# WPS4012

## **Governance Matters V: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators for 1996–2005**

**Daniel Kaufmann, Aart Kraay, and Massimo Mastruzzi The World Bank**

**Abstract :** This paper reports on the latest version of the worldwide governance indicators, covering 213 countries and territories and measuring six dimensions of governance since 1996 until end-2005: voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. The latest indicators are based on hundreds of variables and reflect the views of thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents and experts worldwide. Although global averages of governance display no marked trends during 1996-2005, nearly one-third of countries exhibit significant changes—for better or for worse—on at least one dimension of governance. Three new features distinguish this update. (1) We have moved to reporting estimates of governance on an annual basis. In this update we provide new estimates of governance for 2003 and 2005, as well as minor backward revisions to our biannual historical data for 1996-2004. (2) We are for the first time publishing the individual measures of governance from virtually every data source underlying our aggregate governance indicators. The ready availability of the individual data sources underlying the aggregate governance indicators is aimed at further enhancing the transparency of our methodology and of the resulting aggregate indicators, as well as helping data users and policymakers identify specific governance challenges in individual countries. (3) We present new evidence on the reliability of expert assessments of governance which, alongside survey responses, form part of our aggregate measures of governance. The aggregate and underlying individual governance indicators, a new nontechnical booklet describing the data and analysis, and a number of Web-based tools for analysis of the data are available at <u>www.govindicators.org.</u>

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4012, September 2006 _The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org._

> ______________________________________________________________________ 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20433. dkaufmann@worldbank.org, akraay@worldbank.org, <u>mmastruzzi@worldbank.org. The Governance Matters series, as well as its Worldwide Governance Indicators, are</u> the output of a research project on governance indicators initiated in the late 1990’s. The opinions expressed here, as well as the worldwide governance indicators themselves, do not reflect the official views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.   We would like to thank Claudio Raddatz for helpful discussions, and  A. Karatnycky, R. Fullenbaum, S. Sarkis, Jim Langston, S. Hatipoglu, D. Cingranelli, D. Richards, R. Writer, M. Gibney, C. MacCormac, E. Zukov, X. Ye, A. Gelb, G. Turner, M. Walsh, D. West, T. Sysler, B. Broadfoot, M. Lagos, A. Lopes-Claros, R. Coutinho, S. Mannan, and D. Cieslikowsky for providing data and answering our numerous questions. The support and collaboration of the World Economic Forum, the U.S. State Department, and the Netherlands Government is appreciated.