Ghana Ranks 92nd Globally In Chandler Good Government Index

Ghana has placed 92nd out of 133 countries in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI) and ninth in Africa.

In the 2024 CGGI, Ghana ranked 93 out of a total of 113 countries evaluated worldwide and 86 out of 89 countries in 2025.

The Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI) used seven foundational pillars, supported by more than 60 public global data sources for the index.

Which include Leadership and Foresight, Robust Laws and Policies, Strong Institutions, Financial, Attractive Marketplace, Global Influence and Reputation and Helping People Rise, Ghana’s results were supported by stronger performance in Financial Stewardship and Helping People Rise pillars.

This improvement comes against a backdrop of wider progress across Africa, which was the second-best-performing region for governance improvement in 2026.

These gains were large enough to lift Ghana’s overall score this year, even as Leadership and Foresight and Attractive Marketplace declined both this year and since 2021.

Across the continent, 71% of the African countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026 achieved higher overall scores. However, Africa remains the lowest-scoring region overall, highlighting the continued challenge of translating improvements in government capabilities into better outcomes for citizens.

Dinesh Naidu, Director (Knowledge) at Chandler Governance Group (CGG), on his part, said this year, Africa’s strongest gains came in Financial Stewardship, followed by Helping People Rise, the CGGI’s outcomes pillar.

“This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives, from access to quality education and healthcare to the public finances that fund them. The task now is to sustain that progress over the coming years,” he said.

Now in its sixth edition, the CGGI assesses government capabilities and effectiveness across 133 countries, representing 94% of the world’s population, up from 120 countries in 2025. It measures 35 equally weighted indicators across seven pillars, providing governments a practical framework to benchmark performance, identify gaps, track progress over time and learn from peers facing similar constraints.

Globally, 61% of the 120 countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026 recorded higher scores, representing the highest annual share of countries improving since the Index launched in 2021. However, longer-term progress has been less consistent, with only 43% of the 104 countries tracked since 2021 recording an overall improvement.

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year. Despite these gains, the scale of the challenge remains clear. Africa’s regional average is still below its 2021 level, 23 of the 35 African countries in the 2026 Index rank outside the global top 100, and none ranks among the top 50. Seven African countries joined the Index this year: Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia and Togo.

Dinesh Naidu indicated that rankings provide a useful starting point, but the broader value of the CGGI lies in helping governments understand where they are making progress and where further work is needed.

“Every country faces its own governance challenges and has different priorities. Governments that are willing to take stock of the evidence and learn from peers to strengthen their institutions are well placed to achieve real improvements,” he added.