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.

Governance category

Ranking 2023

Countries by Regulatory Quality: Number of Sources
Rank	Country	Value
1	Ghana	12
2	Bangladesh	11
2	Côte d'Ivoire	11
2	Pakistan	11
2	Sierra Leone	11
2	Tanzania	11
7	Cambodia	10
7	Cameroon	10
7	DR Congo	10
7	Gambia	10
7	India	10
7	Indonesia	10
7	Kenya	10
7	Kyrgyzstan	10
7	Liberia	10
7	Madagascar	10
7	Malawi	10
7	Mali	10
7	Mongolia	10
7	Nepal	10
7	Nigeria	10
7	Philippines	10
7	Rwanda	10
7	Senegal	10
7	Togo	10
7	Zimbabwe	10
27	Benin	9
27	Botswana	9
27	Bulgaria	9
27	Burkina Faso	9
27	Chad	9
27	Colombia	9
27	El Salvador	9
27	Estonia	9
27	Ethiopia	9
27	Guinea	9
27	Honduras	9
27	Hungary	9
27	Lesotho	9
27	Mexico	9
27	Morocco	9
27	Mozambique	9
27	Niger	9
27	Peru	9
27	Romania	9
27	Singapore	9
27	Slovakia	9
27	Sudan	9
27	Uganda	9
27	Uzbekistan	9
27	Vietnam	9
27	Zambia	9
53	Angola	8
53	Argentina	8
53	Austria	8
53	Bolivia	8
53	Brazil	8
53	Central African Republic	8
53	Chile	8
53	China	8
53	Republic of Congo	8
53	Costa Rica	8
53	Croatia	8
53	Czechia	8
53	Egypt	8
53	France	8
53	Germany	8
53	Greece	8
53	Haiti	8
53	Jordan	8
53	Kazakhstan	8
53	South Korea	8
53	Kuwait	8
53	Laos	8
53	Latvia	8
53	Lithuania	8
53	Malaysia	8
53	Mauritania	8
53	New Zealand	8
53	Papua New Guinea	8
53	Paraguay	8
53	Poland	8
53	Portugal	8
53	Saudi Arabia	8
53	Slovenia	8
53	South Africa	8
53	Spain	8
53	Sri Lanka	8
53	Thailand	8
53	Tunisia	8
53	Türkiye	8
53	United Arab Emirates	8
53	Venezuela	8
94	Albania	7
94	Algeria	7
94	Australia	7
94	Bahrain	7
94	Belgium	7
94	Bhutan	7
94	Bosnia and Herzegovina	7
94	Burundi	7
94	Canada	7
94	Cyprus	7
94	Denmark	7
94	Djibouti	7
94	Dominican Republic	7
94	Ecuador	7
94	Eritrea	7
94	Finland	7
94	Georgia	7
94	Guatemala	7
94	Guinea-Bissau	7
94	Hong Kong	7
94	Iran	7
94	Ireland	7
94	Italy	7
94	Jamaica	7
94	Japan	7
94	Kosovo	7
94	Luxembourg	7
94	Mauritius	7
94	Montenegro	7
94	Myanmar	7
94	Namibia	7
94	Netherlands	7
94	Nicaragua	7
94	North Macedonia	7
94	Panama	7
94	Qatar	7
94	Serbia	7
94	Sweden	7
94	Tajikistan	7
94	Timor-Leste	7
94	Trinidad and Tobago	7
94	United Kingdom	7
94	United States	7
94	Uruguay	7
138	Afghanistan	6
138	Armenia	6
138	Barbados	6
138	Belarus	6
138	Cabo Verde	6
138	Gabon	6
138	Guyana	6
138	Iceland	6
138	Israel	6
138	Lebanon	6
138	Malta	6
138	Moldova	6
138	Norway	6
138	Oman	6
138	Russia	6
138	Sao Tome and Principe	6
138	Somalia	6
138	Switzerland	6
138	Ukraine	6
138	Vanuatu	6
138	Yemen	6
159	Azerbaijan	5
159	Bahamas	5
159	Comoros	5
159	Cuba	5
159	Eswatini	5
159	Iraq	5
159	North Korea	5
159	Samoa	5
159	Solomon Islands	5
159	South Sudan	5
159	Suriname	5
159	Syria	5
171	Belize	4
171	Brunei	4
171	Dominica	4
171	Equatorial Guinea	4
171	Fiji	4
171	Kiribati	4
171	Libya	4
171	Maldives	4
171	Micronesia	4
171	Seychelles	4
171	Saint Lucia	4
171	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	4
171	Tonga	4
171	Turkmenistan	4
185	Grenada	3
185	Liechtenstein	3
185	Marshall Islands	3
185	Puerto Rico	3
185	Tuvalu	3
185	Palestine	3
191	Antigua and Barbuda	2
191	Aruba	2
191	Cayman Islands	2
191	Macao	2
191	Nauru	2
191	Palau	2
191	Saint Kitts and Nevis	2
198	American Samoa	1
198	Andorra	1
198	Bermuda	1
198	Greenland	1
198	Guam	1
198	Monaco	1
198	San Marino	1
198	U.S. Virgin Islands	1

