State Capacity Index by country

Measures state capacity by combining 21 different indicators related to three key dimensions: extractive capacity, coercive capacity, and administrative capacity. Higher values indicate greater state capacity.

Countries reporting

164

Highest

2.7

Denmark

Lowest

-2.1

Somalia

Median

0.4867

Years covered

1960–2015

Data points

8,015

What the numbers show

State Capacity Index is currently reported for 164 countries. The highest value is 2.7 in Denmark; the lowest is -2.1 in Somalia.

The median across all reporting countries is 0.4867, and the mean is 0.5149.

Over the past decade 108 countries rose and 55 fell. The largest increase was in Sri Lanka (up 4,390.5%), and the largest decrease in Kenya (down 9,015.7%).

State Capacity Index: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Denmark	2.7	2015	down 7.3%	rising
2	Norway	2.53	2015	down 5.1%	rising
3	Austria	2.48	2015	up 15.1%	rising
4	Belgium	2.38	2015	up 1.1%	rising
5	Sweden	2.35	2015	up 0.2%	rising
6	Finland	2.34	2015	down 9.2%	rising
7	Germany	2.3	2015	up 23.2%	rising
8	Switzerland	2.27	2015	up 7.5%	rising
9	New Zealand	2.23	2015	up 0.3%	rising
10	Australia	2.22	2015	down 8.6%	rising
11	Netherlands	2.21	2015	down 7.8%	rising
12	Canada	2.1	2015	down 2.3%	rising
14	Spain	2	2015	up 4.7%	rising
15	South Korea	1.96	2015	down 8.1%	rising
16	United States	1.86	2015	down 5.2%	rising
17	United Kingdom	1.78	2015	down 5.0%	rising
18	Portugal	1.77	2015	up 4.7%	rising
19	Japan	1.77	2015	down 8.3%	rising
20	Israel	1.75	2015	down 7.6%	rising
21	Estonia	1.7	2015	up 15.9%	rising
22	Singapore	1.67	2015	up 0.6%	rising
23	France	1.64	2015	down 9.7%	rising
24	Slovenia	1.6	2015	down 2.1%	rising
25	Czechia	1.59	2015	up 0.8%	flat
26	Italy	1.52	2015	up 7.7%	rising
27	Hungary	1.52	2015	down 14.2%	volatile
28	Chile	1.5	2015	up 1.6%	rising
29	Lithuania	1.49	2015	up 3.0%	rising
30	Latvia	1.47	2015	up 15.2%	rising
31	Taiwan	1.46	2015	down 12.5%	rising
32	Poland	1.43	2015	up 5.4%	rising
33	Greece	1.42	2015	down 6.6%	rising
34	Croatia	1.41	2015	down 10.2%	rising
35	Slovakia	1.4	2015	up 2.1%	falling
36	Uruguay	1.29	2015	up 11.3%	volatile
37	Oman	1.2	2015	up 49.9%	volatile
38	Bulgaria	1.17	2015	down 18.2%	rising
39	Armenia	1.07	2015	up 44.5%	rising
40	Romania	1.02	2015	down 9.0%	volatile
41	Turkey	1	2015	down 17.8%	rising
42	Montenegro	1	2015	up 265.4%	rising
43	Qatar	0.9509	2015	down 37.8%	volatile
44	Mauritius	0.93	2015	up 277.6%	volatile
45	Cyprus	0.926	2015	down 18.0%	volatile
46	Belarus	0.9087	2015	up 1.3%	rising
47	Georgia	0.9021	2015	up 48.1%	volatile
48	Serbia	0.8887	2015	up 115.3%	rising
49	South Africa	0.8833	2015	down 22.7%	volatile
