The Blavatnik Index of Public Administration 2024 covers 120 countries in total. In addition to overall leaders this wide country coverage allows us to see how countries in different regions and income groups perform.

For income group, countries have been classified according to the four 2023 World Bank income classifications¹: high income economies (39 countries); upper middle income economies (35 countries); lower middle incomes economies (33 countries); and, low income economies (13 countries).

The following pages summarise the overall results for each of these region and income groupings.

High income

The results for high income economies largely mirror the overall results; these countries occupy the first 32 ranks of the composite Index. Similarly, the top ranks for each of the four domains making up the Index are dominated by high income economies; there are only nine instances where countries in the top 25 for each domain are not high income economies.

While high income countries top the Index and its constituent domains, we can still identify some relative strengths and weakness. High income economies are notably stronger in their ratings for the Strategy and Leadership domain, while their scores for the People and Processes domain are much closer to the scores of other income groups.

The World Bank classify 84 economies as high income; the Index covers 40 of these countries. Of those not covered, 23 are not UN member countries and are typically overseas or dependent territories (e.g. the Channel Islands or New Caledonia), and the 21 UN member countries not included are typically small island nations, countries in the Middle East and European microstates. The Index focuses on global sources to maximise country coverage, meaning that some high income countries such as Japan and Switzerland which were included in the 2019 InCiSE Index are not covered here.

Upper middle income economies

Brazil and Colombia (joint 32nd) are the highest ranking upper middle income economies for the Index overall, followed by Costa Rica and Mauritius (joint 34th), then the Dominican Republic and Indonesia (joint 38th).

Costa Rica is the highest ranking upper middle income economy for the Strategy and Leadership domain (ranking 30th), Mauritius for the Public Policy domain (ranking 28th), Bulgaria and Thailand for the National Delivery domain (joint 31st), while Colombia and Malaysia are the highest ranking upper middle income economies for the People and Processes domain (joint 7th).

As a group, upper middle income economies typically score around the average for the Index’s domains and themes, however their scores in the People and Processes domain tend to be above average, while their scores in the Strategy and Leadership domain tend to be below average. Within the National Delivery domain, above average performance in the digital service and tax administration themes masks below average performance in the system oversight and border services themes.

Lower middle income economies

Ukraine (42nd) is the highest ranking lower middle income economy for the Index overall, followed by India (50th), Jordan and Mongolia (joint 51st) and then Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam (joint 62nd).

Ukraine is the highest ranking middle income economy for the Strategy and Leadership domain (ranking 33rd) as well as for the People and Processes domain (ranking 38th), the Philippines is the highest ranking upper middle income economy for the Public Policy domain (ranking 45th), while Jordan is the highest ranking for the National Delivery domain (ranking 22nd).

As a group, lower middle income countries tend to score below average across all domains, however their scores for the People and Processes and National Delivery domains are typically closer to the average than their scores for the Strategy and Leadership and Public Policy domains.

Low income economies

Rwanda (69th) is the highest ranking low income economy for the Index overall, followed by Uganda (79th), Ethiopia and Togo (joint 93rd) and Burkina Faso (98th).

Rwanda is the highest ranking low income economy for the Strategy and Leadership (ranking 64th), the Public Policy domain (ranking 39th) and the National Delivery domain (ranking 59th). Uganda is the highest ranking low income economy for the People and Processes domain (ranking 52nd). Rwanda is the highest low income economy in nine of the 16 themes measured by the Index. Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Malawi, Niger, Togo and Uganda all rank highest amongst their peers for at least one theme.

As a group, low income countries tend to score below average across all domains, however their scores for the People and Processes domain are typically closer to the average than their scores for the other three domains.