Survey of 12,000 consumers found.
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 8 October 2026 – First compiled in 2021, the Rothman Consumer Reputation Index (CRI) measures how much consumers trust a "country brand", and how far a product's "made in" label sways their purchase decisions. Country of origin is a major factor in consumer choices in Central and Eastern Europe: more important than online reviews, or even the product brand itself.
Research from multiple surveys between 2021 and 2023 identified which Asian countries have a positive reputation among Central and Eastern Europe's roughly 110 million consumers, finding China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea as the most valuable Asian country brands. Since then, the survey has continued tracking how these Asian countries perform compared with their main Western European rivals, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and with the United States, in ten countries of the CEE region: Austria, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
In the first survey, "Made in Germany" had the highest value in all ten countries, with the United States and France also scoring above 7. Since then, Japan has overtaken France and the United States, taking second place behind Germany in most of the countries in the region, and this year it became the most trusted country brand in Poland, as Polish consumers now rate it (7.5) above Germany (7.0), the first time an Asian country has topped a national ranking anywhere in the region.
Japan, however, is far from the biggest winner in terms of improvement. While Japan's average score has risen by 0.43 points since 2021, trust in China as a country of origin improved by 0.63 points, Singapore's score rose by 0.66 points, and South Korea's by 0.72 points over the past five years.
The survey also shows a more mixed picture since 2023 on the regional average, as South Korea and Singapore, the two biggest winners over the five years, and Japan made most of their advance by 2023 and have since consolidated well above their 2021 levels, while China is the only one that has continued to climb. China's rise mirrors the decline of the United States, which has lost exactly as much as its biggest global rival has gained – 0.63 points. As a result, the average consumer trust gap between China and the United States has narrowed from 2.0 points in 2021 to 0.74 in 2026.
In Austria, all four Asian economies now outscore the United States, and South Korea also edges ahead of the United States in Bulgaria and Slovenia. Singapore's strongest ground is Central Europe – Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Slovenia, where Singaporean origin scores above 6 and ranks ahead of "Made in China".
The "Asian four" are the biggest gainers overall since 2021, increasing their average reputation score by 0.61 points, while Germany and France have remained stable, adding 0.13 and 0.16 points to their 2021 scores respectively.
The 2026 results confirm that a product's country of origin remains a stronger purchase driver in Central and Eastern Europe than the brand itself: 59% of consumers say where a product is made matters to their choice, against 55% for online reviews and 50% for the brand.
Price is still the dominant factor (86%), followed by recommendations from friends and family (64%).
As Zsofia Balatoni, Chief Strategy Officer at Rothman, highlights, "Three years ago our survey already showed that Asia had momentum in Central and Eastern Europe. The 2026 results show the trend has held. Japan now competes with Germany for first place in Poland, China has never been rated higher, and South Korea and Singapore have closed more than half of their gap with America since 2021. Consumers in Central and Eastern Europe buy the country before the brand, and Asia's country brands are increasingly valued."
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Methodology
The Rothman Consumer Reputation Index survey, completed by the Rothman Intelligence Unit on 1 September 2026, was conducted in twelve countries, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia, with 1,000 respondents in each country (n = 12,000), representative by age, gender, place of residence and education, using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI; CAPI in Serbia and Montenegro). The margin of error is ±3.2 percentage points for shares and about ±0.2 points for index scores at country level. The Consumer Reputation Index (CRI) records how positively or negatively a product's country of origin would influence a purchase decision on a scale of 0 to 10. Scores above 5 indicate positive sentiment. Montenegro and North Macedonia were surveyed for the first time in 2026. Regional averages and all comparisons with the 2021 and 2023 waves use the ten countries surveyed in every wave.
About Rothman Intelligence Unit
Rothman Intelligence Unit (formerly Rothman & Roman Intelligence Unit) is a think-tank providing data analysis, research and intelligence about emerging economies, including Central and Eastern Europe, mapping CEE's economic potential, political landscape and the region's role in forming EU regulations. Rothman Intelligence Unit is part of Rothman, a strategic communications and advisory firm headquartered in Singapore.
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