Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank in Pakistan was reported at 30.66 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Pakistan - Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

Over recent years, online government services have become increasingly common. In 2024, Denmark was ranked first with a near-perfect E-Government Development Index (EGDI) rating of ******. The EGDI assesses e-government development at a national level based on three components: the online service index, the telecommunication infrastructure index, and the human capital index. E-government development and the persisting digital divideAccording to the UN, e-government is a pivotal factor in advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Public services should be accessible to all, and e-government has to harness existing and new technologies to ensure that. There is a risk of a new digital divide, as low-income countries with insufficient infrastructure are lagging, leaving already vulnerable people even more at risk of not being able to gain any advantage from new technologies. Despite some investments and developmental gains, many countries are still unable to benefit from ICTs because of poor connectivity, high cost of access and lack of necessary skills. These factors have a detrimental effect on the further development of e-government in low EGDI-ranked regions such as Africa as the pace of technological progress intensifies. E-government servicesTransactional services are among the most common features offered by e-government websites worldwide. In 2018, it was found that *** countries enabled their citizens to submit income taxes via national websites. The majority of countries allow citizens to access downloadable forms, receive updates or access archived information about a wide range of sectors such as education, employment, environment, health, and social protection.

The average for 2023 based on 193 countries was -0.07 points. The highest value was in Liechtenstein: 1.61 points and the lowest value was in Syria: -2.75 points. The indicator is available from 1996 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2022, the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) composite score of India was ****. In the same year, India ranked *** out of 193 countries. India slipped down from 100th place in the year 2020. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has been publishing this survey report since 2001 biennially which includes all member states of the United Nations.

What is EGDI?

The widespread outreach of new communication technologies and the internet is compelling governments all over the world to build digital infrastructure and provide online access to public services. The EGDI is a composite indicator that consists of three indices namely the online service index (OSI), telecommunication infrastructure index (TII), and human capital index (HCI). The assessment is a relative measure of the e-governance performance of countries, rather than an absolute measure. Higher-income countries usually have a higher EGDI value as compared to lower-income countries.

India and e-governance 

According to the United Nations,despite being in the lower-income group, India is one of the countries with a fairly high level of human capital development (HCI) and online services provision (OSI). However, it is held back in terms of lower levels of infrastructure development (TII). The Indian government’s Digital campaign and its consequent products such as the UMANG e-governance platform, Accessible India campaign, AgriMarket app, MyGov platform, and many more are aiming to bridge the digital divide amongst the Indian population.

According to a 2024 survey of the United Nations (UN) member states, **** percent had a very high E-Government Development Index (EGDI). A further **** percent ranked as high. The EGDI is based on three components: the online service index, the telecommunication infrastructure index, and the human capital index.

Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank in Indonesia was reported at 69.81 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Indonesia - Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

README: Symbolic Institutional Traps and the Liability of Foreignness

Scott M. Brown (University of Puerto Rico)
Email: scott.brown@upr.edu
Data DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15050209

Overview

This project empirically tests how language regimes embedded in legal and administrative systems create institutional traps that constrain multinational enterprise (MNE) operations and economic integration.
The study combines national and subnational data across four key datasets to measure how symbolic misalignment (such as monolingualism in non-commercial languages) affects regulatory quality, business formation, and workforce access.

📂 Datasets

You must upload the following four files into your Google Colab session before running the code:

📋 How to Run the Study

1. Open Google Colab.

2. Upload the four Excel files listed above.

3. Copy and paste the Python code provided below into a Colab notebook cell.

4. Run the code to automatically load the datasets, clean the data, and estimate key regression models.

🚀 Required Python Code

🧠 Key Concepts

• Symbolic Institutional Traps: Language regimes act as hidden barriers, complicating regulatory navigation and labor market integration.

• Symbolic Misalignment: Misfit between administrative languages and global commercial norms raises onboarding costs for MNEs.

• Institutional Friction: Language encapsulation isolates economies and reduces foreign direct investment (FDI) attractiveness.

📜 Data Documentation

Each dataset has been:

• Cleaned for consistent formatting.

• Harmonized for cross-dataset integration.

• Standardized to facilitate reproducible econometric analysis.

• Full codebooks and metadata are available in the appendix of the research paper.

⚡ Notes

• The EF EPI (English Proficiency) dataset was not uploaded here. If available, further regressions on symbolic distance can be run.

• If any columns do not match exactly (e.g., different spellings), modify the variable names slightly based on print(dbna.columns).

📈 Planned Outputs

The code generates:

• Regression outputs on how Spanish-speaking prevalence correlates with:

  • Starting a business

  • Ease of Doing Business

  • Regulatory quality

• Subnational institutional performance differences (Puerto Rico vs. U.S. states).

