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NCBNational Capability Benchmark
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Challenge the benchmark

Choose a score and give the benchmark a specific reason to reconsider it.

When you submit, the form attaches the current score and confidence for the country and capability you chose.

Submissions are public and start as awaiting review. A maintainer can add a response and signature after review.

Ethiopia

Strongest usable evidence: Adaptability, at 53.4. Raise Building first, at 20.5. Experimentation needs more evidence: confidence is 0.25.

Raise, lowest first

Raise, lowest first
DimensionConfidenceScore
Building0.5520.5
Anticipation0.4621.7
Learning0.5525.1
Agency0.5643.1

Measure before managing

Measure before managing
DimensionConfidenceScore
Experimentation0.250.7
Shared Purpose0.4045.8
Coordination0.4180.3

These lists are the country's capability agenda, computed from the scores. Read the full agenda. It names comparable evidence from other countries and the 18 gaps in the registry.

Why this country is included: Large low-income state attempting state-led industrialization under conflict.

Download this country as CSV

255075100
Anticipation21.7Confidence0.46usableHow capable is the country of identifying and preparing for emerging change?
Ethiopia

Read Ethiopia beside up to three other countries, down to the indicator behind every row.

  • Usable or good evidence
  • Thin evidence, hollow point. The dashes open further as confidence falls.
  • The point still sits at the score, because confidence never moves it.
  • Click any axis to see every country on that dimension.

A score from 0 to 100 is a position inside the frame that all the benchmark countries set: zero is the weakest on a dimension and 100 is the strongest. A score of 10 puts a country near the floor of that frame and does not mean 10 percent of a capability.

Ethiopia dimension summary
Coordination

Coordination

How effectively can independent actors organize around shared objectives?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.413 of 50.86no trendno datano estimate
Adaptability

Adaptability

How effectively can the system respond when circumstances change?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.484 of 60.78no trendno datano estimate
Trust

Trust

How much cooperation is possible beyond immediate personal networks?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.505 of 70.85no trendno datano estimate
Shared Purpose

Shared Purpose

To what extent can people imagine themselves as participants in a common project?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.403 of 60.86-1.2(2)29.0-16.8
Agency

Agency

How able are individuals and organizations to turn an intention into action?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.564 of 50.75no trendno datano estimate
Learning

Learning

How effectively does the country acquire, distribute, and update knowledge?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.553 of 40.81no trendno datano estimate
Anticipation

Anticipation

How capable is the country of identifying and preparing for emerging change?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.462 of 40.96+10.2(2)28.0+6.3
Building

Building

How capable is the country of turning plans and knowledge into functioning systems?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.554 of 60.88-3.1(3)no datano estimate
Experimentation

Experimentation

How easily can new approaches be attempted, tested, abandoned, and improved?

Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each flag is a country, and the ring around it carries how well evidenced that score is. The band beside each score in the list shows its evidence level, and the last column shows the trend and the number of indicators behind it.

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0.253 of 90.81no trendno datano estimate

How to read this page

Each dimension has a score from 0 to 100. It shows where this country sits among all 125 countries in the comparison frame, not a percentage. Confidence sits beside the score. A dashed radar edge and hollow point mean the evidence is thin. The records below show each indicator, its raw value, year and source.

A panel estimate, when present, is a separate judgment about what the indicators miss. It does not change the score or confidence. The panel's provenance is shown beside the estimate.

  • direct capability measuredirect capability measure Measures the thing itself.
  • capability inputcapability input Measures something that supports the capability.
  • downstream outcomedownstream outcome Measures a result that usually follows from the capability.
  • perception proxyperception proxy Records what people or experts say, not what they did.

Confidence

  • very thin0.00 to 0.25

    The score rests on one or two indicators. Do not quote it on its own.

  • thin0.25 to 0.45

    A minority of indicators, or evidence old enough to have moved. Read with care.

  • usable0.45 to 0.65

    Enough evidence to compare countries, with known holes.

  • good0.65 and above

    Most indicators observed, recent, from official or intergovernmental sources.

A row marked no dataset exists is a gap: the benchmark wants data that nobody publishes. A retired row has a source this project chose not to use. Both reduce confidence. The glossary defines each term, and the limits page lists where these numbers are known to be wrong about the world.

Anticipation

How capable is the country of identifying and preparing for emerging change?

+10.2 over 10 years, from 11.5 in 2016 to 21.7 on 2 indicators seen in both years.

Trends use fewer indicators than the current score and use today's frame. A longer span reaches further back.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Scientific articles

Scientific and technical journal articles published, per million people.

Measured in articles per million people; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IP.JRN.ARTC.SC), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
6727.91articles per million people
Year
2023. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Scientific articles

Scientific and technical journal articles published, per million people.

Measured in articles per million people; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IP.JRN.ARTC.SC), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IP.JRN.ARTC.SC)
History

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Statistical performance

World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators overall score for the national statistical system.

Measured in index 0-100; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IQ.SPI.OVRL), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
61.749index 0-100
Year
2024. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Statistical performance

World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators overall score for the national statistical system.

Measured in index 0-100; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IQ.SPI.OVRL), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IQ.SPI.OVRL)
History

Government foresight capacity

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no dataindex 0-100
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
none
History
no data

Note: No comparable international dataset. OECD and UN work is descriptive, not scored. Envisioning would have to build this.

Long-horizon research commitments

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% of new grants
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
none
History
no data

Note: Redefined 2026-10-02 (D152). The row asked for the share of R&D spending classed as basic research, which is the make-up of a spending stock, the construct D142 retired business R&D share for. OECD MSTI publishes that share for its members only, and UNESCO UIS no longer serves R&D by type of research (construct audit, 2026-10-02). The behaviour behind it is a funder committing to a horizon: a grant awarded for five years or more is a decision to wait for a result. Untried: no memo has triaged a grant register. National funders publish award lists one by one with their own durations, and commercial grant aggregators fail the inspectability rule. Wireable on a grant-level register with award and end dates, on one definition of a competitive public grant, for half the frame or more.

Conditions, not scored

What the country has to work with on this capability. The values are shown as the source published them and are not part of the score, the confidence or the trend. The rank counts the countries with a value, best first.

  • R&D expenditureWorld Bank (GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS), 2017

    0.27 % of GDP, rank 80 of 118. Gross domestic expenditure on research and development as a share of GDP.

    A condition, not scored: money committed to research is what a country spends, and spending it does not show the country reads the future well (D122).

  • Researchers in R&DWorld Bank (SP.POP.SCIE.RD.P6), 2017

    89 per million people, rank 89 of 114. Full-time-equivalent researchers per million people.

