V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg · Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration
Merit-based civil service by country
Are civil servants hired and promoted on merit or through connections?
Singapore placed first of the 176 countries compared in 2025, at 3.584, and Belarus last, at -2.442. In the middle country the figure was 0.310. Among the 160 countries measured in every edition since 1990, the middle one moved from 0.385 to 0.324.
Part ofGovernance & Institutions
Merit-based civil service · 2025
Context statistic
Highest of 176Singapore
3.584012025 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 176 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Khairul Nizam . · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
2Photo: Andrus Uuetalu derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 3.0 ee, greyscale
3
02Every measured country
Merit-based civil service on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- -2.442–-0.688
- -0.673–0.046
- 0.055–0.599
- 0.625–1.366
- 1.368–3.584
- No reading in 2025
- Europe
1.229
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
Estonia2.768
Belarus-2.442Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Oceania
0.860
the middle country, of 6 measured · 21 members
Australia2.150
Papua New Guinea0.639Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Americas
0.298
the middle country, of 27 measured · 48 members
Chile2.012
Nicaragua-1.859Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Asia
0.214
the middle country, of 48 measured · 52 members
Singapore3.584
Qatar-1.605Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Africa
-0.098
the middle country, of 55 measured · 55 members
Seychelles1.401
Libya-2.358Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Every region
20 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Northern Europe
2.111
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Estonia2.768
Lithuania1.450Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
1.985
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Germany2.743
Austria1.302Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Asia
1.536
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
South Korea2.715
Mongolia-1.071Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Southern Europe
0.935
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Montenegro1.669
Albania-0.513Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Southern Asia
0.867
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Bhutan1.613
Afghanistan-1.278Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Southern Africa
0.599
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Namibia0.847
Eswatini-0.062Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Caribbean
0.310
the middle country, of 6 measured · 24 members
Barbados1.201
Cuba-1.660Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- South America
0.179
the middle country, of 12 measured · 12 members
Chile2.012
Ecuador-1.776Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- South-eastern Asia
0.139
the middle country, of 10 measured · 11 members
Singapore3.584
Myanmar-1.006Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Eastern Europe
0.132
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Czechia2.246Belarus-2.442Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Eastern Africa
0.108
the middle country, of 19 measured · 19 members
Seychelles1.401
Eritrea-2.169Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Africa
-0.005
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Gambia1.270
Côte d’Ivoire-1.696Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Northern Africa
-0.082
the middle country, of 6 measured · 6 members
Morocco0.755Libya-2.358Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Central Asia
-0.281
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Kazakhstan0.251
Turkmenistan-1.361Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Central America
-0.307
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
Costa Rica1.325Nicaragua-1.859Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Western Asia
-0.437
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Israel2.140Qatar-1.605Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Middle Africa
-0.896
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Republic of the Congo-0.287
Chad-1.894Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia2.150
New Zealand1.677Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji0.966Papua New Guinea0.639Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States1.717
Canada1.660Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
03The whole field at once
The spread
176 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 0.310; a quarter are above 1.164, and a quarter below -0.469. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 176 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. Higher is better. It describes typical practice across the civil service, not what the law says, and it leaves out the armed forces, which V-Dem asks about separately.
Showing 25 of 176 countries
Values for 2025. The change column compares 2025 with 2024 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
051990–2025 · 36 reference years
Over time
Each point is one year from 1990, all of them re-estimated together in V-Dem's v16 release. The scale has no fixed ends, so read the movement and the gap to other countries rather than the number on its own.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 160 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 176 | 0.310 | -0.469 – 1.164 | 0.324 |
| 2024 | 176 | 0.354 | -0.523 – 1.153 | 0.354 |
| 2023 | 176 | 0.334 | -0.523 – 1.177 | 0.325 |
| 2022 | 176 | 0.286 | -0.522 – 1.170 | 0.259 |
| 2021 | 176 | 0.322 | -0.493 – 1.198 | 0.307 |
| 2020 | 176 | 0.396 | -0.495 – 1.215 | 0.375 |
| 2019 | 176 | 0.381 | -0.477 – 1.235 | 0.358 |
| 2018 | 176 | 0.396 | -0.418 – 1.151 | 0.371 |
| 2017 | 176 | 0.396 | -0.375 – 1.136 | 0.371 |
| 2016 | 176 | 0.358 | -0.415 – 1.136 | 0.326 |
| 2015 | 176 | 0.338 | -0.401 – 1.128 | 0.297 |
| 2014 | 176 | 0.323 | -0.401 – 1.128 | 0.318 |
