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The Worldwide Governance Indicators : Methodology and 2024 Update

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  • Kaufmann,Daniel
  • Kraay, Aart C.

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the data sources and aggregation methodology for the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The WGI report six aggregate governance indicators measuring Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption in a sample of 214 economies over the period 1996–2023. The aggregate indicators combine information from 35 different existing data sources, capturing subjective perceptions of the quality of various dimensions of governance reported by experts and survey respondents worldwide. The paper briefly discusses how to use reported margins of error when interpreting cross-country and over-time differences in the aggregate indicators. The paper also updates and extends earlier analysis on three key issues relating to the WGI methodology: (a) the effect of correlated perception errors, (b) the robustness of the aggregate indicators to alternative weighting schemes, and (c) the existence on trends in global averages of governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaufmann,Daniel & Kraay, Aart C., 2024. "The Worldwide Governance Indicators : Methodology and 2024 Update," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10952, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10952
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    File URL: https://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099005210162424110/pdf/IDU-7c6f0b9e-f0c2-4b1d-b30d-76c4644af69e.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daniel Kaufmann & Aart Kraay, 2008. "Governance Indicators: Where Are We, Where Should We Be Going?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 23(1), pages 1-30, January.
    2. Michael Carlos Best & Anne Brockmeyer & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Johannes Spinnewijn & Mazhar Waseem, 2015. "Production versus Revenue Efficiency with Limited Tax Capacity: Theory and Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(6), pages 1311-1355.
    3. Jørgen Juel Andersen & Niels Johannesen & Bob Rijkers, 2022. "Elite Capture of Foreign Aid: Evidence from Offshore Bank Accounts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(2), pages 388-425.
    4. Cyril Chalendard & Ana M Fernandes & Gael Raballand & Bob Rijkers, 2023. "Corruption in Customs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(1), pages 575-636.
    5. Standaert, Samuel, 2015. "Divining the level of corruption: A Bayesian state-space approach," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 782-803.
    6. Miriam A. Golden & Lucio Picci, 2005. "Proposal For A New Measure Of Corruption, Illustrated With Italian Data," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 37-75, March.
    7. Michael Carlos Best & Anne Brockmeyer & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Johannes Spinnewijn & Mazhar Waseem, 2016. "Erratum: Production versus Revenue Efficiency with Limited Tax Capacity: Theory and Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 303-303.
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    2. Bhadury, Soumya & Pratap, Bhanu & Gajbhiye, Dhirendra, 2025. "Transition to a greener economy: Climate change risks and resilience in a state-space framework," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. Chow, William W. & Fung, Michael K., 2025. "Relative ESG positions among OECD countries in the presence of international competition for FDI inflow: A gravity model perspective," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

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