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World Recources 2008 - Institutions and Governance

see also: World Recources 2008

Population and Human Well-Being

Food and Water Recources

Economics and Trade

___ World Recources 2008 - Comparative Table of Institutions and Governance

World Resources 2008 includes a compilation of country-level data culled from a variety of sources.*

The tables presents some of the data required to build a basic picture of the state of the World in its human, economic, and environmental dimensions.

The sortable table shows values of core indicators to evaluate governments and levels of freedom within countries.
The Indices are: Freedom Indices of Civil Liberties and Political Rights; Regulatory Barriers, Government Expenditures for Public Health, Public Education and Military; and peoples Access to Information: Press Freedom, the Status of Freedom of Information Legislation and Digital Access; as well as the Corruption Perceptions Index.

Description of indices see below table.

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	Freedom Indices (1–7, 1=most free)		Regulatory Barriers to Registering Property, 2007		Government Expenditures (as a percent of gross domestic product)			Access to Information			Corruption Perceptions Index
	Civil Liberties Index	Political Rights Index	Average Number of Days to Register	Average Cost to Register (percent of property value)	Public Health 2004	Public Education {a} 2000-2005	Military 2005	Press Freedom Index (0–100, 0= most free) 2006	Status of Freedom of Information Legislation 2004	Digital Access Index (1–100, 100= most access) 2002	(0–10, 10= least corrupt) 2006