50	Costa Rica	0.8696	2015	up 9.4%	rising
51	Malaysia	0.8117	2015	up 9.8%	volatile
52	Kazakhstan	0.8113	2015	down 5.7%	volatile
53	Argentina	0.8095	2015	down 17.9%	volatile
54	Peru	0.7907	2015	up 12.7%	volatile
55	India	0.767	2015	up 1.9%	volatile
56	Vietnam	0.7557	2015	up 95.6%	volatile
57	Rwanda	0.7528	2015	up 91.8%	volatile
58	Brazil	0.7382	2015	down 28.7%	volatile
59	Morocco	0.7204	2015	up 8.2%	volatile
60	North Macedonia	0.7169	2015	up 2.9%	rising
61	Philippines	0.7146	2015	up 8.8%	volatile
62	China	0.7145	2015	up 9.4%	volatile
63	United Arab Emirates	0.7112	2015	up 379.6%	volatile
64	Indonesia	0.6743	2015	up 14.2%	volatile
65	Mexico	0.6593	2015	down 11.4%	volatile
66	Namibia	0.6551	2015	up 3.3%	falling
67	Jamaica	0.649	2015	up 25.5%	volatile
67	Mongolia	0.649	2015	up 13.3%	volatile
69	Russia	0.6463	2015	down 29.4%	volatile
70	Bhutan	0.6275	2015	up 59.8%	rising
71	Tunisia	0.6241	2015	down 3.0%	volatile
72	Botswana	0.6213	2015	down 30.3%	rising
73	Colombia	0.6181	2015	up 40.3%	volatile
74	Dominican Republic	0.5986	2015	up 99.9%	volatile
75	Moldova	0.5904	2015	up 64.4%	volatile
76	Thailand	0.5795	2015	down 15.2%	volatile
77	Trinidad and Tobago	0.5713	2015	up 14.2%	rising
78	Cuba	0.566	2015	up 38.1%	volatile
79	Ecuador	0.5636	2015	up 14.9%	volatile
80	Albania	0.5549	2015	up 45.9%	volatile
81	Iran	0.5043	2015	up 6.3%	volatile
82	Bolivia	0.5021	2015	up 56.7%	volatile
83	El Salvador	0.4873	2015	up 62.5%	volatile
84	Cape Verde	0.486	2015	down 16.8%	volatile
85	Bahrain	0.4698	2015	up 294.9%	volatile
86	Jordan	0.4558	2015	up 33.4%	volatile
87	Fiji	0.4425	2015	up 88.1%	flat
88	Panama	0.413	2015	up 226.5%	volatile
89	Saudi Arabia	0.4078	2015	down 49.5%	volatile
90	Tanzania	0.3776	2015	up 60.0%	volatile
91	Uganda	0.3691	2015	up 31.7%	volatile
92	Zambia	0.3532	2015	up 2.8%	falling
93	Honduras	0.3418	2015	up 289.2%	volatile
94	Sri Lanka	0.3371	2015	up 4,390.5%	volatile
95	Ukraine	0.3095	2015	down 40.3%	volatile
96	Zimbabwe	0.2965	2015	up 955.9%	volatile
97	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.2855	2015	up 223.4%	volatile
98	Kuwait	0.2707	2015	up 34.7%	volatile
99	Senegal	0.2706	2015	down 9.1%	volatile
100	Laos	0.2661	2015	up 178.0%	volatile
101	Egypt	0.2569	2015	up 34.9%	volatile
102	Ghana	0.255	2015	up 386.1%	volatile
103	Kyrgyzstan	0.2239	2015	up 569.2%	volatile
104	Guyana	0.2083	2015	down 10.0%	volatile
105	Malawi	0.2015	2015	up 2,956.7%	volatile
106	North Korea	0.1979	2015	up 972.6%	volatile
107	Mozambique	0.1894	2015	up 194.4%	volatile
108	Burkina Faso	0.1683	2015	down 23.4%	volatile
109	Guatemala	0.1455	2015	down 49.2%	volatile
110	Algeria	0.1428	2015	up 268.5%	volatile
111	Nicaragua	0.1352	2015	down 43.2%	volatile