    A condition, not scored: a standing stock of people who could investigate is what a country has, not a record of what they found (D122). Correlates with income but survives size normalization.

  • Secure internet serversWorld Bank (IT.NET.SECR.P6), 2024

    23.7 per million people, rank 116 of 125. Servers using encryption in internet transactions, per million people.

    A condition, not scored: a diffusion stock of digital adoption that money buys, not an act of anticipation (D122). Spans four orders of magnitude, so its rank is read on the published value and its correlations on the logged one.

Panel estimate, round 2, how this layer works

  • 28.0 institutionalist@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.40

    I hold at 28: the PSNP with drought-triggered scale-up and the planning tradition are institutional anticipation beyond the research count, as all panelists agree. Civil war since 2020 and the 2023 debt default show the planning system did not prepare for its largest risks.

  • 29.0 bottom_up@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.40

    The PSNP with drought-triggered scale-up and multi-decade developmental planning are real anticipatory systems built with little money, which all three panelists credit. Civil wars since 2020 and famine response gaps show the limits, so I hold close to 30.

  • 28.0 wealth_sceptic@claude-sonnet-5-5, self-confidence 0.35

    The drought-triggered safety net and early-warning links are conversion with little money, which income-linked rows miss. War and the debt default show limits, so I sit in the panel's range.

Agency

How able are individuals and organizations to turn an intention into action?

No trend is shown because too few indicators have values at both ends. The rows below still show the available history.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

New business density

New limited liability companies registered per 1,000 working-age people.

Measured in per 1,000 aged 15-64; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IC.BUS.NDNS.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
0.607per 1,000 aged 15-64
Year
2024. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

New business density

New limited liability companies registered per 1,000 working-age people.

Measured in per 1,000 aged 15-64; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IC.BUS.NDNS.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IC.BUS.NDNS.ZS)
History

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Time to start a business

Calendar days to complete company registration procedures.

Measured in days; lower is better. Source: World Bank (IC.REG.DURS.MA.DY), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
32days
Year
2019. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Time to start a business

Calendar days to complete company registration procedures.

Measured in days; lower is better. Source: World Bank (IC.REG.DURS.MA.DY), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IC.REG.DURS.MA.DY)
History

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Procedures to start a business

Number of separate official procedures to register a company.

Measured in count; lower is better. Source: World Bank (IC.REG.PROC.MA.NO), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
11count
Year
2019. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Procedures to start a business

Number of separate official procedures to register a company.

Measured in count; lower is better. Source: World Bank (IC.REG.PROC.MA.NO), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IC.REG.PROC.MA.NO)
History

Adults doing digital tasks

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% of adults
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
ITU / UNESCO UIS (SDG 4.4.1, ICT skills by type)
History
no data

Note: Redefined 2026-10-02 (D152). The row asked whether adults can perform standard digital tasks, which reads a skill level, the kind of stock D122 moved out of the scores with internet users. It now counts the act: a person who did the task. It is not the internet users condition beside it, which counts access. Candidate: ITU ICT skills by type (SDG 4.4.1) through the UNESCO UIS API, probed 2026-10-02. Sent a message with an attached file reaches 33 of the 53 countries then in the frame, 25 at 2018 or later, with no United States, India or China and most of Africa and Central America missing; two other task items reach 31 and 16. The items are self-reported and the task list has changed between rounds. Wireable on one task observed for half the frame or more at 2018 or later.

perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.

Perceived control over life

Self-reported freedom of choice and control over the course of oneโ€™s life.

Measured in mean 1-10; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A173), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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perception proxyobserved
Raw value
7.5mean 1-10
Year
2022. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.

Perceived control over life

Self-reported freedom of choice and control over the course of oneโ€™s life.

Measured in mean 1-10; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A173), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
Joint EVS/WVS (A173)
History
one year

Conditions, not scored

What the country has to work with on this capability. The values are shown as the source published them and are not part of the score, the confidence or the trend. The rank counts the countries with a value, best first.

  • Individuals using the internetWorld Bank (IT.NET.USER.ZS), 2024

    21.9 % of population, rank 116 of 125. Share of the population that used the internet in the last three months.

    A condition, not scored: access to the basic tool of modern agency is what people have to act with, not a record of them acting (D122). Saturates near 95%, which compresses the top of the range.

  • Financial account ownershipWorld Bank (FX.OWN.TOTL.ZS), 2024

    48.8 % aged 15+, rank 99 of 122. Adults with an account at a bank or mobile money provider.

    A condition, not scored: holding an account is the precondition for almost any economic action, not the action (D122). Global Findex, published every three years.

  • Credit to the private sectorWorld Bank (FS.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS), 2008

    17.7 % of GDP, rank 103 of 124. Domestic credit provided to the private sector by financial corporations.

    The value is from 2008, more than 15 years old.

    A condition, not scored: financial depth is a stock of money available to actors, not what they do with it (D122). High values can also signal a credit bubble, so more is not always better.

Coordination

How effectively can independent actors organize around shared objectives?

No trend is shown because too few indicators have values at both ends. The rows below still show the available history.

Government effectiveness

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataz-score -2.5 to 2.5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (GOV_WGI_GE.EST)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. The WGI aggregate the opinions of experts and firms, and in this set the four WGI series correlate with each other between 0.93 and 0.98 while correlating with log GDP per capita at 0.91. That is one perception of national wealth counted in three dimensions. Cross-agency delivery records are the replacement and they are a declared gap. See D23 and A4.

Regulatory quality

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataz-score -2.5 to 2.5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (GOV_WGI_RQ.EST)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. Same measurement as government effectiveness, filed under a different name, correlating with it above 0.93. See D23 and A4.

Logistics performance

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataindex 1-5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (LP.LPI.OVRL.XQ)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. The LPI is a survey of international freight forwarders, so it records how a country looks to global logistics firms. A small country with a small port scores low whatever its state can organise, which is artefact A9. Container throughput and border time are observable and stay. See D23.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Border compliance time to export

Hours to complete customs and border compliance for a standard export shipment.

Measured in hours; lower is better. Source: World Bank (TRD.ACRS.BRDR.EXPT.BRDR.COMP.HR.DB1619), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
50.913hours
Year
2019. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Border compliance time to export

Hours to complete customs and border compliance for a standard export shipment.

Measured in hours; lower is better. Source: World Bank (TRD.ACRS.BRDR.EXPT.BRDR.COMP.HR.DB1619), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (TRD.ACRS.BRDR.EXPT.BRDR.COMP.HR.DB1619)
History

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Budget execution fidelity

Distance between primary government expenditure and the original approved budget.

