Costa Rica ranks number 1

A World Bank study released in May aims to provide a “set of governance indicators that can help depoliticize efforts to track the quality of institutions, support capacity building, improve governance and address corruption.”

The index, which analyzed 209 countries between 1996 to 2004, focuses on six components of good governance: political, civil and human rights; political stability and violence; government effectiveness; the incidence of unfriendly market policies; rule of law; and control of corruption.

“On average the quality of governance around the world has remained stagnant, highlighting the urgent need for more determined progress in this area in order to accelerate poverty reduction,” said the World Bank.

The percentile ranks below indicate the percentage of countries worldwide that rank below the selected country. For example, 83 percent of countries studied worldwide have less political stability than Costa Rica, meaning that according to this study, it is the most stable country in Latin America.