Country	2006	2006	days	% value	%	%	%	Index	Status	Index	Index
World	..	..	..	..	5.9	4.7	2.5	..	..	..	..
Asia (excl. Middle East)	..	..	..	..	4.3	..	1.5	..	..	..	..
Armenia	4	5	4	0.4	1.4	3.2	2.7	64	Law Enacted	30	2.9
Azerbaijan	5	6	61	0.2	0.9	2.5	2.1	73	Pending Effort	24	2.4
Bangladesh	4	4	425	10.3	0.9	2.5	1.1	68	Pending Effort	18	2.0
Bhutan	5	6	64	0	3.0	5.6	..	65	..	13	6.0
Cambodia	5	6	56	4.4	1.7	1.9	1.8	61	..	17	2.1
China	6	7	29	3.6	1.8	..	2.0	83	..	43	3.3
Georgia	3	3	5	0.1	1.5	2.9	3.1	57	Law Enacted	37	2.8
India	3	2	62	7.7	0.9	3.7	2.9	37	Law Enacted	32	3.3
Indonesia	3	2	42	10.5	1.0	0.9	0.9	58	Pending Effort	34	2.4
Japan	2	1	14	5	6.3	3.7	1.0	20	Law Enacted	75	7.6
Kazakhstan	5	6	52	0.9	2.3	2.3	1.1	75	..	41	2.6
Korea (North)	7	7	..	..	3.0	..	..	97	..	..	..
Korea (South)	2	1	11	6.3	2.9	4.6	2.6	30	Law Enacted	82	5.1
Kyrgyzstan	4	5	4	4.1	2.3	4.4	2.8 b	64	..	32	2.2
Lao PDR	6	7	135	4.2	0.8	2.3	..	81	..	15	2.6
Malaysia	4	4	144	2.4	2.2	8.0	1.9	65	..	57	5.0
Mongolia	2	2	11	2.2	4.0	5.3	1.7 b	34	..	35	2.8
Myanmar	7	7	..	..	0.3	1.3	..	96	..	17	1.9
Nepal	4	5	5	6.4	1.5	3.4	2.0	77	Pending Effort	19	2.5
Pakistan	5	6	50	5.3	0.4	2.3	3.4	61	Law Enacted	24	2.2
Philippines	3	3	33	4.2	1.4	3.2	0.8	40	Pending Effort	43	2.5
Singapore	4	5	9	2.8	1.3	3.7	4.7	66	..	75	9.4
Sri Lanka	4	4	83	5.1	2.0	..	2.7	58	Pending Effort	38	3.1
Tajikistan	5	6	37	1.9	1.0	3.5	2.2 b	76	Law Enacted	21	2.2
Thailand	4	7	2	6.3	2.3	4.2	1.1	50	Law Enacted	48	3.6
Turkmenistan	7	7	..	..	3.3	..	..	96	..	37	2.2
Uzbekistan	7	7	78	1.4	2.4	..	..	90	Law Enacted	31	2.1
Viet Nam	5	7	67	1.2	1.5	..	..	79	..	31	2.6
Europe	..	..	..	..	7.0	5.3	1.9	..	..	..	..
Albania	3	3	47	3.5	3.0	2.9	1.4	50	Law Enacted	39	2.6
Austria	1	1	32	4.5	7.8	5.5	0.7	21	Law Enacted	75	8.6
Belarus	6	7	231	0.1	4.6	6.0	1.2	88	..	49	2.1
Belgium	1	1	132	12.7	6.9	6.2	1.2	11	Law Enacted	74	7.3
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	3	331	5	4.1	..	1.8	45	Law Enacted	46	2.9
Bulgaria	2	1	19	2.3	4.6	4.2	2.4	34	Law Enacted	53	4.0
Croatia	2	2	174	5	6.2	4.7	1.6	39	Law Enacted	59	3.4
Czech Republic	1	1	123	3	6.5	4.5	1.8	20	Law Enacted	66	4.8
Denmark	1	1	42	0.6	7.1	8.4	1.4	10	Law Enacted	83	9.5
Estonia	1	1	51	0.5	4.0	5.7	1.6	16	Law Enacted	67	6.7
Finland	1	1	14	4	5.7	6.5	1.2	9	Law Enacted	79	9.6
France	1	1	123	6.1	8.2	5.9	2.5	21	Law Enacted	72	7.4
Germany	1	1	40	5.2	8.2	4.7	1.4	16	Pending Effort	74	8.0
Greece	2	1	23	4	4.2	4.0	4.5	28	Law Enacted	66	4.4
Hungary	1	1	63	11	5.7	5.9	1.3	21	Law Enacted	63	5.2
Iceland	1	1	4	2.4	8.3	8.1	0.0	9	Law Enacted	82	9.6
Ireland	1	1	38	10.2	5.7	4.5	0.6	15	Law Enacted	69	7.4
Italy	1	1	27	0.6	6.5	4.9	1.8	35	Law Enacted	72	4.9
Latvia	1	1	54	2	4.0	5.3	1.7	19	Law Enacted	54	4.7
Lithuania	1	1	3	0.7	4.9	5.2	1.8	18	Law Enacted	56	4.8
Macedonia, Rep. of	3	3	98	3.5	5.7	3.4	2.2	49	Pending Effort	48	2.7
Moldova	4	3	48	0.9	4.2	4.3	0.3	65	Law Enacted	37	3.2