Measured in percentage points from approved budget; lower is better. Source: World Bank (GF.XPD.BUDG.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
99.436percentage points from approved budget
Year
2024. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Budget execution fidelity

Distance between primary government expenditure and the original approved budget.

Measured in percentage points from approved budget; lower is better. Source: World Bank (GF.XPD.BUDG.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (GF.XPD.BUDG.ZS)
History

University-industry collaboration

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no dataindex 0-100
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
Global Innovation Index
History
no data

Note: GII carries it, but the underlying item is a WEF executive opinion survey whose microdata is not inspectable. Excluded on principle 4.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Civil society strength

Autonomy, density and participatory reach of civil society organisations.

Measured in index 0-1; higher is better. Source: V-Dem (v2x_cspart), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
0.629index 0-1
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Civil society strength

Autonomy, density and participatory reach of civil society organisations.

Measured in index 0-1; higher is better. Source: V-Dem (v2x_cspart), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
V-Dem (v2x_cspart)
History
one year

Public-private collaboration

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no dataindex 0-100
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
none
History
no data

Note: No comparable dataset. PPP investment databases measure infrastructure finance, not collaboration capacity.

Behavioral check, not scored

Each number below is published beside the score and stays out of it. It is not in the frame, the average, the indicator count or the confidence.

  • Customs clearance time for exportsWorld Bank (IC.CUS.DURS.EX), 2025

    4.22 days, lower is better. Average number of days to clear direct exports through customs, as reported by manufacturing firms that export directly, in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys.

    Days a manufacturer that exports directly says its goods took to clear customs, from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. It is the time the border took on firms' own shipments, current where the Doing Business border time this capability scores is frozen at 2019. It is not scored for two reasons. The number of firms behind each country's figure is published only in the survey microdata, and on a proxy from the published tables 37 of the 53 countries in the frame when it was checked clear 30 exporting firms; Mexico, the Philippines, Israel and nine others may not. And the question changed: surveys fielded from 2024 also ask how long release took across all border agencies, and drop an answer where customs alone took longer, so a country surveyed on both sides of the change can move severalfold with nothing at its border changing. India reads 17.3 days in 2022 and 2.5 in 2025, on more than 9,000 firms each time. No country in the frame has two surveys on the new questionnaire yet. Income is not why it is left out: it barely tracks log GDP per capita.

Trust

How much cooperation is possible beyond immediate personal networks?

No trend is shown because too few indicators have values at both ends. The rows below still show the available history.

Rule of law

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataz-score -2.5 to 2.5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (GOV_WGI_RL.EST)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. A WGI perception composite correlating with control of corruption above 0.95 and with log GDP per capita at 0.83. Court throughput and case clearance rates are the observable replacement and are a declared gap. See D23 and A4.

Control of corruption

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataz-score -2.5 to 2.5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (GOV_WGI_CC.EST)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. A WGI perception composite. It measures reputation for corruption, which is not the same thing as corruption, and it tracks income closely. Prosecution and audit records are the observable replacement and are a declared gap. See D23 and A4.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Time to enforce a contract

Calendar days from filing a commercial claim to payment.

Measured in days; lower is better. Source: World Bank (ENF.CONT.DURS.DY), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
530days
Year
2019. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Time to enforce a contract

Calendar days from filing a commercial claim to payment.

Measured in days; lower is better. Source: World Bank (ENF.CONT.DURS.DY), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (ENF.CONT.DURS.DY)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Bribery incidence

Firms asked for at least one bribe payment across six public transactions covering utilities, permits, licences and taxes.

Measured in % of firms; lower is better. Source: World Bank (IC.FRM.BRIB.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
17.678% of firms
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Bribery incidence

Firms asked for at least one bribe payment across six public transactions covering utilities, permits, licences and taxes.

Measured in % of firms; lower is better. Source: World Bank (IC.FRM.BRIB.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IC.FRM.BRIB.ZS)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Government compliance with the courts

How often the government complies with important decisions of the ordinary and specialised courts that it disagrees with.

Measured in scale 0-4 (never to always); higher is better. Source: V-Dem (v2jucomp_osp), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
1.457scale 0-4 (never to always)
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Government compliance with the courts

How often the government complies with important decisions of the ordinary and specialised courts that it disagrees with.

Measured in scale 0-4 (never to always); higher is better. Source: V-Dem (v2jucomp_osp), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
V-Dem (v2jucomp_osp)
History
one year

Intentional homicide rate

downstream outcomeretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataper 100,000 people
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (VC.IHR.PSRC.P5)
History
no data

Note: Added 2026-08-26 by D23 as the observable replacement for two retired WGI perception composites, and retired 2026-08-27 by D44 when the diagnostic built in D42 measured what it was doing. It raised this dimension's correlation with log GDP per capita by 0.288, from 0.096 to 0.385, the largest single wealth contribution anywhere in the model. It was added to fix wealth contamination and it was the wealth contamination. The dataset is sound and the objection is to what it measures here: homicide is driven heavily by organised crime, a society can be physically safe while trusting very little, and across this country set the variation it carries is mostly income. Behavioural trust measures remain a gap.

perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.

Generalised interpersonal trust

Share agreeing that most people can be trusted.

Measured in % agreeing; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A165), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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perception proxyobserved
Raw value
11.9% agreeing
Year
2022. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.

Generalised interpersonal trust

Share agreeing that most people can be trusted.

Measured in % agreeing; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A165), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
Joint EVS/WVS (A165)
History
one year

Trust in public institutions

perception proxyno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% expressing confidence
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
OECD Trust Survey / WVS
History
no data

Note: The OECD survey covers members only. Mixing it with WVS items for India and South Africa would break comparability. The Joint EVS/WVS confidence battery (E069) reaches 37 countries from one release, and confidence in the courts (E069_17) is published beside Trust as a check under this id rather than scored: every item of the battery tested (courts, civil service, police, parliament and government) reads higher in the closed and electoral autocracies of the frame than in its democracies, which is deference as much as confidence (A13). The gap stays open for a measure that does not reward a court that cannot rule against the state. See D132.

perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.

Cooperation beyond the in-group

Share of adults who trust people they meet for the first time completely or somewhat.

Measured in % expressing trust; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (G007_34_B), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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perception proxyobserved
Raw value
47.8% expressing trust
Year
2022. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.

Cooperation beyond the in-group

Share of adults who trust people they meet for the first time completely or somewhat.

