Governance—the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised—plays a central role in shaping development outcomes. A large body of research highlights how inclusive and accountable institutions support higher economic growth, stronger public services, and expanded opportunities. When governance systems struggle to perform these functions, development outcomes are often harder to sustain.
The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are one of the leading global initiatives for measuring governance. First published in 1999, they provide annual composite indicators summarizing six dimensions of governance: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption. The WGI draws on perception data from 35 cross-country sources—including household surveys, firm surveys, and expert assessments—to offer a comparable picture of governance quality across more than 200 economies from 1996 to 2025.
The WGI provides two complementary outputs: (i) governance estimates expressed in a standard statistical unit, and (ii) scores on an absolute 0–100 scale anchored to fixed reference points. Historical estimates have been recalculated back to 1996 to ensure full consistency over time.
Click here for a non-technical summary of the WGI methodology. For a complete description of the WGI methodology, please refer to the Worldwide Governance Indicators: Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data.
We welcome feedback from users, including suggestions for additional data sources. Please email feedback and questions to wgi@worldbank.org.
