The latest findings on an index of good governance developed by part of the University of the South Pacific puts the Cook Islands at the top.
The scale covers seven Pacific Island countries and has been developed by the Institute of Development and Governance.
The Institute's Professor Graham Hassall says the public reform programme in the Cook Islands seems to have made an impact:
"It seems to be apparent that there's a steady improvement in the quality of the governance index after the Cook Islands did a rather vigorous reform process."
Professor Graham Hassall of the USP's Institute of Development and Governance.
The latest scale also showed that Vanuatu was progressing well, while Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands are at the bottom of the scale.
