Countries by Regulatory Quality: Percentile Rank, Upper Bound of 90% Confidence Interval

Ranking 2023

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric reports the upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for a country's percentile rank on the Regulatory Quality dimension of the Worldwide Governance Indicators, expressed as a percentage. The source note defines the broader framework as follows: 'Good governance is essential for development. It helps countries improve economic growth, build human capital, and strengthen social cohesion. Empirical evidence shows a strong causal relationship between better governance and better development outcomes. The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are designed to help researchers and analysts assess broad patterns in perceptions of governance acros.' Because this is the upper bound of a confidence interval rather than a point estimate, it represents the highest plausible percentile rank for each country given measurement uncertainty. The dataset covers 205 countries using indicator code RQ.PER.RNK.UPPER from the World Bank World Development Indicators, with all 205 data points drawn from 2023 and classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the average year-over-year change across the dataset is 5.9%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by high-income economies and major financial centers. Australia, Luxembourg, Macao SAR China, and Singapore all achieve 100% (rank 1). Fourteen additional countries, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, score 99.53% (rank 5). The United Kingdom follows at rank 20 with 98.58%, Germany and Japan share rank 21 at 98.11%, and Estonia and the United States are tied at rank 23 with 96.70%. Georgia is the highest-ranked country outside this high-income cluster, reaching rank 43 with 88.21%.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable clustering. Countries ranked 88 through 94 — including Armenia, Colombia, Jamaica, Moldova, Panama, the Philippines, the Bahamas, Fiji, Kazakhstan, and Rwanda — fall in a narrow band between 65.57% and 66.51%. Notable placements in the lower half include China at rank 124 with 51.42%, Brazil at rank 121 with 52.83%, and India at rank 109 with 58.49%. At the bottom, North Korea scores 1.89% (rank 204) and Eritrea scores 1.42% (rank 205). Countries such as Venezuela (4.25%, rank 201), Turkmenistan (4.25%, rank 201), Somalia (4.72%, rank 199), and Libya (4.72%, rank 199) also occupy the lowest tier.

Because this indicator represents the upper bound of a confidence interval rather than a central estimate, it systematically overstates each country's most likely percentile rank. Countries with wider confidence intervals will benefit more from this upward shift than those with narrower intervals, meaning the metric does not straightforwardly reflect the most probable governance assessment. Additionally, the WGI draws on perceptions-based data, which can lag structural changes and may reflect the views of particular respondent groups rather than objective regulatory outcomes. Territories and special administrative regions — such as Macao SAR, Greenland, Aruba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (U.S.) — are included alongside sovereign states, which limits direct comparability for some entries.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code RQ.PER.RNK.UPPER, for the reference year 2023. The metric reports the upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for each country's percentile rank on the Regulatory Quality dimension of the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The source note defining the framework reads: 'Good governance is essential for development. It helps countries improve economic growth, build human capital, and strengthen social cohesion. Empirical evidence shows a strong causal relationship between better governance and better development outcomes. The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are designed to help researchers and analysts assess broad patterns in perceptions of governance acros.' Coverage includes 205 countries, representing 100% recency (all data points from within the last 7 years) and 100% official data quality. Values range from 1.42% (Eritrea) to 100% (Australia, Luxembourg, Macao SAR China, Singapore), a spread of 6,966.7%. No extreme outliers were found at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change is 5.9%, indicating moderate stability. Higher values are better. Users should note that as an upper confidence bound, values are not equivalent to point-estimate percentile ranks.

Sources

• World Bank