S'pore's civil service ranked world No. 1: Oxford University study

Singapore's civil service has been ranked the best in the world on Dec. 3.

According to the 2024 Blavatnik Index of Public Administration, Singapore came in first for its border services, tax administration, and innovation strategies and practices.

The index, which is a new study by Oxford University's school of public policy, the Blavatnik School of Government, aims to compare the public administrations of 120 countries.

Singapore obtained score of 0.85, did well in public policy and national delivery

The index aims to help senior officials, those leading reform efforts and other stakeholders understand how public administrations and civil services around the world compare.

Countries are compared based on the index's four domains, namely public policy, national delivery, strategy and leadership, and people and processes.

Countries are then given scores based on a scale from 0.00 to 1.00, where 0.00 represents the lowest-scoring country and 1.00 represents the highest-scoring country.

According to the study, Singapore clinched the top spot with a score of 0.85 due to the country's public policy and national delivery.

These include Singapore's border services, tax administration, and innovation strategies and practices.

After Singapore, Norway ranked second, while Canada and Denmark shared third place.

Finland came in fifth, while the United Kingdom and New Zealand ranked sixth place together.

Australia was in the eighth spot, followed by the United States in ninth place, along with Estonia, France, and Spain.

Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, Ngaire Woods, said: "We see real value in the Index not only in what the results show but also the conversations, learning, and improvement that it can prompt."

Critical to have an effective governance system: Head of Civil Service

Head of Civil Service, Leo Yip, said in his remarks on Dec. 4 that he was "humbled" that Singapore's public administration was "rated well" in the report.

He said: "It is absolutely critical that we seek to have an effective governance system that optimises the development of our people and creates the best conditions possible for nation-building and for growing a competitive economy."

He added that the Singapore public service has to "keep improving and transforming and sustain change" as the world is changing at a "rapid pace".

He said: "We have learned so much from the best practices of counterparts and public services around the world."

Yip highlighted that the index is an important effort to help governments learn from one another in order to serve their people better.

Top photo via Canva