Countries by Statistical performance indicators (SPI): Pillar 1 data use score (scale 0-100)
Fifty-nine countries, spanning Western Europe, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, share the top rank with a perfect score of 100 on the 2024 Statistical Performance Indicators Pillar 1 data use index. At the opposite end, Equatorial Guinea and North Korea score just 10, the lowest recorded value. The 90-point gap between the top and bottom reflects the wide disparity in how statistical systems serve their users across the globe.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric measures the demand side of national statistical systems. According to the source definition, the data use overall score is a composite score measuring the demand side of the statistical system, and the data use pillar is segmented by five types of users: (i) the legislature, (ii) the executive branch, (iii) civil society (including sub-national actors), (iv) academia, and (v) international bodies, with each dimension having associated indicators to measure performance, and a mature system would score highly across all five. The indicator is reported on a scale of 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate better performance. The 2024 dataset covers all 216 countries in this ranking, with 100% of data points classified as official and 100% sourced from the most recent seven-year window. No extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and average year-over-year change stands at 8.1%.
At rank 1, 59 countries achieve a perfect score of 100. This group is geographically diverse, including high-income European states such as Germany, France, and Sweden, upper-middle-income Latin American countries such as Chile, Mexico, and Peru, and lower-income African nations such as Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Immediately below, 26 countries share rank 61 with a score of 90, including Kenya, Pakistan, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates. Belarus stands alone at rank 87 with a score of 86.6, and Brazil follows at rank 88 with 83.4.
The middle of the ranking shows a cluster of 36 countries at rank 89 with a score of 80, including India, Australia, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. Russia sits at rank 124 with 76.6, and China follows at rank 125 with 73.4. Notable placements toward the lower end include Turkey at rank 172 with a score of 50, and Cuba at rank 186 with 40. The bottom tier includes Syria at rank 210 with 26.6, Libya and South Sudan at rank 211 with 20, Eritrea at rank 214 with 16.6, and Equatorial Guinea and North Korea at rank 215 with the minimum recorded score of 10.
The composite nature of this index means individual country scores reflect aggregated performance across five user categories, which can mask variation within any single dimension. Countries with strong international reporting may score higher than their domestic data use would suggest in isolation. The stepped distribution of scores, with large clusters at round numbers such as 100, 90, 80, and 70, indicates the scoring methodology uses discrete bands rather than a continuous scale, which limits differentiation among countries within the same band. Small territories and special administrative regions appear in the ranking alongside sovereign states, which may affect comparability. Data self-reported or derived from official national sources may not fully capture informal or unrecognized uses of statistical outputs.
Methodology
The metric is sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators under indicator code IQ.SPI.PIL1, with data year 2024. The source definition states: the data use overall score is a composite score measuring the demand side of the statistical system, and the data use pillar is segmented by five types of users: (i) the legislature, (ii) the executive branch, (iii) civil society (including sub-national actors), (iv) academia, and (v) international bodies, with each dimension having associated indicators to measure performance, and a mature system would score highly across all dimensions. Scores are reported on a 0-to-100 absolute scale where higher values indicate better performance. The ranking covers 216 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years, representing 100% recency coverage. All 216 data points are classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change is 8.1%, within the 30% volatility threshold. The score range runs from 10 to 100, a spread of 900%. The clustering of scores at discrete intervals such as 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 reflects a banded scoring methodology rather than a continuous measurement.