Data for 1995

Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1995

Name: Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1995
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1995, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem's measure of meritocratic appointment asks whether people are hired, promoted and fired in a country's civil service on the strength of their skills and merit, or through personal and political connections. It is an expert-coded estimate on an open-ended scale centred near zero, and a higher figure means more appointments on merit.

Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1995 covers 165 countries. Singapore is highest, at 3.447; Equatorial Guinea is lowest, at -1.898. The middle country reads 0.322. Against 1994, 9 values changed (3 up, 6 down), the same countries are covered.

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Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration · Data for 1995

HighestSingapore

3.447

LowestEquatorial Guinea

-1.898

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

165countries
1measure
1995the year it describes
161distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1995, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

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Showing 25 of 165 countries · select a heading to sort

Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1995: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	3.447
2	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	2.773
3	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	2.691
4	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	2.357
5	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	2.336
6	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	2.230
7	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	2.222
8	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	2.182
9	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	2.152
10	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	2.149
11	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	2.148
12	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	2.136
13	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	2.126
14	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	2.116
15	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	2.051
16	Venezuela`VEN`South America	1.997
17	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.985
18	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.959
19	United States`USA`Northern America	1.924
20	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	1.872
21	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	1.838
22	Uruguay`URY`South America	1.804
23	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.721
24	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	1.711
25	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.680
26	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	1.645
27	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	1.624
28	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.520
29	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	1.518
30	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.505
31	India`IND`Southern Asia	1.468
32	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	1.399
33	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	1.382
34	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.363
=35	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	1.337
=35	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	1.337
37	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.333
38	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	1.324
39	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	1.306
40	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.303
41	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	1.295
42	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	1.248
43	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	1.210
44	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.164
45	Brazil`BRA`South America	1.145
46	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	1.137
47	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	1.124
48	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	1.114
=49	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.086
=49	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	1.086
51	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	1.078
52	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	1.016
53	Chile`CHL`South America	1.013
54	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.918
55	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.906
56	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.871
57	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.825
58	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.816
59	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.802
60	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.760
61	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.755
62	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.742
63	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.726
64	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.719
65	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.713
66	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.706
67	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.696
68	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.664
69	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.655
70	Colombia`COL`South America	0.653
71	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.646
72	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.604
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.478
74	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.477
75	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.463
76	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.452
77	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.450
78	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.418
79	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.410
80	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.390
81	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.379
82	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.365
83	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.322
84	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.267
85	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.263
86	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.242
87	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.229
88	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.227
89	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.225
90	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.176
91	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.170
92	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.122
93	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.119
94	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.103
95	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.091
96	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.090
97	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.060
98	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.046
=99	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.035
=99	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.035
101	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.034
102	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.029
103	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.026
104	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.021
105	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.008
106	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	-0.010
107	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	-0.012
108	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	-0.016
109	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	-0.037
110	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	-0.069
111	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	-0.100
112	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-0.108
113	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	-0.130
114	Suriname`SUR`South America	-0.133
115	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	-0.139
116	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	-0.140
117	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	-0.166
118	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	-0.174
119	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	-0.182
120	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	-0.190
121	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	-0.208
122	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	-0.266
123	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-0.316
124	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-0.336
125	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	-0.373
126	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-0.406
127	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	-0.435
128	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	-0.442
129	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-0.486
130	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	-0.527
131	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-0.541
132	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	-0.557
133	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	-0.603
134	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	-0.609
135	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	-0.618
136	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	-0.623
137	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-0.695
=138	Ecuador`ECU`South America	-0.747
=138	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	-0.747
140	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-0.769
141	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	-0.850
142	Paraguay`PRY`South America	-0.878
143	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	-0.887
144	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	-0.903
145	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	-0.942
146	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-1.012
147	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	-1.044
148	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	-1.101
149	Honduras`HND`Central America	-1.114
150	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	-1.184
151	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-1.212
152	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-1.254
153	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-1.330
154	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-1.360
155	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	-1.384
156	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	-1.468
157	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	-1.496
158	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	-1.498
159	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	-1.512
160	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-1.568
161	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	-1.581
162	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-1.617
163	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-1.738
164	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-1.866
165	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-1.898

02In 1995

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Singapore3.447
2Luxembourg2.773
3Denmark2.691
4United Kingdom2.357
5Norway2.336

Lowest

165Equatorial Guinea-1.898
164Turkmenistan-1.866
163DR Congo-1.738
162Libya-1.617
161Guinea-Bissau-1.581

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.322. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031994 → 1995

Since 1994

+0 / −0countries joined / left
9values changed, of 165 in both
3 · 6rose · fell
156unchanged

Rose most

Estonia0.391 → 1.306+0.915
Trinidad and Tobago0.026 → 0.760+0.734
Haiti-0.269 → -0.130+0.139

Fell most

Malawi1.974 → 0.696−1.278
Côte d’Ivoire0.401 → -0.557−0.958
Azerbaijan-0.599 → -1.496−0.897
Belarus-0.162 → -0.942−0.780
Gambia0.034 → -0.435−0.469

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1995.
161 distinct values among 165
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 1.337. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 165 countries has every column.

05The files

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Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
165 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download meritocratic-appointment-1995-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-FullOthers-v16_csv.zip

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (1995). Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1995 [data set], describing 1995. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/meritocratic-appointment/1995

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1994
165 countries
The year after ›
Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, 1996
165 countries
All of them
Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
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