🌍 License and Reuse

• Open Data: CC BY 4.0 License

• Citation Requested:
  Brown, S.M. (2025). Symbolic Institutional Traps and the Liability of Foreignness: Language Regimes as Hidden Barriers to Multinational Entry. University of Puerto Rico. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15050209

According to the 2022 United Nations survey on e-governments, Japan ranked first with an e-participation index (EPI) score of 1. Australia and Estonia followed with 0.99 and 0.97, respectively. Compared to 2020, the leader of the ranking, Japan, improved its position in the ranking, going from fourth to first, whereas Estonia had seen a decrease of two places.

Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank in Philippines was reported at 58.02 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Philippines - Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

In 2022, the leading global digital city on the index ranking shown here was Copenhagen with a score of ****. Seoul, Beijing, Amsterdam, and Singapore rounded out the top 5 for the best digital cities.

In 2024, Iceland was the worldwide leader in terms of internet freedom. The country ranked first with 94 index points in the Freedom House Index, where each country received a numerical score from 100 (the freest) to 0 (the least free). Estonia ranked second with a 92 index points, followed by Canada, with a score of 86 index points. Internet restrictions worldwide The decline of internet freedom in 2022 is mainly linked to political conflicts in different parts of the world. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government intensified its attempts to control the online content in the country. The government placed restrictions on three different U.S.-based social media platforms at the same time, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These restrictions made it to the top of the longest-lasting limitations on the web in 2022. Social protests rose in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The Iranian government decided to shut down the internet and various social media platforms in an attempt to minimize the communication between the protesters. In 2022, 11 new internet restrictions were recorded in Iran. However, residents in the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir saw the highest number of new internet restrictions, which amounted to more than double than the ones in Iran. The impact of internet shutdowns In 2022, the economic impact of internet restrictions worldwide reached an estimated 23.79 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the highest financial losses due to internet shutdowns were caused by limitations in Russia, and more than seven thousand hours of restricted various online services had an economic impact of 21.59 billion U.S. dollars. The restrictions impacted around 113 million people in the country. Myanmar placed the most extended restriction on internet services, lasting 17,520 hours in total. Similar restrictions in India affected over 120 million people. 

In 2023, Singapore dominated the ranking of the world's health and health systems, followed by Japan and South Korea. The health index score is calculated by evaluating various indicators that assess the health of the population, and access to the services required to sustain good health, including health outcomes, health systems, sickness and risk factors, and mortality rates. The health and health system index score of the top ten countries with the best healthcare system in the world ranged between 82 and 86.9, measured on a scale of zero to 100.

Global Health Security Index  Numerous health and health system indexes have been developed to assess various attributes and aspects of a nation's healthcare system. One such measure is the Global Health Security (GHS) index. This index evaluates the ability of 195 nations to identify, assess, and mitigate biological hazards in addition to political and socioeconomic concerns, the quality of their healthcare systems, and their compliance with international finance and standards. In 2021, the United States was ranked at the top of the GHS index, but due to multiple reasons, the U.S. government failed to effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The GHS Index evaluates capability and identifies preparation gaps; nevertheless, it cannot predict a nation's resource allocation in case of a public health emergency.

Universal Health Coverage Index  Another health index that is used globally by the members of the United Nations (UN) is the universal health care (UHC) service coverage index. The UHC index monitors the country's progress related to the sustainable developmental goal (SDG) number three. The UHC service coverage index tracks 14 indicators related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, service capacity, and access to care. The main target of universal health coverage is to ensure that no one is denied access to essential medical services due to financial hardships. In 2021, the UHC index scores ranged from as low as 21 to a high score of 91 across 194 countries. 

The British Crown Dependency of Jersey was ranked as the most politically stable country worldwide in 2023, ahead of the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein. The Caribbean Islands are known for their favorable conditions for large international companies and wealthy individuals, with no income and fortune tax. Lowest stability in Syria On the other end of the scale, Syria had the lowest political stability. The Middle Eastern-country suffered from a civil war between 2012 and 2024, with the Syrian government battling a range of military groups, including the terrorist organization Islamic State. Fragile State Index Another way of measuring political stability is the Fragile States Index, compiled annually by the Fund for Peace. In 2024, Somalia was ranked as the most fragile state ahead of Sudan. The index measures state fragility on a range of economic, social, and political indicators.

In the 2023 edition of the globalization index, Switzerland had the highest index score at 90.75. Belgium followed behind, with the Netherlands in third. Overall, globalization declined in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but increased somewhat in 2021, even though it was still below pre-pandemic levels.

About the index

The KOF Index of Globalization aims to measure the rate of globalization in countries around the world. Data used to construct the 2023 edition of the index was from 2021. The index is based on three dimensions, or core sets of indicators: economic, social, and political. Via these three dimensions, the overall index of globalization tries to assess current economic flows, economic restrictions, data on information flows, data on personal contact, and data on cultural proximity within surveyed countries.