Measured in % expressing trust; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (G007_34_B), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
Joint EVS/WVS (G007_34_B)
History
one year

Court case clearance rate

downstream outcomeno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% of incoming cases
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
CEPEJ / OECD / national court statistics
History
no data

Note: Whether a court finishes what it starts, counted from case records rather than asked in a survey. D23 named it as the observable replacement for the two retired WGI composites and it has stayed unfilled since. CEPEJ publishes it for Council of Europe members and OECD for its own members, so no single publisher reaches this country set, and a harmonised series needs the project second source adapter. See D57.

Behavioral check, not scored

Each number below is published beside the score and stays out of it. It is not in the frame, the average, the indicator count or the confidence.

  • Confidence in the courtsJoint EVS/WVS (E069_17), 2022

    21.3 % a great deal, higher is better. Share of survey respondents saying they have a great deal of confidence in the justice system and courts, of the four answers a great deal, quite a lot, not very much and none at all, in the Joint EVS/WVS 2017 to 2022 survey round.

    Confidence in the courts is the public half of what this capability asks: whether people expect the rules to be enforced when a stranger breaks them. It is not scored because the survey answer reads two things the number cannot tell apart. Where courts are independent, confidence is a judgment of how they perform. Where they answer to the state, it is also deference, and saying otherwise to an interviewer has a cost. In this frame the pattern runs the wrong way. India, the Philippines and Indonesia, all electoral autocracies in the V-Dem 2025 classification, lead on the share saying a great deal, and Vietnam and China, the two closed autocracies surveyed, lead once quite a lot is counted too. The ten electoral autocracies average 21.8 percent saying a great deal and the two closed autocracies 28.1, against 13.6 for liberal and 8.4 for electoral democracies. Scored, it would rank highest the states whose courts are least able to rule against them. Income is not why it is left out: the share correlates about -0.18 with log GDP per capita. The value is the share saying a great deal; the share saying quite a lot is in the source note.

Learning

How effectively does the country acquire, distribute, and update knowledge?

No trend is shown because too few indicators have values at both ends. The rows below still show the available history.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Human Capital Index

Expected productivity of a child born today relative to full health and complete education.

Measured in index 0-1; higher is better. Source: World Bank (HD.HCI.OVRL), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
0.383index 0-1
Year
2020. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Human Capital Index

Expected productivity of a child born today relative to full health and complete education.

Measured in index 0-1; higher is better. Source: World Bank (HD.HCI.OVRL), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (HD.HCI.OVRL)
History

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Firms offering formal training

Share of firms that provide formal training to permanent employees.

Measured in % of firms; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IC.FRM.TRNG.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
8.839% of firms
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Firms offering formal training

Share of firms that provide formal training to permanent employees.

Measured in % of firms; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IC.FRM.TRNG.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IC.FRM.TRNG.ZS)
History

Adult learning participation

direct capability measureno dataset exists, 1 record
Raw value
no data% of adults
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
Eurostat / OECD PIAAC
History
no data

Note: The best available measure of continuous learning capacity, and it exists only for European and OECD members.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Research citation impact

Share of a country's articles and reviews that are in the top 10% most cited for their subfield and year, as a ratio to the same share across all country-affiliated works.

Measured in ratio to world average; higher is better. Source: OpenAlex (citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_10_percent), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
1.224ratio to world average
Year
2021. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Research citation impact

Share of a country's articles and reviews that are in the top 10% most cited for their subfield and year, as a ratio to the same share across all country-affiliated works.

Measured in ratio to world average; higher is better. Source: OpenAlex (citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_10_percent), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
OpenAlex (citation_normalized_percentile.is_in_top_10_percent)
History
one year

Conditions, not scored

What the country has to work with on this capability. The values are shown as the source published them and are not part of the score, the confidence or the trend. The rank counts the countries with a value, best first.

  • Tertiary enrolmentWorld Bank (SE.TER.ENRR), 2014

    5.9 % gross, rank 116 of 124. Gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education.

    A condition, not scored: enrolment counts people in formal education and records nothing learned (D122).

  • Public education expenditureWorld Bank (SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS), 2024

    2.3 % of GDP, rank 110 of 125. Government expenditure on education as a share of GDP.

    A condition, not scored: public spending on education is a pure input, and learning is what the dimension asks about (D122).

  • Vocational share of secondaryWorld Bank (SE.SEC.ENRL.VO.ZS), 2015

    7 % of secondary, rank 86 of 125. Vocational pupils as a share of total secondary enrolment.

    A condition, not scored: the share of secondary pupils on a vocational track describes how a school system is built, not what anyone learns in it, and higher is not unambiguously better (D141). It marks a route into skilled work that does not run through university. Learning reads research citation impact, firm training and the human capital index instead.

Evidence for missing indicators

Each record describes a case the indicators above cannot see. It does not affect the score or confidence because one case is not comparable across countries. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.

  • Ethiopialinked to Adult learning participationstarted 2010operating below its peak

    Integrated Functional Adult Education, and its erosion

    Ethiopia's Ministry of Education rolled out Integrated Functional Adult Education nationally from 2010/11 and enrolled 6,903,065 adults in 2015/16, but its successor Adult Basic Education Program enrolled 1,392,635 adults in 2024/25, about a fifth of the peak.

    1,392,635 adults, adults enrolled in the adult basic education program, 2024/25. 6,903,065 adults, adults enrolled in integrated functional adult education at the 2015/16 peak, 2015/16. Federal Ministry of Education of Ethiopia, EMIS and ICT Executive Office, Education Statistics Annual Abstract 2024/25 (2017 E.C.), retrieved 2026-10-01.

    How it worked: The Ministry of Education built a national adult literacy programme run through regional education bureaus and community learning centres, then let enrolment fall by most of its peak as the programme was restructured and conflict removed whole regions from reporting.

    Limits: The 2024/25 count excludes Amhara and Tigray, which reported nothing because of conflict, and Amhara alone held 43 percent of IFAE enrolment in 2015/16; removing Amhara and Tigray, both absent in 2024/25, from the 2015/16 peak still leaves 3,450,597 against 1,392,635 (2,038,631 with Education Light), a figure we computed from Table 6.2 of the 2015/16 abstract and the ministry does not publish. The two numbers are not one series: the two-year IFAE became a one-year Adult Basic Education programme, and the 2024/25 abstract reports a separate Education Light/Torch track of 645,996 adults, so total adult enrolment that year was 2,038,631. All figures are administrative enrolment reported by regional bureaus to the ministry, with no attendance, completion quality or literacy outcome attached, and enrolment is not the construct's share of adults in education and training. The 2024/25 abstract has no stable PDF URL: it downloads from a button on the ministry's annual abstract page, so a checker must download it there and read PDF pages 63 to 64, printed pages 54 to 55 (sections 5.2 and 5.3, Table 5.1). The 2015/16 figure comes from a separate abstract PDF. The 2024/25 abstract also reports that 13,015,641 adults completed or graduated from IFAL/ABE between 2016/17 and 2024/25, so a shrinking pool of illiterate adults is a competing explanation for part of the fall.

