Two Decades On, Worldwide Governance Indicators Point to Gains, Challenges in 200 Countries

A 2017 update of the Worldwide Governance Indicators, a decades-long collaboration between NRGI president and CEO Daniel Kaufmann and economist Aart Kraay of the World Bank Development Research Group, was released today.

In a Brookings Institution Future Development blog, Kaufmann and Kraay write that indicators covering six dimensions of governance for over 200 countries over two decades, bringing together information from over 30 different data sources, are now available. These indicators capture the experiences and perceptions of thousands of experts and survey respondents worldwide. The authors also focus on changes in governance that have taken place in many countries over the past two decades, illustrating these changes in two dimensions of governance, namely voice and accountability, as well as government effectiveness. 

The WGI website provides interactive access to the six aggregate indicators, the data sources on which they are based, and complete documentation of the methodology. The aggregate indicators are Voice and Accountability; Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism; Government Effectiveness; Regulatory Quality; Rule of Law; and Control of Corruption.

Kaufmann and Kraay also write that the WGI are a key input the Resource Governance Index (RGI), NRGI’s recently released assessment of the quality of governance in natural resources in 81 countries.