Can't beat Kiwis for cockiness (not even Aussies)

New Zealanders have a strong sense of pride which can irritate others. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand has the highest regard for itself of all the countries in the world - cockier than the US, India and even Australia, says a survey.

The New York-based international consulting firm Reputation Institute and researchers AMR ranked the reputations of 50 countries and 100 cities in a worldwide public poll.

Overall, New Zealand got a score of 73.12 out of 100 - good enough to rank as having the fifth-best reputation among the 50 countries.

But it was well below the score New Zealanders gave themselves, 89.69, which is 20 per cent better than any country's actual reputation.

New Zealand historian Jock Phillips said the result was unsurprising - the Kiwis who disliked New Zealand would have gone to Aussie and the ones who remained loved it out of necessity.

New Zealanders had a strong sense of pride. "It's such a long way to come and it's such a small place that if you've got to stay here, you've got to convince yourself it's the best country in the world," Dr Phillips said. "It's a big decision to stay in New Zealand. You're cutting yourself off from the world in some ways."

A bit of Kiwi insecurity would have encouraged New Zealanders to pad up their own numbers.

New Zealand may have been shown to have the most inflated self-esteem, but it was not the worst case of self-deception.

India scored itself more than 30 points higher than its global reputation, while Turkey, China and Chile overestimated by more than 25.

The self-image in Greece was the worst in the world, more than 15 points below its global reputation.

Auckland's reputation, meanwhile, ranked just 35th out of the 100 cities - despite another global index, based on a consultancy's research into quality of living, putting the city in third place earlier this week.

Oliver Freedman, AMR's general manager in Australia, said Auckland was held back by being unfamiliar to many of the people surveyed.

The survey, of 35,000 people in 15 countries for the city reputation index, was taken in April and May.