Experimentation

How easily can new approaches be attempted, tested, abandoned, and improved?

No trend is shown because too few indicators have values at both ends. The rows below still show the available history.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Resident patent applications

Patent applications filed by residents, per million people.

Measured in per million people; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IP.PAT.RESD), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
6per million people
Year
2020. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Resident patent applications

Patent applications filed by residents, per million people.

Measured in per million people; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IP.PAT.RESD), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IP.PAT.RESD)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Resident trademark applications

Direct trademark applications by residents, per million people.

Measured in per million people; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IP.TMK.RSCT), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
1428per million people
Year
2021. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Resident trademark applications

Direct trademark applications by residents, per million people.

Measured in per million people; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IP.TMK.RSCT), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IP.TMK.RSCT)
History

Resident industrial design applications

downstream outcomeset aside, older than 15 years
Raw value
no dataper million people
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (IP.IDS.RSCT)
History

The latest value, 220 per million people in 2007, is more than 15 years old. It does not count toward the score, the scale or the coverage, and it stays in the history.

Note: A filed design is a registered attempt at a new product form: cheaper and more frequent than a patent, so it reads as many small experiments (D126). Three traps. China subsidised design filings, as it did patents, so its count runs ahead of the attempts behind it. EU applicants increasingly file at the EUIPO rather than nationally, and resident counts at a national office miss those filings, so EU members read low. The Netherlands has no series because designs there go to the Benelux office. Read it beside resident trademarks, which it partly duplicates.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

New public software repositories

Growth over one year in the public GitHub repositories located in the country, per million people.

Measured in per million people; higher is better. Source: GitHub Innovation Graph (data/repositories.csv), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
181747per million people
Year
2026. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

New public software repositories

Growth over one year in the public GitHub repositories located in the country, per million people.

Measured in per million people; higher is better. Source: GitHub Innovation Graph (data/repositories.csv), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
GitHub Innovation Graph (data/repositories.csv)
History
no data

Venture deals

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no dataper million people
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
OECD / national VC associations
History
no data

Note: Redefined 2026-10-02 (D152). The id keeps its first name so evidence records, links and published files still resolve. The row asked for venture capital deployed as a share of GDP, a level of financial depth of the kind private credit is (D122). A count of first rounds counts attempts started with outside risk money, which is what this capability asks about, and a large round counts once. Candidates, none wireable: the OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Financing scoreboard carried venture capital for 6 of the 16 countries the frame held on 2026-08-26, as amounts in national currency, latest year 2022, with Brazil, India, South Africa and Singapore absent (D21); national venture capital associations publish counts on their own definitions; commercial deal databases cover the world and are not inspectable (D10). Wireable on an inspectable deal count with one definition of a first round for half the frame or more. Read A1 before treating this dimension as measured.

Early-stage entrepreneurial activity

direct capability measuremissing
Raw value
no data% aged 18-64
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, TEA rate)
History
no data

Note: From the GEM Adult Population Survey, entered by hand because GEM has no open API. TEA counts every new business, so necessity self-employment scores the same as a funded startup, which is why Chile and Argentina sit above the United States here. Read it as how many people are trying, not as how much value the attempts create. GEM does not run every economy every year: Singapore last took part in 2014 and the recency term marks that value down hard.

Tolerance of entrepreneurial failure

perception proxymissing
Raw value
no data% not deterred
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, fear of failure rate)
History
no data

Note: Stored as 100 minus the published GEM fear of failure rate, so the direction matches the rest of the registry. GEM measures that rate among adults who already see good opportunities, not among all adults, so the denominator differs from the label. Attitudinal: bankruptcy law and time to discharge would be the observable substitute and are still worth wiring beside it.

Firms through regulatory sandboxes

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no datafirms per million people
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
national regulators
History
no data

Note: Redefined 2026-10-02 (D152). The row asked for the number and breadth of live sandboxes, which is a policy stock: a regime can exist with nobody in it. It now counts what passes through: firms a regulator let test under relaxed rules, and firms that came out, authorised, withdrawn or failed. Regulators publish cohort lists and exit reports one by one. The evidence corpus holds 22 records against this row, most of them counts of firms admitted or exited, each on the definition and window of its own regulator, and no register assembles them on one definition (O1 triage sweep, 2026-10-01). A realistic candidate for Envisioning to build from those lists. Wireable on a register that counts admissions and completions on one definition for half the frame or more.

University spinouts

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no dataper million people
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
national TTO associations
History
no data

Note: Reported nationally with incompatible definitions of what counts as a spinout.

Business share of R&D

capability inputretired, see notes
Raw value
no data% of R&D
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
OECD MSTI / RICYT
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-10-02. The only working source, OECD MSTI joined with RICYT for Latin America, covers 34 of the 53 countries then in the frame, but the row reads the make-up of a spending stock: who performs the R&D a country pays for. R&D spending itself is a condition since D122, and the share is high both where business research is large (Israel) and where total research is tiny and one firm dominates it (Thailand). State enterprises count as business, so China and Vietnam read their ownership model. UIS stopped publishing the series in 2023. Firms trying new things are read through patents, trademarks, designs and entrepreneurship instead. See D142.

Adaptability

How effectively can the system respond when circumstances change?

No trend is shown because too few indicators have values at both ends. The rows below still show the available history.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Unemployment rate

Unemployed as a share of the labour force, modelled ILO estimate.

Measured in % of labour force; lower is better. Source: World Bank (SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
3.323% of labour force
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Unemployment rate

Unemployed as a share of the labour force, modelled ILO estimate.

Measured in % of labour force; lower is better. Source: World Bank (SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Long-term unemployment share

Unemployed for 12 months or more, as a share of total unemployment.

Measured in % of unemployed; lower is better. Source: ILOSTAT (DF_UNE_TUNE_SEX_AGE_DUR_NB), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
53.9% of unemployed
Year
2013. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Long-term unemployment share

Unemployed for 12 months or more, as a share of total unemployment.

