Countries With the Highest Governance Scores

Every country with a figure for governance score, ranked from highest to lowest. The top three are Denmark (1.47), Switzerland (1.47) and Norway (1.43). The middle country of the 179 has 0.22.

What this measures

Governance score, in typical gaps (standard deviations). Source: PlaceStats. For this measure, higher is better.

The average of 19 measures from 5 publishers. Each measure is first put on a common scale: 0 is the average country in an average year, and 1 is a typical gap between countries (a standard deviation). Each is turned so that higher is better. Measures are averaged within each publisher first, so a publisher with many measures does not count for more. Members: Civil liberties (FH), Political rights (FH), Pre-trial detainee share, Civil society participation, Political corruption, Electoral democracy, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression, Free and fair elections, Liberal democracy, Participatory democracy, Political civil liberties, Birth registration, Control of corruption, Government effectiveness, Political stability, Rule of law, Regulatory quality, Voice and accountability.

A standard deviation is a typical gap between places.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2011–2025. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on governance score

• Countries With the Lowest Governance Scores
• Governance score by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Highest Corruption Perceptions Index
• Countries With the Highest Political Rights (FH)
• Countries With the Highest Civil Liberties (FH)
• Countries With the Highest Trust in Government
• Countries With the Highest Pre-trial Detainee Shares
• Countries With the Highest Refugees Originating
• Countries With the Highest Electoral Democracy
• Countries With the Highest Liberal Democracy

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.