Mo Ibrahim Index 2016: Mauritius leads Africa in overall governance

Mauritius remains the top ranking country in overall governance in Africa for the tenth consecutive year according to the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) 2016 entitled “A decade of African Governance 2006-2015”, which was released on 3 October 2016 in London. With a total score of 79.9 points, Mauritius ranks first in Africa followed by Botswana with 73.7 points and Cape Verde with 73 points at the second and third position respectively.

Among the 54 countries rated by the Foundation, Mauritius scored the highest overall points with the average score for the continent being 50.1 and Southern Africa remaining the best performing region, with an average score of 58.3. In total, 37 countries have shown improvement in Overall Governance since 2006, representing 70% of African citizens.

The 10th edition of the IIAG, which is considered as the most comprehensive analysis of African governance undertaken to date, brings together a decade of data to assess each of the 54 Africa countries against 95 indicators drawn from 34 independent sources. This year, for the first time, the IIAG includes Public Attitude Survey data from Afrobarometer. This captures Africans’ own perceptions of governance, which provides fresh perspective on the results registered by other data such expert assessment and official data.

IIAG 2016 further observes that Southern Africa has shown average improvement in all categories except Safety & Rule of Law where it shows a slight deterioration of -1.6 score points as well as a decline in accountability by -4.0 score points since 2006, therefore attributing it as the main driver behind the decline in score in Safety & Rule of Law.

According to the Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, improvement in overall governance in Africa over the last decade reflects a positive trend in a majority of countries and for over two-thirds of the continent’s citizens.

Mo Ibrahim Index provides a comprehensive assessment of governance performance for each of the 54 African countries and is the most comprehensive collection of data on African governance. It combines 93 indicators into four categories namely: Safety and Rule of Law; Participation and Human Rights; Sustainable Economic Opportunity; and Human Development.

IIAG was set up in recognition of the need for a robust, comprehensive and quantifiable tool for civil society to track government performance in Africa. It is Africa’s leading annual assessment of governance established to inform and empower the continent’s citizens and support governments, parliaments and the civil society to assess progress.