The Public Policy domain seeks to assess the core public administration functions, the activities that are fundamental for any national government. It is made up of five themes: policy making; financial management; regulation; crisis and risk management; and the use of data. Four of these five themes can be measured in our Index, however while there is some data that assesses the transparency of budgets and financial information, we do not feel this is sufficiently robust to act as a proxy for the theme of financial management as a whole.

Overall, the Public Policy domain is led by Finland and Singapore (joint 1st), the United Kingdom (3rd), Canada and Spain (joint 4th). Singapore, the UK and Spain each rank in the top 10 for three of the four themes that make up the Public Policy domain, while Canada and Finland rank in the 10 for two of the four themes.

Mauritius (28th), Costa Rica and Georgia (both 30th) are the highest ranking upper middle income economies. The Philippines (45th), Jordan (46th) and Uzbekistan (50th) are the highest ranking lower middle income economies. Rwanda (39th), Burkina Faso (82nd) and Togo (86th) are the highest ranking low income economies.

After Canada, the United States (10th), Uruguay (29th) and Chile (30th) are the highest ranking countries in the Americas. After Singapore, New Zealand (6th), South Korea (11th) and Australia (15th) are the highest ranking countries in Asia and Pacific. Estonia (11th), Lithuania (15th), Poland and Slovenia (joint 19th) are the highest ranking countries in Eastern Europe. Israel (22nd), Georgia (30th) and Kazakhstan (39th) are the highest ranking countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Mauritius (28th), Rwanda (30th) and Ghana (55th) are the highest ranking countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Policymaking

The policymaking theme seeks to measure the extent to which governments can develop effective policy. It is measured using two metrics relating to policy coordination, though in practice most countries only have one of these two metrics.

Belgium and Finland rank joint first and Denmark, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom rank joint third. Other countries of note: Slovenia (16th) is the highest ranking country in Eastern Europe, Botswana (17th) is the highest upper middle income economy and in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Ghana (24th) is the highest ranking lower middle income economy.

Regulation

The regulation theme seeks to measure the use of impact assessment in the development of regulations and that regulations are enforced properly and efficiently. It is measured by two metrics focussed on the enforcement of regulations.

Denmark and Norway rank joint first and Finland ranks third. Other countries of note: Estonia (5th) is the highest ranking country in Eastern Europe, Canada (7th) is the highest ranking country in the Americas, and Mauritius (22nd) is the highest ranking upper middle income economy and in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Crisis and risk management

The crisis and risk management theme seeks to measure how well governments prepare for and manage critical risks to the functioning of their country’s society and economy. It is measured using six metrics, one relating to disaster risk management and five relating to cybersecurity.

South Korea and the United Kingdom rank joint first and Singapore and Spain rank joint third. Four countries – India, Mauritius, Norway and Türkiye – rank in fifth place spanning a range of geographic regions and income levels. A further four countries – Brazil, China, Latvia and the Netherlands – also rank in ninth place.

Use of data

The use of data theme seeks to measure the extent to which governments have the data, information and skills necessary to develop policy and deliver public services. However, in practice its 13 metrics largely measure the availability and extent of official statistics and other published data.

Norway ranks first, Serbia ranks second and Slovenia ranks third. Other countries of note: Sweden (5th) is the second highest ranking country in Western Europe, Brazil (11th) is the highest ranking country in the Americas, and Mongolia (23rd) is the highest ranking lower middle income economy.

Results table