Popularity and the particle

Hi there.

I have been talking about popularity (ninki) with my teacher.

In the end, we had two alternatives for a sentence. The first was: Eikoku de ninki ga arimasu. The second was: Eikokujin ni ninki ga arimasu.

Now I understand why the 'de' is used in the first sentence, since in this case 'arimasu' is an action verb. What I don't really understand is the purpose of the 'ni' in the second sentence.

Could someone perhaps explain that one for me?

Thanks.

I think:

Eikoku de ninki ga arimasu = literally, "In England, popularity (of something indicated by context) exists." で marks the location.

Eikokujin ni ninki ga arimasu = literally "To/for the English, popularity (of something indicated by context) exists." に marks the target to which "ninki ga arimasu" applies. The fact that we don't naturally use a preposition like this in English is just a quirk of the languages. It's a bit like some languages expressing ownership by something that literally appears to mean "to X there is a Y".

I'm only a learner, so let's wait to see what the experts say. Apologies in advance if my explanation is crap...!

Makes sense to me, and Toritoribe agrees, so it's all good. Thanks.