The Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) released its 2026 findings May 6, bringing together scholars and researchers to examine the state of governance across more than 145 countries.
Developed through a partnership with UCLA Luskin, Berggruen Institute and the Hertie School in Berlin, the index evaluates countries across three dimensions: quality of democracy, quality of government and quality of life.
The report’s central finding is that global governance patterns have remained remarkably stable over the past 25 years despite rapid technological, economic and geopolitical change. Researchers identified four persistent “worlds of governance”: consolidated democratic states, capacity—constrained states, authoritarian and hybrid states, and low—capacity developing states.
“The most striking finding, on a quarter century of data, is how rarely countries improve their governance performance in significant and sustainable ways,” said Helmut K. Anheier, principal investigator of the index and adjunct professor at UCLA Luskin and the Hertie School.
The report also found that while quality-of-life indicators have improved globally, democratic accountability and state capacity have largely stagnated — raising concerns about how resilient countries will be in addressing future challenges such as climate change, artificial intelligence, demographic shifts and political instability.
The event featured remarks and discussion from Anheier and UCLA faculty members including Stella Ghervas, Vinay Lal, Alexandra Lieben, Joseph C. Saraceno and Michael Storper.
The full report, executive summary and interactive country profiles are available on the Berggruen Governance Index website.
