Governance rankings
How well do governments actually govern? These rankings measure effectiveness, accountability, corruption, rule of law, and stability across every country. The numbers behind who leads, who struggles, and what separates them.
Countries by Control of Corruption: Estimate
Denmark leads all 205 ranked countries with a Control of Corruption estimate of 2.38 in 2023, placing it well above the next-highest finisher, Finland, at 2.22. At the opposite end, South Sudan records -1.97, producing a total range of more than 4.3 points between the best and worst performers. That gap reflects the wide dispersion in perceived governance quality captured across the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators dataset.
Countries by Control of Corruption: Number of Sources
Ghana ranks 1st globally with 15 sources contributing to its Control of Corruption score, the highest of any country in the 2023 dataset. At the other end, eight countries including American Samoa, Andorra, and Bermuda register just 1 source each, ranking 198th. The 14-point gap between the top and bottom reflects how unevenly survey and expert coverage is distributed across countries in this governance dataset.
Countries by Control of Corruption: Percentile Rank
Denmark leads all 205 countries with a Control of Corruption percentile rank of 100%, while South Sudan sits at the bottom with a score of 0%. The 100-percentage-point gap between them represents the full width of the distribution across this World Bank governance measure. The ranking reflects where each country falls relative to all others, not an absolute measure of corruption volume.
Countries by Control of Corruption: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Denmark leads all 205 countries with a lower-bound percentile rank of 98.58% on the Control of Corruption index for 2023. At the other end, 13 countries including Somalia, South Sudan, and Venezuela score exactly 0.00%, producing a range that spans the full width of the scale. That gap of nearly 99 percentage points reflects the degree to which perceived corruption control varies across the world's governments.
Countries by Control of Corruption: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Denmark, Finland, and Norway each achieve a perfect score of 100% in the 2023 Control of Corruption Percentile Rank Upper Bound, placing them at the top of 205 countries assessed. At the other extreme, South Sudan scores just 1.89%, producing a gap of more than 98 percentage points between the best and worst performers. That spread reflects the wide variation in perceived governance quality captured across the full global dataset.
Countries by Government Effectiveness: Number of Sources
Ghana ranks 1st out of 205 countries with a government effectiveness source count of 13, the highest recorded in the 2023 dataset. At the other end, ten territories and small states including American Samoa, Andorra, and Bermuda record just 1 source each. The gap between top and bottom reflects how broadly or narrowly each country is covered by the underlying surveys and expert assessments that feed into the Worldwide Governance Indicators.
Countries by Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank
Singapore ranks 1st with a perfect percentile score of 100% on the World Bank's Government Effectiveness indicator, while South Sudan sits last at 0% — a complete span of the ranking. The 205-country dataset shows a wide and continuous distribution, with no clustering at the extremes suggesting the gap reflects deep structural variation in governance capacity across countries.
Countries by Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Singapore ranks first among 205 countries with a government effectiveness percentile rank lower bound of 97.64%, according to 2023 World Bank data. At the other end, seven countries including Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen score 0.00%, the lowest possible value. The 97.64 percentage point gap between the top and bottom reflects the extreme variation in perceived government capacity across the world.
Countries by Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Five countries — Denmark, Luxembourg, Monaco, Singapore, and Switzerland — share the top rank with a perfect score of 100% on the Government Effectiveness Percentile Rank Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval for 2023. At the opposite end, South Sudan and Yemen each score just 2.36%, placing them joint last among 205 countries. The 97.64 percentage-point gap between the top and bottom reflects the wide variation in perceived governance quality captured by this measure.
Countries by Government Effectiveness: Standard Error
Nine countries share rank 1 with a government effectiveness standard error of 0.513, the highest value in this 205-country ranking for 2023. At the bottom, Ghana holds rank 205 with a value of 0.197. The gap between top and bottom spans 0.316 units, reflecting wide variation in measurement precision across countries.