Netherlands	1	1	5	6.2	5.7	5.3	1.6	11	Law Enacted	79	8.7
Norway	1	1	3	2.5	8.1	7.7	1.6	10	Law Enacted	79	8.8
Poland	1	1	197	0.5	4.3	5.6	1.8	21	Law Enacted	59	3.7
Portugal	1	1	42	7.4	7.0	5.9	2.1	14	Law Enacted	65	6.6
Romania	2	2	150	2.8	3.4	3.6	2.1	44	Law Enacted	48	3.1
Russia	5	6	52	0.3	3.7	3.7	3.7	72	Pending Effort	50	2.5
Serbia {g}	2	3	..	..	7.3	3.3	2.7	40	Pending Effort	45	3.0
Slovakia	1	1	17	0.1	5.3	4.4	1.8	20	Law Enacted	59	4.7
Slovenia	1	1	391	2	6.6	6.0	1.7	20	Law Enacted	72	6.4
Spain	1	1	18	7.1	5.7	4.3	1.0	21	Law Enacted	67	6.8
Sweden	1	1	2	3	7.7	7.5	1.6	10	Law Enacted	85	9.2
Switzerland	1	1	16	0.4	6.7	6.1	1.0	11	Pending Effort	76	9.1
Ukraine	2	3	93	3.3	3.7	6.4	2.4	53	Law Enacted	43	2.8
United Kingdom	1	1	21	4.1	7.0	5.5	2.6	19	Law Enacted	77	8.6
Middle East & N. Africa	..	..	..	..	3.5	..	4.8	..	..	..	..
Afghanistan	5	5	250	7	0.7	..	..	69	..	..	..
Algeria	5	6	51	7.5	2.6	..	2.8	61	..	37	3.1
Egypt	5	6	193	1	2.2	..	2.8	61	..	40	3.3
Iran, Isl. Rep.	6	6	36	10.6	3.2	4.7	4.5	84	..	43	2.7
Iraq	6	6	8	6.3	4.2	..	..	71	..	..	1.9
Israel	2	1	144	7.5	6.1	7.3	7.9	28	Law Enacted	70	5.9
Jordan	4	5	22	10	4.7	..	7.7	61	..	45	5.3
Kuwait	4	4	55	0.5	2.2	5.1	5.7	56	..	51	4.8
Lebanon	4	5	25	5.9	3.2	2.6	3.8 b	60	..	48	3.6
Libya	7	7	..	..	2.8	..	1.9 b	96	..	42	2.7
Morocco	4	5	47	4.9	1.7	6.7	4.3	61	..	33	3.2
Oman	5	6	16	3	2.4	3.6	12.2 b	70	..	43	5.4
Saudi Arabia	6	7	4	0	2.5	6.8	8.2	79	..	44	3.3
Syria	6	7	34	28.1	2.2	..	6.2 b	84	..	28	2.9
Tunisia	5	6	49	6.1	..	8.1	1.5	83	..	41	4.6
Turkey	3	3	6	3.1	5.6	4.0	3.2	48	Law Enacted	48	3.8
United Arab Emirates	5	6	6	2	2.0	1.3	1.9	65	..	64	6.2
Yemen	5	5	21	3.9	1.9	9.6	5.6	81	..	18	2.6
Sub-Saharan Africa	..	..	..	..	2.6	..	1.6 b	..	..	..	..
Angola	5	6	334	11.1	1.5	2.6	5.0	65	Pending Effort	11	2.2
Benin	2	2	118	11.4	2.5	3.5	..	30	..	12	2.5
Botswana	2	2	30	5	4.0	10.7	2.5	35	Pending Effort	43	5.6
Burkina Faso	3	5	182	12.2	3.3	4.7	1.5	38	..	8	3.2
Burundi	5	4	94	11.5	0.8	5.1	6.5 b	74	..	10	2.4
Cameroon	6	6	93	17.8	1.5	1.8	1.3	65	..	16	2.3
Central African Rep	4	5	69	11.7	1.5	..	1.1	61	..	10	2.4
Chad	6	6	44	21.2	1.5	2.1	0.9	73	..	10	2.0
Congo, Rep	5	6	137	27.3	1.2	2.2	..	51	..	17	2.2
Congo, Dem. Rep	6	5	57	9.4	1.1	..	2.1	81	..	12	2.0
Côte d'Ivoire	6	7	62	16.9	0.9	4.6	..	65	..	13	2.1
Equatorial Guinea	6	7	23	6.3	1.2	0.6	..	88	..	20	2.1
Eritrea	6	7	101	5.3	1.8	5.4	..	91	..	13	2.9
Ethiopia	5	5	43	7.5	2.7	5.0	3.1	75	Pending Effort	10	2.4
Gabon	4	6	60	10.5	3.1	3.9	1.4	67	..	34	3.0
Gambia, The	4	5	371	7.6	1.8	2.0	0.3	73	..	13	2.5
Ghana	2	1	34	1.3	2.8	5.4	0.7	28	Pending Effort	16	3.3
Guinea	5	6	104	15.3	0.7	2.0	..	67	..	10	1.9
Guinea-Bissau	4	4	211	5.4	1.3	..	..	47	..	10	..
Kenya	3	3	64	4.2	1.8	6.7	1.5	58	Pending Effort	19	2.2
Lesotho	3	2	101	8.2	5.5	13.4	2.4	42	Pending Effort	19	3.2
Liberia	4	3	50	14.9	3.6	..	..	64	..	..	..
Madagascar	3	4	134	11.6	1.8	3.2	..	49	..	15	3.1
