World’s First Global Bureaucracy Perception Index Sets A New Benchmark for Government Service Delivery

Developed by APCO and Horizon Group, the GBPI measures how citizens and businesses experience bureaucracy across 13 countries—providing actionable insights to strengthen execution, trust and competitiveness

Washington—April 28, 2026: APCO and Horizon Group today released the inaugural Global Bureaucracy Perception Index (GBPI), the world’s first benchmark of how citizens and businesses experience government services at the point of delivery. Covering 13 countries and drawing on 4,745 citizen and 1,135 business responses, the GBPI measures user experience across five indicators—Transparency, Time, Affordability, Predictability and Accessibility—providing leaders with comparable evidence to identify friction, prioritize reforms and track progress over time.

The index benchmarks lived experience across 11 high-frequency government services (five citizen services and six business services):

• Citizen: Education, Health, ID, Social security, Tax filing and payments
• Business: Employment, Government procurement, Import-export, Operational licensing, Registration and renewal, Tax filing and payments

Unlike capacity or readiness indices, the GBPI focuses on lived experience—whether cases move quickly, rules are applied consistently and services are easy to access and complete end-to-end. The 13 countries covered in the inaugural index are Brazil, Estonia, Germany, India, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States. The data highlights two high-performing service-delivery patterns emerging globally: speed-first execution and transparency-anchored assurance. The findings also reinforce the growing importance of predictability as a driver of confidence, particularly for businesses and show how citizen and business journeys experience friction differently—pointing to distinct reform priorities.

Headline insights from the inaugural GBPI include:

• Speed is a trust signal: The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar exemplify the GBPI’s “acceleration” model, with business Time scores of 84.9 (UAE), 84.0 (Saudi Arabia) and 83.4 (Qatar).
• Transparency anchors confidence: Singapore (business Transparency 85.3) and Estonia (83.9) set benchmarks for rule clarity and digital-by-default services, with Switzerland close behind (79.0).
• Predictability drives investment: The United States leads on business Predictability (88.9), signaling strong procedural consistency.

The report also finds strong positive sentiment toward AI-enabled tools: 69% of businesses and 47% of citizens report interacting with AI during service delivery and around nine in 10 of those users say AI made processes faster and easier and want similar tools expanded.

Designed as a delivery diagnostic rather than a scorecard, the GBPI translates these patterns into practical fixes. Priority actions include: standardizing delivery to raise predictability at the point of service; cutting elapsed time by eliminating avoidable back-and-forth (through complete-submission standards and earlier checks); and making services usable end-to-end through clearer routing and progress visibility.

Margery Kraus, founder and executive chair of APCO, said: “As governments confront increasing complexity, bureaucracy remains a decisive factor in how people and businesses experience public services. The GBPI gives leaders a clear view of how bureaucracy performs at the point of service and builds on APCO’s long-standing commitment to evidence-based governance. With comparable insight across countries, policymakers can focus reforms on what users value most: speed, transparency and predictable outcomes.”

Dr. Margareta Drzeniek, managing partner at Horizon Group, added: “The GBPI brings the user experience into clear focus. By measuring how citizens and businesses navigate key services across Transparency, Time, Affordability, Predictability and Accessibility, the index shows where friction arises and why it differs across user groups. This gives governments a grounded diagnostic—not just on performance levels, but on the specific points in the journey where execution can be strengthened.”

Samer El Hachem, president of APCO MENA, said: “The GBPI highlights what users experience in practice—where services move efficiently and where friction still slows delivery. This evidence offers governments a clear basis to strengthen execution, improve consistency and make day-to-day interactions with the state faster and more reliable.”

The full Global Bureaucracy Perception Index report, including methodology, country snapshots and thematic insights, is available at https://apcoworldwide.com/news-ideas/gbpi/