Yesterday the 2011 Ibrahim Index of African Governance was released. The Index ranks the governments of African countries in the categories of Safety and Rule of Law (rule of law, accountability, personal safety, national security), Participation and Human Rights (participation, rights, gender), Sustainable Economic Opportunity (public management, business environment, infrastructure, rural sector), and Human Development (welfare, education and health).
The top five countries on this year’s Index and their scores out of 100 are: Mauritius (82), Cape Verde (79), Botswana (76), Seychelles (73) and South Africa (71). The bottom five, starting with the worst, were Somalia (8), Chad (31), Zimbabwe (31) and Democratic Republic of Congo (32). There were plenty of contenders for the lower half of the ladder, with 25 out of the 53 African countries scoring less than 50.
Over the past year the majority of countries have improved their scores for Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development, but the majority have gone backwards in Safety and Rule of Law and Participation and Human Rights. Madagascar has experienced the biggest decline over the past five years, mostly because of large decreases in Safety and Rule of Law and in Participation and Human Rights. Liberia and Sierra Leone have had the most significant improvements.