Netherlands

Strongest usable evidence: Adaptability, at 82.1. Shared Purpose needs more evidence: confidence is 0.28.

Raise, lowest first

No low-scoring dimension has usable evidence.

Measure before managing

Measure before managing
Dimension	Confidence	Score
Shared Purpose	0.28	82.7
Trust	0.29	85.1
Experimentation	0.36	54.6
Agency	0.38	66.2
Coordination	0.39	93.2

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: Strong institutions, coordination and social trust.

Download this country as CSV

Anticipation76.1Confidence0.46usableHow capable is the country of identifying and preparing for emerging change?

NetherlandsCompare with

Read Netherlands 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.

Netherlands 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. Loading…	0.39	3 of 5	0.81	no trend	no data	no 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. Loading…	0.29	3 of 7	0.86	no trend	81.0	-4.1
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. Loading…	0.28	2 of 6	0.88	+7.7(2)	70.0	-12.7
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. Loading…	0.62	4 of 6	1.00	no trend	no data	no 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. Loading…	0.55	3 of 4	0.81	no trend	no data	no 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. Loading…	0.46	2 of 4	0.96	+9.0(2)	82.0	+5.9
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. Loading…	0.38	3 of 5	0.67	no trend	no data	no estimate
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. Loading…	0.57	4 of 6	0.90	-0.5(3)	no data	no 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. Loading…	0.36	4 of 9	0.94	no trend	no data	no 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?

+9.0 over 10 years, from 67.1 in 2016 to 76.1 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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observed

Raw value: 32207.08articles 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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observed

Raw value: 85.133index 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

no dataset exists, 1 record

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

no 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), 2023
2.3 % of GDP, rank 14 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), 2023
6,563 per million people, rank 8 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
198,682 per million people, rank 4 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.

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.

Netherlandslinked to Government foresight capacitystarted 2010still operating
The Delta Programme and its fund
The Netherlands legislated a standing programme against flooding and fresh-water shortage, run by an independent Delta Commissioner and paid from a dedicated Delta Fund that expects 27.4 billion euros to be available through 2050.
27,400,000,000 euros, delta fund resources available to 2050, 2025. Delta Programme Commissioner, Delta Fund, retrieved 2026-08-27.
How it worked: Parliament wrote the Delta Act: a permanent commissioner proposes a rolling programme each year, statutory safety standards make the work non-optional, and a ring-fenced fund keeps the money out of annual budget fights.
Limits: A budget is an input: the number shows money committed, not risk reduced, and the same page says 30.8 billion is needed, so the fund is currently short of its own task. Spending on water at this scale is also ordinary for the Netherlands, which has run such works for a century. What the record evidences is the institutional form, a legally required programme, commissioner and fund that outlive governments, not the size of the number.

Panel estimate, round 2, how this layer works

82.0 institutionalist@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.60
I hold 82, and the panel agrees closely. The Delta Programme with a statutory fund and the CPB and PBL bureaus embedded in budgeting are textbook institutional anticipation; the nitrogen and housing failures show foresight that did not become action.
82.0 bottom_up@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.60
The panel agrees within two points and I hold: the Delta Programme's century horizon and the CPB, PBL and SCP planning bureaus are institutionalised anticipation, tempered by the nitrogen and housing failures to act on foresight.
80.0 wealth_sceptic@claude-sonnet-5-5, self-confidence 0.50
The statutory Delta Programme and Fund with a century horizon, plus CPB and PBL forecasts built into policy, are conversion of resources into foresight beyond income. Nitrogen and housing show foresight not always becoming action, so I hold at 80.

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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observed

Raw value: 3.408per 1,000 aged 15-64
Year: 2022. 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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observed

Raw value: 3.5days
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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observed

Raw value: 4count
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

no 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.

Perceived control over life

missing

Raw value: no datamean 1-10
Year: no data
Normalized: no data
Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A173)
History: no data

Note: A perception: the publisher-weighted mean, on a 1 to 10 scale, of how much freedom of choice and control respondents feel they have over the way their life turns out, from the official Joint EVS/WVS 2017-2022 results table, release 5.0.0. It observes the felt capacity to act, not action. The table prints the mean to one decimal and no top-box share, so the row stores the mean and ties are common. Fieldwork years differ by up to six years: the 37 countries emitted were surveyed between 2017 (eight, the US among them) and 2023 (India), and every value is stamped with the release year 2022. Response style on 10-point scales differs across cultures, and a closed autocracy can read high: Vietnam and Nicaragua sit near the top of the frame. Countries with separate EVS and WVS samples (Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands) are held, as for interpersonal trust. See D127 and A15.

Conditions, not scored

Individuals using the internetWorld Bank (IT.NET.USER.ZS), 2024
97 % of population, rank 8 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
99.2 % aged 15+, rank 5 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), 2024
82.3 % of GDP, rank 24 of 124. Domestic credit provided to the private sector by financial corporations.
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

retired, 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

retired, 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

retired, 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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observed

Raw value: 0hours
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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observed

Raw value: 101.667percentage points from approved budget
Year: 2022. 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

no dataset exists, 1 record

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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observed

Raw value: 0.826index 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

no dataset exists, 5 records

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
2.397 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.

