Nicaragua: Control of Corruption - Governance score (0-100)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Nicaragua's control of Corruption - Governance score (0-100) rose 0.91 on 2024 (from 19.3 to 20.21).

Across the 22 yearly changes before that (2003 to 2024), the average change was −0.55 and a typical year strayed about 1.73 from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.8 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.85 in 2004 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.68 in 2014. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.65 a year. A straight line explains 80% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 18.17 for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.07, against 2.25 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2025, Nicaragua had the 190th highest value of the 205 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Nicaragua in the 2025 ranking

• Turkmenistan — 187th of 205: 21.69
• Central African Republic — 188th of 205: 21.32
• Chad — 189th of 205: 20.98
• Guinea-Bissau — 191st of 205: 19.81
• Congo, Rep. — 192nd of 205: 19.32
• Equatorial Guinea — 193rd of 205: 18.17

What this measures

Control of Corruption (CC) captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is used for private gain, including both petty and grand corruption, as well as capture of the state by elites and private interests. Governance score is a linear transformation of the governance estimate using hypothetical worst-case and base-case countries. It is an absolute score ranging from 0-100. Larger values correspond to better governance. The (country-series-time) metadata include the (a) number of sources, and (b) confidence intervals (lower and upper bound). The number of sources indicates the number of underlying data sources on which the governance score (respectively the underlying governance estimate) is based. The confidence intervals include the lower and upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for the governance score. Confidence intervals are a statistical range of values that likely contain the true value (of what is being estimated).

Limitations: The WGI are perception-based measures which draw on 35 distinct underlying data sources, namely expert assessments and household/firm surveys. Data sources based on expert assessments have both strengths and limitations relative to surveys. A key strength is that they are well suited to cross-country comparison, since their methodologies are explicitly designed for this purpose. Expert assessments can also provide more detailed technical judgments on specific public institutions or governance functions that typical household or firm survey respondents may not be well placed to assess.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a indicators, from the underlying data sources, are aggregated using the unobserved components model (ucm). the ucm is essentially a weighted average, resulting in a governance estimate at the country level. the following provides a detailed description of the aggregation methodology: https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/sites/govindicators/doc/the%20worldwide%20governance%20indicators%202025%.

All 27 values

Control of Corruption - Governance score (0-100) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 59.9 (2025)
• Argentina — 40.26 (2025)
• Aruba — 65.57 (2025)
• Bahamas, The — 69.11 (2025)
• Barbados — 72.8 (2025)
• Belize — 45.18 (2025)
• Bolivia — 24.13 (2025)
• Brazil — 40.36 (2025)
• Cayman Islands — 60.24 (2025)
• Chile — 70.22 (2025)

More policy & institutions data for Nicaragua

• Control of Corruption - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) — -1.38 (2025)
• Government Effectiveness - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) — -0.89 (2025)
• Government Effectiveness - Governance score (0-100) — 34.05 (2025)
• Political Stability - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) — -0.01 (2025)
• Political Stability - Governance score (0-100) — 65.43 (2025)
• Rule of Law - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) — -1.59 (2025)
• Rule of Law - Governance score (0-100) — 32.49 (2025)
• Regulatory Quality - Governance estimate (approx. -2.5 to +2.5) — -0.94 (2025)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Nicaragua's control of Corruption - Governance score (0-100)?

20.21 in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is down 47.11% from 38.2 in 1996 (2.17% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 38.2 in 1996 and the lowest 19.3 in 2024.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GOV_WGI_CC_SC, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG), uri: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators, note: Detailed documentation of the WGI, interactive tools for exploring the data, and full… Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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