Measured in % of unemployed; lower is better. Source: ILOSTAT (DF_UNE_TUNE_SEX_AGE_DUR_NB), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
ILOSTAT (DF_UNE_TUNE_SEX_AGE_DUR_NB)
History
one year

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Export diversification

Concentration of the merchandise export basket across products: the normalised Herfindahl-Hirschman index over SITC Rev.3 3-digit lines, 0 when exports are spread evenly and 1 when one product is everything.

Measured in index 0-1, lower = more diversified; lower is better. Source: UNCTAD (US.ConcentDiversIndices), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
0.434index 0-1, lower = more diversified
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Export diversification

Concentration of the merchandise export basket across products: the normalised Herfindahl-Hirschman index over SITC Rev.3 3-digit lines, 0 when exports are spread evenly and 1 when one product is everything.

Measured in index 0-1, lower = more diversified; lower is better. Source: UNCTAD (US.ConcentDiversIndices), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
UNCTAD (US.ConcentDiversIndices)
History
one year

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

New export products

Share of the products a country did not export competitively in 2009-2011 that it exported competitively in 2022-2024.

Measured in % of products not exported competitively at the start; higher is better. Source: Harvard Growth Lab (hs92_country_product_year_4.csv (doi:10.7910/DVN/T4CHWJ)), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
2.37% of products not exported competitively at the start
Year
2024. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

New export products

Share of the products a country did not export competitively in 2009-2011 that it exported competitively in 2022-2024.

Measured in % of products not exported competitively at the start; higher is better. Source: Harvard Growth Lab (hs92_country_product_year_4.csv (doi:10.7910/DVN/T4CHWJ)), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
Harvard Growth Lab (hs92_country_product_year_4.csv (doi:10.7910/DVN/T4CHWJ))
History
one year

Disaster preparedness and recovery

direct capability measureno dataset exists, 1 record
Raw value
no dataindex 0-100
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
INFORM / UNDRR
History
no data

Note: No source observes a country preparing for or recovering from a real shock. INFORM publishes its lack of coping capacity apart from hazard and exposure, but that dimension averages government self-assessments and governance perception indices with stocks such as roads, phones and physicians, which is the perception layer D23 retired plus conditions money buys (D122). Sendai and WHO reporting are governments grading themselves. A warning-reach survey item is a check candidate. See the disaster preparedness memo.

Institutional responsiveness

direct capability measureno dataset exists, 1 record
Raw value
no dataindex 0-100
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
none
History
no data

Note: No dataset exists. Measurable in principle from legislative and regulatory timestamps, which no one has assembled comparably.

Conditions, not scored

What the country has to work with on this capability. The values are shown as the source published them and are not part of the score, the confidence or the trend. The rank counts the countries with a value, best first.

  • Labour force participationWorld Bank (SL.TLF.ACTI.ZS), 2025

    69.9 % aged 15+, rank 68 of 125. Share of the working-age population in the labour force.

    A condition, not scored: how much of the population is in the labor force at all is what a country has to reallocate, a level set by norms, schooling and age, not a record of it reallocating (D141). Participation norms confound it, especially for India. Adaptability reads reallocation through long-term unemployment and export diversification instead.

  • Fixed broadband subscriptionsWorld Bank (IT.NET.BBND.P2), 2024

    0.59 per 100 people, rank 109 of 125. Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people.

    A condition, not scored: installed infrastructure is what a country has to change with, not a record of it changing (D122). Penalizes mobile-first countries such as India and South Africa.

  • Electricity transmission lossesWorld Bank (EG.ELC.LOSS.ZS), 2023

    20.7 % of output, rank 106 of 117. Power lost in transmission and distribution, including unbilled use.

    A condition, not scored: the state of the grid, and whether its operator can bill what it delivers, is infrastructure a country has to change with, not a record of it changing (D141). Read it beside broadband, the other installed network beside Adaptability.

  • Informal employmentILOSTAT (DF_SDG_0831_SEX_ECO_RT), 2021

    77.7 % of employment, rank 70 of 102. Informal employment as a share of total employment, SDG indicator 8.3.1.

    A condition, not scored: how much work carries no contract, registration or social protection describes the labor market a country reallocates through, not it reallocating (D150). Read it beside the unemployment rate: where most work is informal, a person who loses a job takes any work within weeks, so a low rate is not a fluid market. Its direction for Adaptability cannot be defended, since informal work is both the slack that absorbs a shock and the precarity that keeps a worker from moving up, so the rank orders values and is not a verdict. Comparability is weak: the European values come from an income survey (EU-SILC) with a proxy definition, and the rest from labor force or household surveys processed by the ILO. ILOSTAT has no value for the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Malaysia, China, the Philippines or Cuba, and some values are old (Haiti and Nicaragua 2012).

Evidence for missing indicators

Each record describes a case the indicators above cannot see. It does not affect the score or confidence because one case is not comparable across countries. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.

  • Ethiopialinked to Disaster preparedness and recoverystarted 2005still operating

    Productive Safety Net Programme for drought resilience

    Ethiopia's government-run Productive Safety Net Programme reached about 8 million people, while 6.8 million received short-term employment in public-works activities that support household income and community resilience.

    8,000,000 people, people benefiting from the productive safety net programme, 2026-02-28. 6,800,000 people, people receiving short-term public-works employment, 2026-02-28. World Bank Group, Ethiopia country programme overview, retrieved 2026-08-31.

    How it worked: Ethiopia made drought support predictable through a national safety-net platform that combines transfers for labour-poor households with public works and can scale assistance when shocks arrive. The programme links immediate consumption protection to land, water and community assets rather than treating relief as a one-off distribution.

    Limits: Beneficiary and public-works counts show administrative reach, not whether transfers arrive on time, food security improves, assets survive drought or households graduate from support. The World Bank summary describes a government programme supported by development partners and does not replace an independent impact evaluation or a complete account of conflict-affected regions.

  • Ethiopialinked to Institutional responsivenessstarted 2024still operating

    Floating the birr, July 2024

    The National Bank of Ethiopia floated the birr on 29 July 2024, and by 20 September the former official rate had moved from 57.8 to an indicative 119.2 birr per US dollar while the parallel-market spread over it fell from 96 percent to around 5 percent.

    5 %, parallel-market spread over the nbe indicative rate (around), 2024-09-20. 96 %, parallel-market spread over the official rate before the float, 2024-07-26. International Monetary Fund, Country Report No. 24/318, Ethiopia: First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, staff report, retrieved 2026-10-02.

    How it worked: The central bank replaced an administered exchange rate with a market-determined one in a single directive, moved FX surrender from itself to commercial banks and lifted import bans and controls at the same time, while tight monetary policy held the new rate near the old parallel rate.

