Washington - The World Bank sees few signs of a positive trend in how people are governed, according to its annual report Monday on the quality of the world's ruling classes. The development bank's report also warned that a devastating financial crisis had exposed weaknesses in wealthier countries, which have "plenty of room for improvement" in how they govern their people.
Emerging countries including Chile, Botswana, the Baltic states and many Eastern European countries scored better than industrialized nations like Greece and Italy.
"We should not presume that rich and powerful countries have the very best levels of governance and corruption control," said Daniel Kaufmann, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who co-authored the report. "The financial crisis reminds us that the quality of governance in G8 countries is not always exemplary."
Members of the Group of Eight (G8) - a bloc of leading industrialized countries - have been at the centre of a banking crisis that has spread to all corners of the globe.
The World Bank also warned that governance in many countries has worsened over the last year. The report singled out Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Belarus, Cote d'Ivoire and Eritrea.
The report found that, overall, governing "has not improved much" over the last decade that the report has been compiled.
