Major Falls in Governance in Key Eastern European Countries

Across the past decade, Russia, Belarus, Hungary and Poland have all seen major falls in their ratings on the World Economics Governance Index. A major fall is defined as declining by 10 or more points on the Index.

Eastern European Governance Scores 2016-2026
Source: World Economics Governance Index

Country	2016	2018	2020	2022	2024	2026
Russia	27.3	25.4	27.5	17.6	15.1	13.8
Belarus	27.8	30.3	31.2	19.7	15.4	16.0
Ukraine	44.1	46.5	47.8	39.9	45.8	44.7
Hungary	64.3	61.8	59.8	53.2	55.7	53.8
Bulgaria	56.9	64.5	64.2	54.0	58.5	54.7
Moldova	47.8	49.4	49.3	53.2	57.2	56.0
Romania	67.1	67.1	65.5	63.0	64.6	64.6
Slovak Republic	74.0	70.5	70.7	71.7	70.5	68.2
Poland	75.3	71.3	69.7	64.6	66.7	69.2
Czechia	77.9	77.3	75.5	76.0	77.1	79.8

Country	2016	2020	2026
Russia	27.3	17.6	13.8
Belarus	27.8	19.7	16.0
Ukraine	44.1	39.9	44.7
Hungary	64.3	53.2	53.8
Bulgaria	56.9	54.0	54.7
Moldova	47.8	53.2	56.0
Romania	67.1	63.0	64.6
Slovak Republic	74.0	71.7	68.2
Poland	75.3	64.6	69.2
Czechia	77.9	76.0	79.8

Source: World Economics Governance Index, 2026

Note: World Economics Governance Index (0 = extremely poor quality to 100 = as good as it gets).
The table uses the UN Statistical Division’s definition of eastern Europe.

The grading of countries is linked to these ratings on the Index. Consequently, Hungary was demoted to C-grade in 2020, and Bulgaria was more recently demoted in 2025. Russia and Belarus remain E-grade and now sit at the lowest extremity of the World Economics Governance Index.