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.

Governance category

Ranking 2023

Values shown in %.

Countries by Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism: Percentile Rank
Rank	Country	%
1	Cayman Islands	99.53
2	Liechtenstein	99.05
3	Andorra	98.58
4	Greenland	98.10
5	Aruba	97.63
6	Singapore	97.16
7	Brunei	96.68
8	New Zealand	96.21
9	Dominica	95.73
10	Iceland	95.26
11	Tuvalu	94.31
12	Barbados	93.84
13	Marshall Islands	93.36
13	Monaco	93.36
13	San Marino	93.36
16	American Samoa	91.94
17	Kiribati	91.00
18	Samoa	90.52
19	Tonga	90.05
20	Micronesia	89.57
20	Palau	89.57
22	Switzerland	88.63
23	Macao	88.15
24	Luxembourg	87.68
25	Botswana	87.20
26	Bermuda	86.73
27	Grenada	86.26
27	Saint Lucia	86.26
27	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	86.26
30	Bahamas	84.83
31	Qatar	84.36
32	Costa Rica	83.89
33	Bhutan	83.41
34	Nauru	82.94
35	Czechia	82.46
36	Uruguay	81.99
37	Japan	81.52
38	Vanuatu	81.04
39	Antigua and Barbuda	80.57
39	Saint Kitts and Nevis	80.57
41	Australia	79.62
42	Cabo Verde	79.15
43	Ireland	78.67
44	Guam	78.20
45	Norway	77.73
46	Malta	77.25
47	Denmark	76.78
48	Canada	76.30
49	Slovenia	75.83
50	Laos	75.36
51	Mauritius	74.88
52	Seychelles	73.93
53	Sweden	73.46
54	Fiji	72.99
55	Lithuania	72.51
56	Hungary	72.04
57	Austria	71.56
58	Finland	71.09
59	Portugal	70.62
60	United Arab Emirates	70.14
61	Hong Kong	69.67
62	Estonia	69.19
63	Netherlands	68.72
64	South Korea	68.25
65	Croatia	67.77
66	Mongolia	67.30
67	Latvia	66.82
68	Germany	66.35
69	Oman	65.88
70	Belize	65.40
71	Italy	64.93
72	Slovakia	64.45
73	Poland	63.98
74	Namibia	63.51
75	U.S. Virgin Islands	63.03
76	Maldives	62.56
77	United Kingdom	62.09
78	Puerto Rico	61.14
79	Solomon Islands	60.66
80	Sao Tome and Principe	60.19
81	Suriname	59.72
82	Cyprus	59.24
83	Kuwait	58.77
84	Belgium	58.29
85	Trinidad and Tobago	57.82
86	Jamaica	57.35
87	Cuba	56.87
88	Romania	56.40
89	France	55.92
90	Bulgaria	55.45
91	Spain	54.98
92	Timor-Leste	54.50
93	Greece	54.03
94	Dominican Republic	53.55
95	Panama	52.61
96	Zambia	52.13
97	Albania	51.66
98	North Macedonia	51.18
99	Malaysia	50.71
100	Chile	50.24
101	Rwanda	49.76
102	Paraguay	49.29
103	Montenegro	48.82
104	Cambodia	47.87
105	United States	47.39
106	Republic of Congo	46.92
107	El Salvador	46.45
108	Gambia	45.97
109	Ghana	45.50
110	Vietnam	45.02
111	Serbia	44.55
112	Tanzania	44.08
113	Guyana	43.60
114	Turkmenistan	43.13
115	Liberia	42.65
116	Nicaragua	42.18
117	Argentina	41.71
118	Senegal	41.23
119	Uzbekistan	40.76
120	Jordan	40.28
121	Saudi Arabia	39.81
122	Nepal	39.34
123	Comoros	38.86
124	Equatorial Guinea	38.39
125	Malawi	37.91
126	Sierra Leone	37.44
127	Guatemala	36.97
128	Kazakhstan	36.49
129	Thailand	36.02
130	Lesotho	35.55
131	Bolivia	35.07
132	Kosovo	34.60
133	Guinea-Bissau	34.12
134	Gabon	33.65
135	Georgia	33.18
136	Ecuador	32.70
137	Angola	32.23
138	Benin	31.75
139	Bosnia and Herzegovina	31.28
140	Eswatini	30.81
141	North Korea	30.33
142	Morocco	29.86
143	Bahrain	29.38
144	Indonesia	28.91
145	Brazil	28.44
146	Honduras	27.96
147	Tajikistan	27.49
148	Papua New Guinea	27.01
149	Kyrgyzstan	26.54
150	Mauritania	26.07
151	Sri Lanka	25.59
152	China	25.12
153	Djibouti	24.64
154	Peru	24.17
155	Philippines	23.70
156	Algeria	23.22
157	Mexico	22.75
158	Tunisia	22.27
159	Côte d'Ivoire	21.80
160	India	21.33
161	South Africa	20.85
162	Moldova	20.38
163	Madagascar	19.91
164	Uganda	19.43
165	Colombia	18.96
166	Belarus	18.48
167	Azerbaijan	18.01
168	Eritrea	17.54
169	Armenia	17.06
170	Egypt	16.59
171	Guinea	16.11
172	Bangladesh	15.64
173	Zimbabwe	15.17
174	Kenya	14.69
175	Togo	14.22
176	Türkiye	13.74
177	Russia	13.27
178	Burundi	12.80
179	Venezuela	12.32
180	Mozambique	11.85
181	Cameroon	11.37
182	Ukraine	10.90
183	Haiti	10.43
184	Israel	9.95
185	Lebanon	9.48
186	Chad	9.00
187	Niger	8.53
188	Iran	8.06
189	Nigeria	7.58
190	Palestine	7.11
191	Pakistan	6.64
192	Ethiopia	6.16
193	Burkina Faso	5.69
194	DR Congo	5.21
195	Myanmar	4.74
196	Libya	4.27
197	South Sudan	3.79
198	Central African Republic	3.32
199	Somalia	2.84
200	Iraq	2.37
201	Sudan	1.90
202	Afghanistan	1.42
203	Yemen	0.95
204	Mali	0.47
205	Syria	0.00