112	Paraguay	0.1222	2015	up 199.3%	volatile
113	Benin	0.122	2015	up 174.1%	volatile
114	Ethiopia	0.1021	2015	up 322.4%	volatile
115	East Timor	0.0953	2015	up 112.5%	volatile
116	Lesotho	0.0805	2015	down 61.8%	volatile
117	Azerbaijan	0.0577	2015	down 65.6%	volatile
118	Niger	0.0481	2015	up 118.9%	volatile
119	Lebanon	0.0248	2015	up 114.1%	volatile
120	Pakistan	0.0124	2015	down 94.8%	volatile
121	Bangladesh	0.0123	2015	up 106.8%	volatile
122	Venezuela	-0.026	2015	down 108.2%	volatile
123	Nepal	-0.0274	2015	up 83.5%	rising
124	Tajikistan	-0.0292	2015	up 90.9%	volatile
125	Cambodia	-0.0551	2015	up 89.9%	volatile
126	Sierra Leone	-0.0702	2015	up 90.0%	rising
127	Cote d'Ivoire	-0.0714	2015	up 63.9%	volatile
128	Kenya	-0.0789	2015	down 9,015.7%	volatile
129	Eswatini	-0.079	2015	up 54.7%	volatile
130	Uzbekistan	-0.0795	2015	up 78.7%	volatile
131	Suriname	-0.0876	2015	up 59.0%	volatile
132	Angola	-0.1073	2015	up 83.7%	rising
133	Gambia	-0.1567	2015	up 36.6%	volatile
134	Mauritania	-0.1642	2015	down 74.4%	volatile
135	Mali	-0.165	2015	down 13.2%	rising
136	Togo	-0.1935	2015	up 74.3%	volatile
137	Gabon	-0.2089	2015	up 36.6%	volatile
138	Guinea	-0.2401	2015	up 34.1%	rising
139	Papua New Guinea	-0.2505	2015	up 21.6%	volatile
140	Myanmar	-0.3026	2015	down 24.9%	rising
141	Nigeria	-0.39	2015	up 46.0%	rising
142	Cameroon	-0.4069	2015	up 16.2%	rising
143	Djibouti	-0.4288	2015	down 74.0%	volatile
144	Congo	-0.4654	2015	up 15.1%	rising
145	Liberia	-0.5134	2015	up 58.5%	falling
146	Equatorial Guinea	-0.5207	2015	up 42.6%	rising
147	Chad	-0.5349	2015	up 22.6%	rising
148	Iraq	-0.6327	2015	up 36.0%	volatile
149	Madagascar	-0.6381	2015	down 19.7%	rising
150	Burundi	-0.6417	2015	up 22.4%	rising
151	Solomon Islands	-0.7057	2015	up 42.8%	rising
152	Turkmenistan	-0.7071	2015	up 6.3%	falling
153	Guinea-Bissau	-0.8603	2015	up 3.5%	flat
154	Sudan	-0.8835	2015	up 16.0%	falling
155	Comoros	-0.9382	2015	up 17.3%	flat
156	Democratic Republic of Congo	-0.9912	2015	up 29.0%	falling
157	Afghanistan	-1.05	2015	up 41.1%	falling
158	Haiti	-1.15	2015	down 18.0%	rising
159	Syria	-1.2	2015	down 727.0%	volatile
160	Eritrea	-1.23	2015	down 40.5%	volatile
161	Libya	-1.35	2015	down 140.7%	volatile
162	South Sudan	-1.37	2015	—	falling
163	Yemen	-1.44	2015	down 167.0%	falling
164	Central African Republic	-1.54	2015	down 22.5%	flat
165	Somalia	-2.1	2015	up 1.0%	falling

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

USSR 0.4764

About this data

Indicator: State Capacity Index
Source: Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 166 places, 8,015 data points, 1960–2015
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026