Evidence for missing indicators

Netherlandslinked to Public-private collaborationstarted 1950still operating
Social and Economic Council, the institutionalised polder bargain
The Netherlands established the Social and Economic Council (SER) by law in 1950, giving employers, trade unions and independent Crown-appointed experts a standing forum for social and economic policy; the current council has 36 members and collective agreements cover more than 84 percent of employees.
36 members, ser council members, 2026. 84 % of employees, employees covered by collective agreements, 2026. Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands, frequently asked questions, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state gave organised employers and workers a formal route to negotiate national trade-offs, added independent experts as bridge-builders and required the Cabinet to explain when it rejects a broadly supported recommendation, turning social conflict into a repeated bargaining process.
Limits: A tripartite membership structure and collective-agreement coverage show the reach of a consultation system, not whether its compromises are equitable, whether advice changes policy or whether workers outside agreements benefit. The SER describes its own role and the coverage figure; it is not an independent evaluation of the polder model's effects.
Netherlandslinked to Public-private collaborationstarted 2023still operating
Top Sectors and mission-driven innovation policy
In November 2023 the Netherlands renewed its mission-driven innovation compact: businesses, knowledge institutions, governments and other organisations committed an estimated €5.7 billion a year, coordinated through five missions and eight Knowledge and Innovation Agendas.
5,700,000,000 euros per year, annual joint mission-driven innovation effort, 2023. 30 organisations, partners signing the innovation covenant, 2023. Ministry of Economic Affairs, signing of the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant 2024-2027, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: Government gave industry, research organisations and public agencies a shared mission vocabulary, placed them in sector teams and tied public instruments to jointly written agendas so collaboration could shape research priorities rather than appear only at the procurement stage.
Limits: The €5.7 billion is an estimated annual commitment, not audited additional spending, and the partner count measures signatures rather than durable collaboration or successful products. The ministry's announcement does not provide a counterfactual against which the policy's innovation effects can be judged. Funding agendas can coordinate priorities without changing how projects are selected in practice.
Netherlandslinked to Public-private collaborationstarted 2005still operating
iDEAL, interoperable online payments through Dutch banks
The Netherlands built iDEAL as a shared bank-connected online payment rail; in 2024 it processed 1.47 billion payments worth €141 billion, almost matching the €147 billion spent through debit cards at the point of sale.
1,470,000,000 payments, ideal payments, 2024. 141,000,000,000 euros, ideal turnover, 2024. Dutch Payments Association, payment traffic factsheet 2024, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: Banks and the scheme operator gave merchants one recognisable checkout method while allowing each bank to keep its own customer interface; the shared protocol made account-to-account payment immediate and gave merchants a common confirmation path.
Limits: Transaction volume and turnover show adoption of one payment rail, not fraud rates, consumer welfare, merchant costs or whether iDEAL caused the growth of Dutch e-commerce. The Dutch Payments Association aggregates industry data, and the figures do not separate domestic from cross-border use. A successful network also benefits from incumbency and high bank-account ownership.
Netherlandslinked to Public-private collaborationstarted 2009still operating
eHerkenning, a public-private business identity framework
The Netherlands developed eHerkenning with commercial identity providers so businesses could use one trusted login across public services; in 2024 the framework recorded 1,140,751 authentication means and 639 connected organisations.
1,140,751 means, eherkenning authentication means, 2024. 639 organisations, connected organisations, 2024. Logius, 2024 service figures, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: Government set the assurance rules and service-provider obligations while private identity providers competed to issue credentials, giving businesses a choice of provider without asking every agency to build its own business identity system.
Limits: Credential and organisation counts show the reach of a trust framework, not whether small firms can afford a credential, whether logins reduce administrative burden or how identity providers distribute risk. The service statistics are operator-reported and do not reveal failed attempts, fraud or the cost of compliance at each assurance level.
Netherlandslinked to Public-private collaborationstarted 2004still operating
Digipoort, an electronic post office for government–business data
The Netherlands runs Digipoort as a central gateway that receives, validates and routes secure messages between businesses and public agencies; in 2024 it handled 75,433,353 messages, including a channel with 3,075 connected organisations for financial and social reporting.
75,433,353 messages, messages handled by digipoort, 2024. 3,075 organisations, connected organisations in sbr financial & social, 2024. Logius, 2024 service figures, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state provided one secure gateway and common message standards so software suppliers, accountants and firms could submit reports to several agencies without negotiating a new transport and validation layer for each one.
Limits: Message volume and connected-organisation counts show use of a shared gateway, not whether submissions are correct, cheaper or less burdensome for firms. The 2024 total combines different message streams with different users and service levels, and operator-reported availability does not measure the quality of the underlying tax, payroll or regulatory decisions.
Netherlandslinked to University-industry collaborationstarted 2006dismantled
NWO Perspectief, ended by the 2026 spring budget
NWO's Perspectief programme, funded mainly by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, awarded 12 public-private technology consortia in 2025 with 46.4 million euros of subsidy, each joining at least three knowledge institutions with at least four companies or other users paying at least 30 percent of costs; the ministry's own page records that the last Perspectief round started in July 2026.
12 consortium projects, perspectief projects awarded, 2025. 46,400,000 euros, perspectief subsidy awarded, 2025. Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Bedrijvenbeleid in beeld, NWO Perspectief programma (data from NWO), retrieved 2026-10-02.
How it worked: The research council runs a yearly competition for multi-year consortia in which universities receive the subsidy and companies and civil-society users co-fund in cash and kind, sit on a user committee and get first access to the results.
Limits: The counts are NWO's awards as published by the ministry, and an award is a project starting, not a result: projects run for up to six years, so awarded consortia will continue until the early 2030s although no new ones will be funded after the 2026-27 round. 2025 was an unusually large year: the same table gives 4 projects in 2024 and 5 to 9 in most years since 2016, so 12 is the peak, not the norm. The page's table of participating companies has two columns whose labels do not make clear which is total and which is SMEs (70 and 79 in 2025), so company counts are not used. The termination is stated on the cited page only as 'the last round started in July 2026'; the reason, the end of ministry funding in the first supplementary budget to the 2026 Spring Memorandum, is in NWO's news release of 2 April 2026, which also states NWO's objection. The final round has 26.5 million euros by NWO's account. The start year is approximate: NWO's release says the programme has run for twenty years, and the ministry's series begins in 2016.