Defining globalization

Globalization is defined for this index as the process of creating networks of connections among actors at multi-continental distances, mediated through a variety of flows including people, information and ideas, capital and goods. It is a process that erodes national boundaries, integrates national economies, cultures, technologies and governance and produces complex relations of mutual interdependence.

In 2022, Tunisia had a democracy index of **** points, ranking first in North Africa. It was classified as a "hybrid regime", together with Morocco which obtained **** points. In contrast, the other countries resulted under authoritarian rule. In particular, Libya, Sudan, and Egypt were among the least democratic countries in the world.

According to the Corruption Perception Index, Uruguay was perceived as the least corrupt country in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024, with a score of 76 out of 100. Venezuela, on the other hand, was found to be the Latin American nation with the worst perceived level of corruption, at 10 points. A role model for Latin American democracy Uruguay has many factors contributing to its low public perception of corruption, from high average income levels to a close-knit urban population. At the forefront is the South American country's adherence to good governance and democracy. In fact, in 2024, Uruguay was ranked as the 13th most democratic country in the world. Going hand in hand with trust in institutions is the prospect of equal opportunities for Uruguayans social advancement. In this area, Uruguay is also ranked as the country in Latin America with the highest social mobility index score. A population in need of reconciliation Corruption has long been an issue souring Latin America. Many experts in the region believe it to be the biggest hindrance to their countries. At the top of this list is Peru, with the largest share of Latin American respondents who think corruption is their country's main problem, followed by Colombia and Brazil. In light of a history of drug trafficking and guerrilla warfare, the number of Colombians who believe that the corrupt elite has captured their political system ranks as the highest in the world. To overcome the consequences of this reputation, the Colombian government has made significant efforts to pass anti-corruption legislation, such as the Colombian Penal Code and the Anti-Corruption Act.

Following a declining trend that emerged in 2017, India's press freedom rank dropped further to *** out of 180 countries surveyed in the World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders in 2024. With a score of ***** the South Asian democracy was among regions where the freedom of the press was seriously threatened. The Press Freedom Index score in 2024 was evaluated based on the political, economic, and sociocultural contexts as well as the legal framework and level of safety in a country. Perils of pursuing journalism in India  Despite constitutional guarantees such as the freedom of speech and expression, journalists and media organizations in India continue to face challenges in reporting issues crucial to upholding democratic values. In the last two decades, over ** journalists were killed in the country while several others were imprisoned under anti-state charges.  Press freedom in the APAC region The press freedom index varies widely in the Asia-Pacific region, with New Zealand being one of the highest-ranking countries globally. In contrast, the regimes in China and North Korea continue to exercise strict control over the media. Press freedom remains under threat due to censorship, violence against journalists, and government pressure on media outlets not just in the Asia-Pacific region, but around the world.

In 2024, Monaco and Andorra were the two safest country in the world according to the World Risk Index. San Marino followed behind. The Global Risk Index assesses the risk for disaster of 193 countries.

Most dangerous countries On the other end of the scale, the Philippines was ranked as the country with the highest risk rate with a score of 46.91. Indonesia and India followed behind. A high number of the countries with the highest risk rates were located in Asia. The World Risk Index - Assessing the risk of disaster In the framework of the World Risk Index, disaster risk is analyzed as a complex interplay of natural hazards and social, political and environmental factors. Unlike current approaches that focus strongly on the analysis of the various natural hazards, the World Risk Index, in addition to exposure analysis, focuses on the vulnerability of the population, i.e. its susceptibility, its capacities to cope with and to adapt to future natural events as well as the consequences of climate change. Disaster risk is seen as a function of exposure and vulnerability. The national states are the frame of reference for the analysis. The index consists of indicators in four components: exposure to natural hazards such as earthquakes, storms, floods, droughts and sea level rise; susceptibility as a function of public infrastructure, nutrition and the general economic framework; coping capacities as a function of governance, medical services and economic security; and adaptive capacities to future natural events and climate change.

The past years have seen an increasing focus on political polarization in the world, with populist parties entering parliament and even government in several countries around the world. Moreover, political polarization has intensified in the United States in recent years, which culminated in the storming of the Capitol in January 2021. In January 2023, supporters of the outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the parliament of Brazil and the presidential palace.

In 2022, more than half of the respondents in 15 countries worldwide were of the opinion that their countries were more divided today than in the past. This was most strong in the Netherlands, where 80 percent of the respondents had this opinion. It was also high in Brazil, Sweden, and France.

The twenty countries with the worst human rights and rule of law index scores are located in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. On a scale from zero to ten, zero being the best human rights and rule of law conditions, Iran had the maximum index score of **, followed by Burma and China. On the contrary, Norway was the best country for human rights and rule of law.