New Zealand Government Effectiveness

New Zealand’s Government Effectiveness score has fallen markedly since the early 2000s, declining from an all‑time peak of 1.94 in 2004 to the trough of 1.31 recorded in 2021, which also constitutes the latest 2025 value and places the country 24th globally. Over the 26‑year coverage period the index has slipped by 0.63 points, erasing more than a third of the gain achieved in the preceding decade. By contrast, peer jurisdictions such as San Marino (1.32) and Austria (1.29) maintain slightly higher scores, suggesting that New Zealand’s recent governance challenges are not shared uniformly across comparable economies. The persistent downward trajectory reflects deteriorating perceptions of policy formulation, implementation and regulatory quality, factors that the World Bank’s governance indicators capture. If reforms strengthen bureaucratic capacity and improve service delivery, the downward trend could be arrested and the score may begin to rise again in the coming years.