Malawi	3	4	88	3.3	9.6	5.8	..	55	Pending Effort	15	2.7
Mali	2	2	29	21.2	3.2	4.3	1.9	24	..	9	2.8
Mauritania	4	5	49	5.2	2.0	2.3	1.0	57	..	14	3.1
Mozambique	4	3	42	8.1	2.7	3.7	1.4	43	Pending Effort	12	2.8
Namibia	2	2	23	9.9	4.7	6.9	3.0	30	Pending Effort	39	4.1
Niger	3	3	32	9	2.2	2.3	1.1 b	56	..	4	2.3
Nigeria	4	4	82	22.2	1.4	..	0.9	54	Pending Effort	15	2.2
Rwanda	5	6	371	9.4	4.3	3.8	2.2	85	..	15	2.5
Senegal	3	2	114	19.5	2.4	5.4	1.5	44	..	14	3.3
Sierra Leone	3	4	235	14.9	1.9	3.8	1.1	59	..	10	2.2
Somalia	7	7	..	..	..	..	..	83	..	..	..
South Africa	2	2	24	8.8	3.5	5.4	1.4	27	Law Enacted	45	4.6
Sudan	7	7	9	3.2	1.5	..	..	85	..	13	2.0
Tanzania	3	4	119	5.3	1.7	..	1.1	50	Pending Effort	15	2.9
Togo	5	6	295	13.9	1.1	2.6	1.5	78	..	18	2.4
Uganda	4	5	227	4.6	2.5	5.2	2.5 b	52	Pending Effort	17	2.7
Zambia	4	3	70	9.6	3.4	2.0	..	64	Pending Effort	17	2.6
Zimbabwe	6	7	30	25	3.5	4.6	3.4 b	90	Law Enacted	29	2.4
North America	..	..	..	..	6.9	5.9	3.9	..	..	..	..
Canada	1	1	17	1.8	6.8	5.2	1.1	18	Law Enacted	78	8.5
United States	1	1	12	0.5	6.9	5.9	4.1	16	Law Enacted	78	7.3
C. America & Caribbean	..	..	..	..	3.1	5.5	0.4	..	..	..	..
Belize	2	1	60	4.7	2.7	5.4	..	21	Law Enacted	47	3.5
Costa Rica	1	1	21	3.3	5.1	4.9	..	18	..	52	4.1
Cuba	7	7	..	..	5.5	9.8	..	96	..	38	3.5
Dominican Republic	2	2	60	5.1	1.9	1.8	0.6	37	Pending Effort	42	2.8
El Salvador	3	2	31	3.6	3.5	2.8	0.6	43	Pending Effort	38	4.0
Guatemala	4	3	30	1	2.3	..	0.4	58	Pending Effort	38	2.6
Haiti	5	4	405	6.5	2.9	..	..	68	..	15	1.8
Honduras	3	3	24	5.8	4.0	..	0.6	52	Pending Effort	29	2.5
Jamaica	3	2	54	13.5	2.8	4.5	0.7	17	Law Enacted	53	3.7
Mexico	3	2	74	4.7	3.0	5.8	0.4	48	Law Enacted	50	3.3
Nicaragua	3	3	124	3.5	3.9	3.1	0.7	44	Pending Effort	19	2.6
Panama	2	1	44	2.4	5.2	3.8	..	43	Law Enacted	47	3.1
Trinidad and Tobago	2	2	162	7	1.4	4.2	..	26	Law Enacted	53	3.2
South America	..	..	..	..	4.2	4.1	1.7	..	..	..	..
Argentina	2	2	65	7.6	4.3	3.5	1.0	45	Pending Effort	53	2.9
Bolivia	3	3	92	4.9	4.1	6.4	1.9	33	Pending Effort	38	2.7
Brazil	2	2	45	2.8	4.8	4.1	1.6	39	Pending Effort	50	3.3
Chile	1	1	31	1.3	2.9	3.7	3.8	26	Pending Effort	58	7.3
Colombia	3	3	23	2.5	6.7	4.8	3.7	61	Law Enacted	45	3.9
Ecuador	3	3	17	3	2.2	..	2.4	41	Law Enacted	41	2.3
Guyana	3	2	34	4.5	4.4	8.5	..	27	..	43	2.5
Paraguay	3	3	46	3.5	2.6	4.3	0.8	57	Pending Effort	39	2.6
Peru	3	2	33	3.3	1.9	2.4	1.2	39	Law Enacted	44	3.3
Suriname	2	2	193	13.7	3.6	..	..	23	..	46	3.0
Uruguay	1	1	66	7.1	3.6	2.2	1.4	28	Pending Effort	54	6.4
Venezuela	4	4	47	2.2	2.0	..	1.1	72	..	47	2.3
Oceania	..	..	..	..	6.4	5.0	1.7	..	..	..	..
Australia	1	1	5	4.9	6.5	4.8	1.8	19	Law Enacted	74	8.7
Fiji	4	6	48	12	2.9	6.4	1.2 b	28	Pending Effort	43	..
New Zealand	1	1	2	0.1	6.5	6.8	1.0	13	Law Enacted	72	9.6
Papua New Guinea	3	3	72	5.1	3.0	..	0.5	29	Pending Effort	26	2.4
Solomon Islands	3	4	297	4.9	5.6	..	..	30	..	17	..