    Limits: The numbers are in paragraph 6 of the staff report ('moving from 57.8 birr per US dollar on July 26 to an indicative rate of 119.2 on September 20 ... The parallel market spread to the indicative rate collapsed from 96 percent to around 5 percent over the same period'); the eLibrary HTML has no page numbers. The 5 is approximate as published. What responded fast was the rule change once decided, not the decision: the report estimates the overvaluation at 52 percent in 2022/23, so the distortion was years old, and the float was a prior action for the IMF arrangement approved on 29 July 2024, while Ethiopia was seeking a debt restructuring, with calls to Eurobond holders held from December 2023. Responsiveness here is a government acting under financing pressure and external conditionality, not on its own timetable. The same paragraph says FX liquidity stayed limited and the interbank market inactive, and the second review (Country Report 25/027) records the premium widening to a peak of 16 percent on 22 October 2024 before falling back to single digits. The IMF is a party to the programme and its staff assessment is not an independent evaluation; the costs of the depreciation (inflation pass-through, the burden on importers and households) are not shown by this number.

Building

How capable is the country of turning plans and knowledge into functioning systems?

-3.1 over 10 years, from 8.3 in 2016 to 5.2 on 3 indicators seen in both years.

Trends use fewer indicators than the current score and use today's frame. A longer span reaches further back.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Manufacturing value added

Manufacturing value added as a share of GDP.

Measured in % of GDP; higher is better. Source: World Bank (NV.IND.MANF.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
4.202% of GDP
Year
2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Manufacturing value added

Manufacturing value added as a share of GDP.

Measured in % of GDP; higher is better. Source: World Bank (NV.IND.MANF.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (NV.IND.MANF.ZS)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

High-technology exports

High-technology exports as a share of manufactured exports.

Measured in % of manufactured exports; higher is better. Source: World Bank (TX.VAL.TECH.MF.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
3.751% of manufactured exports
Year
2023. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

High-technology exports

High-technology exports as a share of manufactured exports.

Measured in % of manufactured exports; higher is better. Source: World Bank (TX.VAL.TECH.MF.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (TX.VAL.TECH.MF.ZS)
History

Logistics infrastructure quality

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataindex 1-5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (LP.LPI.INFR.XQ)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. An LPI sub-index, so the same freight-forwarder survey as logistics performance and the same problem. Electricity connection speed stays as the observable infrastructure measure in this dimension. See D23.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Electricity connection speed

Doing Business score for the days a business waits for a permanent electricity connection.

Measured in score 0-100; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IC.ELC.TIME.DFRN), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
66.522score 0-100
Year
2019. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Electricity connection speed

Doing Business score for the days a business waits for a permanent electricity connection.

Measured in score 0-100; higher is better. Source: World Bank (IC.ELC.TIME.DFRN), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (IC.ELC.TIME.DFRN)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Economic fitness

Diversity and ubiquity-adjusted sophistication of the export basket.

Measured in index; higher is better. Source: World Bank (EF.EFM.UNIV.XD), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
0.033index
Year
2024. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Economic fitness

Diversity and ubiquity-adjusted sophistication of the export basket.

Measured in index; higher is better. Source: World Bank (EF.EFM.UNIV.XD), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (EF.EFM.UNIV.XD)
History

Large project delivery

direct capability measureno dataset exists, 1 record
Raw value
no data% overrun
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
none
History
no data

Note: The single best measure of execution capability and there is no comparable international dataset. Assembling one is a defensible Envisioning project. Building mixes industrial output with state delivery capacity, and this indicator carries the delivery side: the other six indicators cannot see a national programme that was delivered. Documented deliveries are recorded in data/evidence and never scored, see D20.

Firm scale-up rate

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% of firms
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
OECD DynEmp
History
no data

Note: OECD business dynamics work covers members irregularly. Nothing comparable for India, Brazil or South Africa.

Conditions, not scored

What the country has to work with on this capability. The values are shown as the source published them and are not part of the score, the confidence or the trend. The rank counts the countries with a value, best first.

  • Output per workerWorld Bank (SL.GDP.PCAP.EM.KD), 2025

    7,638 constant 2021 PPP $, rank 114 of 123. GDP per person employed, constant purchasing power parity.

    A condition, not scored: output per worker is income per worker, the wealth the benchmark tests capability against, so it is published beside Building as context (D122).

Evidence for missing indicators

Each record describes a case the indicators above cannot see. It does not affect the score or confidence because one case is not comparable across countries. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.

  • Ethiopialinked to Large project deliverystarted 2015delivered and closed

    Modjo-Hawassa expressway, World Bank-financed Lot 3

    The Ethiopian Roads Administration built the 57.4 km Batu/Zeway-Arsi Negele section (Lot 3) of the 202 km Modjo-Hawassa expressway under a project that became effective in 2015. The civil works were substantially complete by mid-2026, but only after cumulative extensions of 57 months to the project's closing date.

    57 months, cumulative extension of the project closing date, 2026-06. 57.4 km, expressway constructed on lot 3 (asphalt concrete completed), 2026-02-25. World Bank, Ethiopia Expressway Development Support Project (P148850), restructuring project paper, June 2026, retrieved 2026-10-01.

    How it worked: The Ethiopian Roads Administration split a 202 km toll expressway into lots with different financiers: Bank-financed, government-financed and Chinese EXIM-financed. It carried the World Bank lot through material shortages, contract suspensions and repeated restructurings until the civil works were done.

    Limits: This is one 57 km road section, not a national programme, and the schedule figure is a slip in the World Bank financing's closing date, not a construction schedule measured against a contractual completion date. The 57 months run from the original 31 December 2021 closing to 30 September 2026, and part of that time came before Lot 3 works began: the paper says phase 2 started about two years after phase 1. The World Bank documents name cost overruns from material price inflation but give no figure, and the financing was partly cancelled (about 105 million dollars cumulatively by June 2026, including 9.31 million on the additional-financing credit) and topped up with 37 million in additional financing, so no cost-performance number can be drawn from them. The status 'concluded' is provisional. The road had been provisionally taken over by the roads authority, but the documents tie public opening to installing tolling and transport systems, which were moved to another project, and no source seen here confirms the section is open to traffic. Lots 1 and 2 have been open since September 2021, while Lot 4 is financed by China EXIM Bank and is not covered. All figures are the World Bank's own supervision reporting on a project it finances.

Shared Purpose

To what extent can people imagine themselves as participants in a common project?

-1.2 over 10 years, from 44.8 in 2016 to 43.6 on 2 indicators seen in both years.

