Harvard University Establishes the Index of African Governance

Researchers at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University have unveiled a statistical measure of how well governments in 48 sub-Saharan African countries are providing services such as safety, health care, education, economic opportunity, and human rights to their people. For example, factors such as Internet availability, electricity capacity, gross domestic product per capita, and miles of paved roads are used to determine the economic opportunity rating.

The index will be published each year with data for the previous 10 years used to compile a country’s score.

In the latest index the island nation of Mauritius achieved the highest score of 85.1 out of a possible 100 points. At the other end of the spectrum, the war-torn nation of Somalia received the lowest score at 18.9.

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