| 2013 | 176 | 0.370 | -0.413 – 1.128 | 0.319 |
| 2012 | 176 | 0.370 | -0.408 – 1.153 | 0.319 |
| 2011 | 176 | 0.359 | -0.413 – 1.135 | 0.335 |
| 2010 | 175 | 0.350 | -0.403 – 1.157 | 0.322 |
| 2009 | 175 | 0.379 | -0.403 – 1.250 | 0.351 |
| 2008 | 175 | 0.410 | -0.403 – 1.250 | 0.385 |
| 2007 | 175 | 0.410 | -0.400 – 1.145 | 0.400 |
| 2006 | 175 | 0.410 | -0.439 – 1.145 | 0.400 |
| 2005 | 175 | 0.410 | -0.439 – 1.167 | 0.400 |
| 2004 | 167 | 0.410 | -0.421 – 1.167 | 0.414 |
| 2003 | 167 | 0.379 | -0.400 – 1.141 | 0.378 |
| 2002 | 167 | 0.390 | -0.400 – 1.141 | 0.385 |
| 2001 | 167 | 0.379 | -0.400 – 1.126 | 0.361 |
| 2000 | 167 | 0.379 | -0.421 – 1.271 | 0.361 |
| 1999 | 167 | 0.390 | -0.341 – 1.187 | 0.385 |
| 1998 | 166 | 0.295 | -0.391 – 1.280 | 0.295 |
| 1997 | 165 | 0.322 | -0.435 – 1.303 | 0.351 |
| 1996 | 165 | 0.379 | -0.386 – 1.248 | 0.385 |
| 1995 | 165 | 0.322 | -0.336 – 1.248 | 0.344 |
| 1994 | 165 | 0.360 | -0.266 – 1.248 | 0.363 |
| 1993 | 165 | 0.390 | -0.208 – 1.303 | 0.391 |
| 1992 | 164 | 0.372 | -0.267 – 1.308 | 0.385 |
| 1991 | 163 | 0.360 | -0.326 – 1.329 | 0.372 |
| 1990 | 160 | 0.385 | -0.390 – 1.334 | 0.385 |
062024 → 2025
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → afterDeclined most
before → after
Bulgaria1.487 → 0.169 · 32nd → 98th−1.318
Bangladesh1.735 → 0.517 · 23rd → 74th−1.218- Côte d’Ivoire-0.528 → -1.696 · 133rd → 167th−1.168
- Chad-0.769 → -1.894 · 144th → 173rd−1.125
Sri Lanka2.111 → 1.225 · 14th → 42nd−0.886
176 countries were measured in both 2024 and 2025.
07Across every edition
Merit-based civil service in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
3.584
Original latent estimate (≈ −2.9 to +3.6); higher = more appointments on merit
Lowest reading on record
-2.917
Original latent estimate (≈ −2.9 to +3.6); higher = more appointments on merit
Biggest improvement between editions
+2.294
-2.917 → -0.623
Biggest decline between editions
−2.163
1.124 → -1.039
Most improved since first measured
+2.377
0.391 → 2.768
At the top most often
35 of 36
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About merit-based civil service
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.
What the number is: Original latent estimate (≈ −2.9 to +3.6); higher = more appointments on merit.
What it does not measure
It describes how appointments are made in practice, not the civil service's size, pay or effectiveness, and it leaves out the armed forces.
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Governance & Institutions, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where merit-based civil service is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Rule of LawKeyWorld Bank Group · 175 countries in commonρ 0.77
- Judicial Constraints on the Executive IndexKeyV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg · 176 countries in commonρ 0.75
- Control of CorruptionWorld Bank Group · 175 countries in commonρ 0.74
Moves against
Where merit-based civil service is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Neopatrimonial Rule IndexV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg · 176 countries in commonρ −0.79
- Political Corruption IndexV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg · 176 countries in commonρ −0.75
- Exclusion by Socio-Economic GroupV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg · 174 countries in commonρ −0.68
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 309 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
More from V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
11Questions
Merit-based civil service: questions and answers
Which country has the highest merit-based civil service?
Singapore, at 3.584, among the 176 countries compared in 2025.
Which country has the lowest merit-based civil service?
Belarus, at -2.442, among the 176 countries compared in 2025.
How many countries does the Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration cover?
176 in 2025. The number measured varies from 160 to 176 between editions.
What is the world average merit-based civil service?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 176 compared in 2025, the figure was 0.310.
Is this V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg’s own ranking?
No. V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration published?
This site holds 36 reference years, 1990–2025, all recalculated in V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg’s 2026 report on one method — not 36 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, under CC BY-SA 4.0. From the V-Dem Institute's Country-Year Full+Others dataset (v16), University of Gothenburg — this indicator is not in the smaller Core file — published under CC BY-SA 4.0. V-Dem's data runs back to 1789; the series here starts in 1990 so that every row belongs to a present-day country. Stored as the measurement model's original estimate, not V-Dem's 0–4 rescaling. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration — V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
From the V-Dem Institute's Country-Year Full+Others dataset (v16), University of Gothenburg — this indicator is not in the smaller Core file — published under CC BY-SA 4.0. V-Dem's data runs back to 1789; the series here starts in 1990 so that every row belongs to a present-day country. Stored as the measurement model's original estimate, not V-Dem's 0–4 rescaling.
Newest edition
Report year 2025Data year 2025
Cite the source as: Coppedge, M. et al. V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v16. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, University of Gothenburg.
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, checked 2026-09-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Singapore — Khairul Nizam ., CC BY 2.0
- Estonia — Andrus Uuetalu derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 3.0 ee
- Germany — dronepicr, CC BY 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Merit-based civil service by country: Meritocratic Appointment in the State Administration, data from V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/meritocratic-appointment