Countries by Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force)
Eritrea ranks 1st globally with 13.29% of its total labor force serving as armed forces personnel in 2020, more than 1.5 times the share of 2nd-ranked North Korea at 8.62%. At the other end of the ranking, Iceland, Libya, and West Bank and Gaza each record 0%, sharing rank 166 among 168 countries. The gap between the top and bottom of this ranking spans over 13 percentage points.
Countries by Military expenditure (current USD)
The United States leads global military expenditure by an extraordinary margin, spending $997.3 billion in 2024 — more than three times the second-ranked country, China, at $313.7 billion. At the other end of the ranking, Costa Rica, Iceland, Panama, and Venezuela each record zero expenditure. The gap between the top and bottom of the ranking spans nearly one trillion dollars.
Countries by Military expenditure (% of GDP)
Ukraine ranks 1st with military expenditure equal to 34.48% of GDP, more than three times the value of second-ranked Israel at 8.78%. At the other end, Haiti spends just 0.07% of GDP on its military. The 50,000-percentage-point spread across 156 countries reflects the wide variation in how governments prioritize defense relative to their economies.
Countries by Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure)
Ukraine ranks first among 153 countries with 54.01% of general government expenditure directed to the military. At the other end, Sierra Leone records just 0.003%. The gap of more than 54 percentage points reflects the extreme variation in how governments prioritize defense within their overall budgets.
Countries by Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Number of Sources
India, Mexico, New Zealand, and Singapore share the top rank in this metric, each recorded with 9 sources contributing to their political stability and absence of violence/terrorism assessment in 2023. At the other end, American Samoa stands alone at rank 205 with just 1 source. The gap between 9 and 1 reflects how unevenly the underlying governance survey infrastructure covers different countries and territories.
Countries by Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank
The Cayman Islands leads 205 countries with a political stability and absence of violence/terrorism percentile rank of 99.53%, while Syria sits at the absolute bottom with a score of 0%. The gap between them spans the full width of the index. The spread from 0% to 99.53% reflects the extreme variation in governance stability recorded across the world in 2023.
Countries by Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Liechtenstein ranks first among 205 countries on the Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism lower-bound percentile, scoring 94.79% in 2023. At the other end, seven countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen each score 0.00%. The 94.79-percentage-point gap between the top and bottom of this ranking reflects the extreme range in political stability conditions across the world.
Countries by Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Eight countries, including Singapore, Andorra, and Brunei Darussalam, achieved a perfect score of 100% on the Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism percentile rank upper bound in 2023. At the opposite end, Mali and the Syrian Arab Republic scored 2.84%, the lowest values in a dataset of 205 countries. The gap of 97.16 percentage points between the top and bottom of this ranking reflects the extreme variance in perceived political stability across the globe.
Countries by Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Standard Error
American Samoa leads all 205 countries with a political stability standard error of 0.398, meaning its estimate carries the widest uncertainty band in the dataset. At the bottom, Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, and India share the narrowest standard error of 0.205. The gap of roughly 0.193 points reflects the difference in how precisely the WGI model can estimate political stability across countries with very different data environments.
Countries by Rule of Law: Estimate
Finland ranks 1st with a rule of law estimate of 1.97, the highest among all 205 countries assessed in 2023. At the opposite end, Somalia scores -2.21, producing a total spread of more than 4.1 points between the top and bottom. That range reflects the breadth of institutional difference captured by this governance metric across the full global sample.
Countries by Rule of Law: Number of Sources
Ghana ranks 1st with 16 sources contributing to its Rule of Law score in 2023, the highest count among 205 countries and territories covered. At the other end, eight territories including American Samoa, Andorra, and Bermuda each record just 1 source. The 15-point gap between top and bottom reflects how unevenly the underlying survey and expert data are distributed across countries.
Countries by Rule of Law: Percentile Rank
Finland ranks 1st with a perfect rule of law percentile score of 100%, while Somalia ranks last at 0% among 205 countries measured in 2023. The 100-percentage-point gap between top and bottom reflects the full range of the percentile scale. No two countries illustrate the extremes of governance quality more starkly than these two.