Key to Indices:

Freedom Indices
Freedom Indices (Freedom House): range from1 to 7, 1 represents a completely
free nation, 7 represents the least free nation.

The Civil Liberties Index measures freedom of expression, assembly, association,
and religion. Countries with a rating of 1 generally have an established and
equitable rule of law with free economic activity. A rating of 2 indicates some
deficiencies, while a rating of 3, 4, or 5 indicates varying degrees of censorship,
political terror, and prevention of free association. Countries with a rating of
6 experience severely restricted freedom of expression and association coupled
with political terror (for example, political prisoners). A rating of 7 indicates virtually
no freedom.

The Political Rights Index measures the degree of freedom in the electoral
process, political pluralism and participation, and functioning of government.
A rating of 1 indicates free and fair elections, political competition, and autonomy for
all citizens, including minority groups. A rating of 2 indicates some corruption,
violence, political discrimination, and military influence. These same factors play a
progressively larger role in countries with a ranking of 3, 4, or 5. Countries and
territories with political rights rated 6 are ruled by military juntas, one-party dictatorships,
religious hierarchies, or autocrats. A rating of 7 indicates nonexistent
political rights due to extremely oppressive regimes, civil war, extreme violence, or
warlord rule.

Regulatory Barriers
Regulatory Barriers to Registering Property, published by the World Bank’s
Doing Business database, are compiled via survey in conjunction with academic
advisers, using a simple business case to ensure comparability across countries
and over time.

Average Number of Days to Register measures the time, in calendar days,
necessary for a business to complete the legal and bureaucratic procedures
required for registering property.

Average Cost to Register measures the cost to a business, expressed as a
percent of the property value, needed to complete the legal and bureaucratic procedures
required for registering property. Cost includes fees, transfer taxes, stamp
duties, and any other payment to the property registry, notaries, public agencies, or
lawyers.

Government Expenditures
as a percent of gross domestic product roughly
indicate the economic importance of public health, public education, and military
activities in national economies.

Public Health Expenditure consists of recurrent and capital spending from
government (both central and local) budgets, external borrowings and grants
(including donations from international agencies and NGOs), and social (or
compulsory) health insurance funds.

Public Education Expenditure consists of public spending on public education
plus subsidies to private education at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary
levels.

Military Expenditure is defined by the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI) as “all current and capital expenditure on: (a) the armed forces,
including peacekeeping forces; (b) defense ministries and other government
agencies engaged in defense projects; (c) paramilitary forces, when judged to be
trained an equipped for military operations; and (d) military space activities.”

Press Freedom
Press Freedom is the degree to which each country permits the free flow of information.

The Press Freedom Index is ranked on a scale of 1 to 100. Countries with a score
between 1 and 30 are considered to have a “Free” media; 31 to 60, “Partly Free”;
and 61 to 100, “Not Free.”
This survey does not measure press responsibility; rather, it measures the degree of
freedom in the flow of information.

Status of Freedom of Information (FOI) Legislation measures a government’s
guarantee of public access to information by placing each country in one of three
categories: In Effect: 57 countries legally guarantee public access to government
records through comprehensive FOI laws; Pending: 39 additional countries are
considering adopting freedom of information acts; None: countries not listed have
no pending FOI legislation (represented by “..” in the data table, which could
indicate that no data are available for this country). Access to information about
government activities increases transparency and allows citizens to more effectively
combat corruption.

The Digital Access Index is a composite score, developed by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), which reflects the ability of each country’s
population to take advantage of internet communication technologies. It ranges
from 1 to 100, where 100 equals the most access.

Corruption Perceptions
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) measures the degree to which corruption
is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Ratings range in
value from 10 (least corrupt) to 0 (most corrupt). The survey measures public sector
corruption or the abuse of public office for private gain.

NOTES:
a. May include subsidies for private or religious schools. Data are for the most recent year available between 2000 and 2005. b. 2004 value. c. Data for Serbia include the country of Montenegro.

*Sources: Data compilation by World Resources Institute (WRI) based on data from Freedom House, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, World Bank, Privacy International, International Telecommunications Union, and Transparency International.


Additional Information Related Categories: Country Economies Classification Purchasing power of countries by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita and PPP (Purchasing power parity) Least Developed Countries List of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Landlocked Developing Countries List of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). Human Development Index Countries categorized by standards of the UN Human Development Index. Rich and poor countries Categories of development of countries in the world today. First, Second and Third World A list of states of the first, second and the third world, with an explanation of the terms. Compare this page with: National Economic Accounts for Countries and Regions A list of countries and regions in comparison of their gross national income based on World Economic Outlook Database of IMF International Monetary Fund.