Analysis

This metric counts the number of data sources used to calculate a country's Regulatory Quality score under the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators. The indicator code is RQ.NO.SRC, and data are from the 2023 reference year. According to the source note, the Worldwide Governance Indicators 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 an absolute count of sources, and higher values indicate more sources were used. All 205 countries have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were detected at the three-standard-deviation threshold, and the average year-over-year change was 4.1%. The range spans 1 to 12, a spread of 1,100%.

Ghana leads all 205 countries with 12 sources at rank 1. Five countries share rank 2 with 11 sources each: Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. A large cluster of 20 countries occupies rank 7 with 10 sources, including India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and the Philippines. These high-source countries are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, regions where multiple enterprise, citizen, and expert surveys are regularly conducted. The pattern reflects survey deployment density rather than any inherent feature of governance in those regions.

High-income and well-known economies frequently appear in the middle of the ranking. The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Germany all sit at rank 94 with 7 sources. Singapore and Estonia, often cited in governance discussions, reach only rank 27 with 9 sources. Notably, countries such as Afghanistan (rank 138, 6 sources), Somalia (rank 138, 6 sources), and Yemen (rank 138, 6 sources) have the same source count as Switzerland (rank 138, 6 sources) and Norway (rank 138, 6 sources), illustrating that source count does not track with perceived governance quality. At the lower end, small island states and territories such as Tuvalu (rank 185, 3 sources), Nauru (rank 191, 2 sources), and Guam (rank 198, 1 source) have very few sources, consistent with limited survey coverage in small or dependent territories.

The number of sources is a methodological input, not a measure of governance performance. A higher source count means more survey data were aggregated, which can affect the precision of the underlying Regulatory Quality estimate, but does not directly indicate better or worse regulation. Countries with few sources may have less reliable or more volatile governance estimates. The metric cannot distinguish between countries where few surveys are conducted because of limited researcher access and those where limited surveys simply reflect small population size. Territories and semi-autonomous regions such as Aruba, Cayman Islands, and Macao SAR appear in the ranking alongside sovereign states, which complicates direct comparisons. The source note definition used here is incomplete as provided, and any truncation may omit relevant details about how sources are selected or weighted.

Methodology

Metric: Countries by Regulatory Quality: Number of Sources. Indicator code: RQ.NO.SRC. Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators. Reference year: 2023. Unit: absolute count of sources (higher is better). The source note defines the underlying dataset as follows: '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].' Coverage: 205 countries and territories, all with data from within the last seven years (100% recency). Data quality: 100% of datapoints are classified as official. Outliers: zero extreme outliers detected at the three-standard-deviation threshold. Volatility: average year-over-year change of 4.1%, well below the 50% caution threshold. Value range: 1 to 12, representing a 1,100% spread. The metric counts input sources only and does not measure governance outcomes directly.

Sources

World Bank