Countries by Rule of Law: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Finland tops the 2023 rule of law lower-bound confidence interval ranking with a score of 95.28%, placing it first among 205 countries. At the opposite end, Somalia, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Venezuela each score 0.00%. The 95-point gap between the top and bottom of this ranking reflects the wide variation in how legal institutions and governance function across countries.
Countries by Rule of Law: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Fourteen countries, including Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, achieved a perfect score of 100% on the Rule of Law Percentile Rank Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval in 2023. At the other end, Somalia and Venezuela each scored just 1.42%, placing them joint-last among 205 countries. The gap between the top and bottom spans nearly 99 percentage points, reflecting the extreme variation in how rule of law is perceived across the world.
Countries by Regulatory Quality: Number of Sources
Ghana ranks 1st with 12 sources contributing to its Regulatory Quality score in 2023, the highest count among 205 countries and territories covered. At the other end, eight territories including American Samoa, Andorra, and Bermuda each register just 1 source. The gap between top and bottom reflects differences in how extensively each country is surveyed, not necessarily differences in governance quality itself.
Countries by Regulatory Quality: Percentile Rank
Singapore ranks 1st with a regulatory quality percentile rank of 100%, the highest score among all 205 countries measured in 2023. At the other end, Korea, Dem. People's Rep. scores 0.00%, placing last. The 100-percentage-point gap between these two countries illustrates the full range of regulatory environments captured by this metric.
Countries by Regulatory Quality: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Singapore leads all 205 countries with a regulatory quality lower-bound percentile rank of 99.53%, according to 2023 World Bank data. At the other end, six countries including Venezuela, Turkmenistan, and South Sudan score exactly 0.00%. The 99.53 percentage-point gap between the top and bottom illustrates the full range of variation in perceived regulatory quality worldwide.
Countries by Regulatory Quality: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Four countries — Australia, Luxembourg, Macao SAR China, and Singapore — share the top position with a perfect upper-bound regulatory quality percentile rank of 100% in 2023. At the other end, Eritrea scores just 1.42%, placing 205th out of 205 countries. The resulting gap of 98.58 percentage points reflects the extreme variation in perceived regulatory quality across the world.
Countries by Voice and Accountability: Number of Sources
Four countries — Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, and Nigeria — share the top rank with 14 sources each in the 2023 Voice and Accountability: Number of Sources metric. At the bottom, 12 territories and small states record just 1 source, producing a range of 1 to 14 across 203 countries. That 1,300% spread indicates substantial variation in how many independent data points underpin each country's governance score.
Countries by Voice and Accountability: Percentile Rank
Norway leads all 203 countries with a voice and accountability percentile rank of 100% in 2023, while North Korea sits at the opposite extreme with a score of exactly 0%. The 100-percentage-point gap between the top and bottom of the ranking illustrates the full breadth of variation in how freely populations can participate in selecting their governments and express political views. This dataset captures that variation across virtually every country in the world.
Countries by Voice and Accountability: Percentile Rank, Lower Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Norway ranks 1st in the 2023 Voice and Accountability lower-bound percentile ranking with a score of 96.08%, the highest among 203 countries measured. At the other end, eight countries including North Korea, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Eritrea score 0.00%. The 96-point gap between the top and bottom reflects the wide divergence in governance conditions recorded across the dataset.
Countries by Voice and Accountability: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval
Eight countries, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, New Zealand, and Switzerland, share the top score of 100% on the upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for Voice and Accountability percentile rank in 2023. At the other end, Korea, Dem. People's Rep. ranks 203rd with a score of just 2.45%. The nearly 98-percentage-point gap between top and bottom reflects the extreme variation in governance conditions captured across 203 countries.
Countries by Voice and Accountability: Standard Error
American Samoa and Guam share the top rank with a Voice and Accountability standard error of 0.526, meaning estimates for these territories carry the widest uncertainty in the dataset. At the opposite end, eight Eastern European EU members including Slovenia and Poland share rank 196 with a value of 0.105, less than one-fifth the top figure. The 401.9% spread between the highest and lowest values reflects how sharply sample coverage and country size affect measurement precision.