Analysis

This metric reports each country's percentile rank on the Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism indicator (code: PV.PER.RNK) from the World Bank World Development Indicators, measured in percentage points where higher values indicate greater stability. According to the source, 'The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. Governance consists of the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This includes the process by which governments are selected, mo[nitored and replaced].' The unit is a percentile rank, meaning a country at 75% scored better than 75% of all countries. The 2023 dataset covers 205 countries, all with data from the last seven years (100% recency). All 205 datapoints are classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were detected at the 3-sigma threshold, and average year-over-year change is 11.5%, well within the 50% volatility threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by small territories and stable high-income states. The Cayman Islands (rank 1) leads at 99.53%, followed by Liechtenstein (rank 2) at 99.05% and Andorra (rank 3) at 98.58%. Greenland (rank 4, 98.10%) and Aruba (rank 5, 97.63%) round out the top five. Among sovereign nations with large populations, Singapore ranks 6th at 97.16% and New Zealand ranks 8th at 96.21%. Switzerland ranks 22nd at 88.63%, and Japan ranks 37th at 81.52%. Australia places 41st at 79.62%. The United Arab Emirates ranks 60th at 70.14%. These high-ranking countries span a range of governance models but share consistently high percentile positions.

The middle of the ranking contains several counterintuitive placements. The United States ranks 105th at 47.39%, placing it in the lower half of all 205 countries. The United Kingdom ranks 77th at 62.09%, while France ranks 89th at 55.92% and Germany ranks 68th at 66.35%. India ranks 160th at 21.33%. Three countries share an identical score of 93.36% at rank 13: Marshall Islands, Monaco, and San Marino. At the lower end, Syria ranks last at 0.00%, preceded by Mali (rank 204, 0.47%), Yemen (rank 203, 0.95%), Afghanistan (rank 202, 1.42%), and Sudan (rank 201, 1.90%). Israel ranks 184th at 9.95%, and Russia ranks 177th at 13.27%. Ukraine ranks 182nd at 10.90%.

Several limitations apply to this metric. Because it is a percentile rank, it reflects relative position rather than an absolute measure of stability, meaning a country's score can change even if its underlying conditions remain constant, simply because other countries' scores shift. The index aggregates survey and expert opinion data, which may reflect perceptions rather than objective conditions. Territories such as the Cayman Islands, Greenland, and Aruba are included alongside sovereign states, which affects how sovereign-state rankings should be interpreted. The source note is truncated, so the full definition of what 'governance' encompasses cannot be fully verified from available documentation. Small territories with limited survey coverage may have less reliable estimates than large countries with broader respondent bases.

Methodology

Metric: Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism Percentile Rank. Indicator code: PV.PER.RNK. Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators. Data year: 2023. Unit: percentile rank (%), where higher values indicate better performance. Per the source note: 'The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are a research dataset summarizing the views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. Governance consists of the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This includes the process by which governments are selected, mo[nitored and replaced].' Country count: 205. Recency: 205 of 205 countries (100%) have data from the last 7 years. Data quality: 100% of datapoints are classified as official. Outliers: 0 extreme outliers detected at the 3-sigma threshold. Volatility: average year-over-year change of 11.5%, below the 50% threshold. Value range: 0.00% to 99.53%, a spread of 999%. Microstates (population under 1 million) account for 0 of 205 entries by the dataset's own classification, though several small territories are included.

Sources

World Bank