-8.9 over 20 years, from 52.5 in 2006 to 43.6 on 2 indicators seen in both years.

+11.4 over 30 years, from 32.2 in 1996 to 43.6 on 2 indicators seen in both years.

Trends use fewer indicators than the current score and use today's frame. A longer span reaches further back.

Voice and accountability

perception proxyretired, see notes
Raw value
no dataz-score -2.5 to 2.5
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
World Bank (GOV_WGI_VA.EST)
History
no data

Note: Retired 2026-08-26. Artefact A5: it measures the democratic channel while Shared Purpose asks whether people can see themselves in a common project. Singapore scored 20.9 while being one of the most effective collective actors in the set. Volunteering and civic participation are the observable replacements and are declared gaps; voter turnout is published beside Shared Purpose as a check, because it reads the same democratic channel and compulsory voting (D129). See D23 and A5.

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Tax revenue

Central government tax revenue as a share of GDP.

Measured in % of GDP; higher is better. Source: World Bank (GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
3.398% of GDP
Year
2024. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Tax revenue

Central government tax revenue as a share of GDP.

Measured in % of GDP; higher is better. Source: World Bank (GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS)
History

downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Income inequality

Gini index of disposable income.

Measured in Gini 0-100; lower is better. Source: World Bank (SI.POV.GINI), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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downstream outcomeobserved
Raw value
31.1Gini 0-100
Year
2021. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
downstream outcomeMeasures a result that usually follows from the capability.

Income inequality

Gini index of disposable income.

Measured in Gini 0-100; lower is better. Source: World Bank (SI.POV.GINI), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
World Bank (SI.POV.GINI)
History

Sense of national belonging

perception proxyno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% expressing belonging
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
Joint EVS/WVS (G006)
History
no data

Note: A declared gap again since 2026-10-02 (D151, which supersedes the retirement in D143). The project still wants to know whether people count themselves members of the community whose common project this capability asks about, so the row stays even though no series can fill it. The only cross-national item aimed at it, national pride (G006) in the Joint EVS/WVS, is not wired: pride is not belonging, and it fails the regime test of artefact A13, with electoral autocracies at 75 percent very proud against 47 in liberal democracies. ISSP 2023 asks about closeness to the country in 16 countries. Wireable on an item that reads the same in every regime class, or on a behaviour of belonging, for half the frame or more. High national pride must never be read as the capacity for collective action.

Volunteering

direct capability measureno dataset exists
Raw value
no data% of adults
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
Gallup World Poll / CAF
History
no data

Note: CAF publishes country figures but the underlying Gallup microdata is proprietary, so it fails the inspectability rule.

Political polarisation

perception proxyno dataset exists
Raw value
no dataindex 0-4
Year
no data
Normalized
no data
Source
V-Dem
History
no data

Note: V-Dem political polarization (v2cacamps) is published beside this dimension as a behavioral check and is not scored, because a regime with no organized opposition reads as calm (D121, A13). The gap stays open for a measure that can tell calm between competing camps from calm where no camp may compete. Pluralism is the target, so only hostile polarization should count against a country.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Civic participation

Share of adults who report belonging to a humanitarian or charitable organisation.

Measured in % mentioning; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A080_01), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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direct capability measureobserved
Raw value
19.5% mentioning
Year
2022. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized
direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.

Civic participation

Share of adults who report belonging to a humanitarian or charitable organisation.

Measured in % mentioning; higher is better. Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A080_01), also in the indicator registry. Each flag is a country at its normalized position from 0 to 100, where higher always means better. The bar in the list below shows the same position.

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Source
Joint EVS/WVS (A080_01)
History
one year

Behavioral check, not scored

Each number below is published beside the score and stays out of it. It is not in the frame, the average, the indicator count or the confidence.

  • Political polarizationV-Dem (v2cacamps_osp), 2025

    3.117 index 0-4, lower is better. Whether supporters of opposing political camps generally meet in a friendly or a hostile manner, rated by V-Dem country experts from 0, friendly, to 4, hostile.

    The question counts hostility and leaves disagreement alone, which is what pluralism asks for. It is not scored because a low reading has two causes the number cannot tell apart. Where camps compete openly, a calm reading means people who disagree still meet as fellow citizens. Where no opposition may organize, it means there is no camp left to be hostile to. In 2025 the five closed autocracies in the frame average 2.18 and the liberal democracies 1.67, while electoral democracies and electoral autocracies sit near 2.8 and 3.3. Scored, the reading would have lifted the United Arab Emirates about 11 points on this capability for a uniformity the benchmark does not count as shared purpose. Income is not why it is left out: richer countries read only somewhat calmer, at about -0.41 against log GDP per capita.

  • Voter turnoutV-Dem (v2eltrnout), 2021

    93.64 % of registered voters, higher is better. Share of registered voters who cast a vote in the latest national election up to 2025, according to official results, as coded by V-Dem from IDEA, IPU and IFES sources. Where executive and legislative elections fall on the same day, the executive turnout is coded.

    Turnout is the one act in which a whole population takes part in a common decision, so it is the closest behavioral reading of shared purpose the benchmark has. It is not scored for three reasons the number cannot separate. It reads the democratic channel, which is why voice and accountability was retired from this capability (A5): a country with no competitive elections cannot score well for reasons unrelated to whether its people see themselves in a common project. Compulsory voting turns it into a reading of the law: Brazil enforces it, and the eight countries that enforce sanctions average 83 percent against 65 where voting is voluntary. And closed and electoral autocracies manage it: Vietnam reads 95.6, Rwanda 98.2 and Singapore 92.8, which is mobilization, not participation (A13). The year shown is the latest national election, because elections are coded only in the year they happen.

Panel estimate, round 2, how this layer works

  • 27.0 institutionalist@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.30

    Panelist B's iddir and equb are durable, rule-governed associations that outlast their members, which my stance should credit, so I move up to 27. They operate below a national project fractured by wars in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia, and a very low tax take shows weak fiscal reach of the common project.

  • 32.0 bottom_up@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.30

    Iddir burial societies, equb savings groups and mass purchase of GERD bonds show grassroots collective action across the country, which is why I stay above A and C. Wars in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia since 2020 have fractured the national project more deeply than I weighted, so I come down three points.

  • 29.0 wealth_sceptic@claude-sonnet-5-5, self-confidence 0.30

    Iddir, equb and GERD bond mobilisation show real collective action capacity and civic participation reads at 50. But the tax row sits at 8, the Gini is probably flattering, and civil wars since 2020 fracture the national project.