Singapore ranks first in public administration

Singapore has been ranked the world’s top performer in public administration, according to the inaugural Blavatnik Index of Public Administration by Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. The index evaluates the performance of civil services and public administrations across 120 countries, providing insights into the effectiveness of governance systems worldwide.

Singapore showed the best results in two of the index’s four domains: Public Policy and National Delivery, outperforming countries like Norway, Canada, Denmark and Finland.

The index uses a scoring system ranging from 0.00 to 1.00, with Singapore achieving an impressive 0.85. It measures four domains of public administration: Strategy and Leadership, Public Policy, National Delivery and People and Processes. While Singapore ranked fifth in Strategy and Leadership, it placed first in Public Policy alongside Finland and led the National Delivery category outright.

Norway ranked second overall, followed by a tie for third place between Canada and Denmark. Finland secured fifth place, with the United Kingdom and New Zealand tied for sixth. Other notable countries in the top ten include Australia in eighth and the United States, which shared ninth place with Estonia, France and Spain.

The Blavatnik Index aims to foster peer learning among governments by providing a comprehensive framework for comparison. It draws on 82 metrics from 17 sources, including data from the World Bank’s Doing Business report and Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer.