Israel is viewed as the country with the second most negative influence on the world, according to a poll released recently by the BBC World Service.

Iran was considered to have the most negative influence, ranked lowest in world opinion at 54 percent - the same ranking it was given in a poll taken last year.

Israel's negative rating dropped this year from 57 percent to 52 percent, moving it from having the worst influence in world opinion to second most negative.

Pakistan was rated the country with the third most negative influence in the world.

The survey also found that world opinion of the United States has risen, with 35 percent of respondents finding it to have a positive influence, compared to 31 percent in the last poll.

According to the poll, Germany was considered to have the best influence on the world, with a positive score of 56 percent and a negative score of 18 percent.

Japan ranked closely behind Germany, with a positive score of 56 percent and a negative score of 21 percent - though respondents in neighboring Asian countries China and South Korea showed negative views.

The poll was conducted by the international agency GlobeScan along with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

Respondents were asked to rate Brazil, Britain, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the U.S. and the European Union as having positive or negative influence.