Worldwide Governance Indicators: Governance Matters 2006

At this joint ODI and World Bank event, Daniel Kaufmann, Director of Global Governance at the World Bank Institute, presented the world's largest available governance data source and the new ‘Governance Matters 2006: Worldwide Governance Indicators’ report, which was launched in Singapore during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings.

The worldwide governance indicators have been applied to over 200 countries and measure six components of good governance: Voice and Accountability; Political Stability and Absence of Violence; Government Effectiveness; Regulatory Quality; Rule of Law; and Control of Corruption.

Good governance is becoming widely recognised by government reformers, citizens, domestic enterprises, aid donors and foreign investors around the world as crucial to development and improved living standards. They view the indicators as a crucial tool for monitoring progress, tracking the quality of institutions, informing policy, supporting capacity building, improving governance and addressing corruption.

The worldwide governance indicators demonstrate that governance can be measured, that it is not only the developing world that suffers from poor governance, and that significant improvements in governance and in tackling corruption can be made in a short period of time.