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.
Ranking 2023
Analysis
This metric measures the standard error of the Voice and Accountability estimate from the Worldwide Governance Indicators. A higher standard error means greater statistical uncertainty around a country's governance estimate, not better governance. The source 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].' The unit is an absolute value. The viability check covers 203 countries, with 100% of data points classified as official and 100% falling within the last seven years. Data year is 2023. The dataset contains 27 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range runs from 0.105 to 0.526.
The two highest-ranked territories, American Samoa and Guam (rank 1, 0.526), are U.S. territories with small populations and limited survey representation, which produces high standard errors. Six jurisdictions at rank 3 share a value of 0.290, including Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, and San Marino. Andorra follows at rank 9 with 0.266. These positions are driven by sparse data inputs rather than governance quality. Further down, small island states such as Kiribati and Tuvalu (rank 10, 0.266) and Samoa and Tonga (rank 12, 0.247) continue the pattern of high uncertainty linked to limited respondent pools.
Large, well-surveyed countries tend to appear near the bottom of this ranking, where lower standard errors indicate more precise estimates. France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden share rank 187 with a value of 0.111. The eight Eastern European EU members at rank 196, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia, share the lowest value of 0.105. A notable anomaly appears mid-table: South Sudan (rank 30, 0.163) posts a relatively high standard error despite being a large and widely reported-on state, suggesting limited survey data collection in conflict-affected contexts. Similarly, Guinea-Bissau (rank 32, 0.155) and Comoros (rank 29, 0.187) rank higher than many far larger nations.
Because this metric measures statistical uncertainty rather than governance outcomes, it should not be used to rank countries by governance quality. Territories and small states consistently appear at the top not due to better accountability but due to fewer underlying data sources. Countries sharing identical values, such as the 17 African nations all tied at rank 154 with 0.118, likely reflect grouped or interpolated estimates rather than independently measured precision. Conflict-affected states may have systematically fewer respondents, inflating their standard errors. The presence of non-sovereign territories such as Aruba, Cayman Islands, Greenland, Macao SAR, Puerto Rico, and Hong Kong SAR within the 203-country list further complicates cross-country comparisons.
Methodology
Metric: Voice and Accountability Standard Error. Indicator code: VA.STD.ERR. Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, drawing from the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) research dataset. Data year: 2023. Country count: 203, with 201 of 203 (99.0%) reporting in the latest year and 100% of data points classified as official quality. The source defines the WGI as '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 value of the standard error. Higher values indicate greater statistical uncertainty. The dataset identified 27 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The value range is 0.105 to 0.526, a spread of 401.9%. Average year-over-year change is 3.4%. No microstates exclusions were applied; 0 of 203 countries fall below 1 million population in the dataset as flagged.