Top 10 African Countries with the Best Government: 2025 Rankings

Good governance remains one of the most important factors in shaping a nation’s prosperity, stability, and the quality of life for its citizens.

Across Africa’s 54 nations, governments are increasingly assessed on their ability to deliver transparent leadership, maintain strong institutions, and foster economic growth while upholding democratic principles.

The Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI), published annually, is a leading benchmark for measuring government effectiveness. Created by government practitioners for government practitioners, the index evaluates the performance of 120 countries using 35 equally weighted indicators grouped into seven pillars.

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Its goal is to provide a clearer understanding of government standards and to encourage open discussions on areas that require improvement.

Globally, European countries continue to dominate. In the 2025 CGGI, 13 of the top 20 countries come from Europe. The world’s top ten performers are Singapore, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg.

Northern Europe stands out with Finland and Sweden both ranking in the top five. The Asia-Pacific region also performed strongly, with Singapore, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea maintaining top 20 positions.

Africa continues to face governance challenges but has shown modest improvement between 2024 and 2025. Of the 28 African countries included in the index, representing a combined population of about 1.16 billion, the region recorded the lowest average score.

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However, its young demographic, with 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population under 30, provides significant potential for growth alongside complex governance hurdles.

Mauritius retained its position as Africa’s best-governed country for the fifth consecutive year, although its global ranking slipped from 36th in 2021 to 51st in 2025.

Among African nations, only Tanzania and Rwanda improved their rankings from 2021 to 2025, while most others recorded declines. After sharp setbacks during the pandemic years of 2021 to 2023, the continent’s governance scores have begun to recover between 2024 and 2025.

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