Page 11 - GEORptDec21

2.6 Polls & Sociology
Georgian shows improvement in World Bank survey on governance in two categories
Armenia, Georgia ranked as ‘Free’ countries in Freedom on the Net report, Azerbaijan and Turkey as ‘Not Free’
Georgia has shown improvement in the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) study in terms of political stability and the absence of violence and regulatory quality. The 2020 issue of the WGI compared its results to those of 2019.
Georgia received 30.66% from a total of 100% for political stability and absence of violence, which measures perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilised or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism.
As for regulatory quality, which assesses reforms carried out by the government for the development of the private sector, Georgia received 83.65%.
The WGI 2020 reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2020, for six dimensions of governance. They are:
● Voice and accountability, in which Georgia received 49.76% in 2020 (52.66% in 2019)
● Political stability and absence of violence - 30.66% in 2020 (27.83% in 2019)
● Government effectiveness - 75.48 in 2020 (76.92% in 2019)
● Regulatory quality - 83.65% in 2020 (82.69% in 2019)
● Rule of law - 61.06% in 2020 (62.02% in 2019)
● Control of corruption - 71.63% in 2020 (74.04% in 2019)
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili commented on the World Bank's study, saying that “Georgia has a leading and exemplary position in Europe and throughout the world with corruption-free and effective governance.”
For the effective control of corruption, Georgia was ranked 45th of 189 countries of World Bank member countries and was placed in the top 50. In the European context, Georgia is ranked 19th. To compare, Georgia was ranked 62nd in the study published in 2012, said Gharibashvili.
Gharibashvili also noted that for effective governance, Georgia has been ranked 38th among the World Bank's member 189 countries. He said that in the same indicator Georgia ranked 50th in 2012.
Overall, Gharibashvili said that the current assessment of Georgia was three times better than the results demonstrated in 2011-2012.
Freedom House has ranked Armenia as a “free” country in its Freedom on the Net 2021: The Crisis of Social Media report. Armenia’s neighbour Georgia is also a “free” country, while Azerbaijan and Turkey are ranked as “not free” in the edition of the annual assessment. Armenia’s southern neighbour Iran is “partly free.”
According to the report, “Internet freedom in Armenia declined significantly as a result of restrictions on the free flow of information the government adopted during the armed conflict between ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“The implementation of martial law in late September 2020 placed broad restrictions on the media’s ability to report on the fighting, including by banning
11 GEORGIA Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com