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

retired, 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

retired, 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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observed

Raw value: 514days
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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observed

Raw value: 6.146% 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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observed

Raw value: 3.431scale 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

retired, 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.

Generalised interpersonal trust

missing

Raw value: no data% agreeing
Year: no data
Normalized: no data
Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A165)
History: no data

Note: Share answering that most people can be trusted in the official Joint EVS/WVS 2017-2022 results table, release 5.0.0. The adapter uses the publisher-weighted country results, emits only countries with one survey row, and holds countries with separate EVS and WVS samples until the respondent-level weights can be pooled reproducibly. See D57 and D64.

Trust in public institutions

no 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.

Cooperation beyond the in-group

missing

Raw value: no data% expressing trust
Year: no data
Normalized: no data
Source: Joint EVS/WVS (G007_34_B)
History: no data

Note: The distinction that makes this dimension worth measuring: whether trust reaches a person with no tie to the respondent. Generalised trust asks about "most people", which a respondent can fill with their own circle; this item names the stranger. China is the clearest case, high on most people and low on a person met for the first time. The value is the publisher-weighted share answering trust completely plus the share answering trust somewhat, the one sum of two printed columns the adapter stores, exact to about 0.1, over all respondents including don't know and no answer. EVS and WVS ask the same question on the same four-point scale; where one country has both samples, the WVS share is a median 2.2 points higher. Trust in people of another nationality (G007_36_B), which the row once also named, is left out because it reads attitudes to foreigners as much as trust. Fieldwork runs from 2017 to 2023 and every value carries the release year 2022. Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are held, as for interpersonal trust. See D140.

Court case clearance rate

no 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.

Panel estimate, round 2, how this layer works

82.0 institutionalist@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.55
I hold 82. Courts, low bribery and the polder and water board institutions carry cooperation far beyond networks; the childcare benefits scandal and Groningen show the administration can harm citizens for years, and the 2021 resignation, which panelist C rightly counts as accountability, did not make victims whole quickly.
81.0 bottom_up@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.55
C's point that the 2021 cabinet resignation over the childcare scandal is itself behavioural accountability is fair, but the scandal and Groningen still show years of state failure toward groups; I trim one point and hold below the indicator score.
80.0 wealth_sceptic@claude-sonnet-5-5, self-confidence 0.40
Courts, contract enforcement and low bribery are strong and part of this tracks income. The childcare benefits scandal and Groningen show state failure toward citizens, though the resignation was real accountability, so I hold at 80.

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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observed

Raw value: 0.79index 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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observed

Raw value: 40.395% 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

no 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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observed

Raw value: 1.947ratio 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

Tertiary enrolmentWorld Bank (SE.TER.ENRR), 2023
86.6 % gross, rank 15 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), 2022
5.2 % of GDP, rank 36 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), 2018
37.4 % of secondary, rank 7 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

Netherlandslinked to Adult learning participationstarted 2022dismantled
STAP-budget training grant, abolished in 2024
The Dutch employee insurance agency UWV paid individual training grants of up to 1,000 euros from 2022, approved more than 214,000 applications in five rounds that year, and stopped the scheme on 1 January 2024.
214,000 approved applications (more than, 'ruim'), stap-budget applications approved in 2022, 2022. UWV (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen), press release on the first 2023 STAP round, retrieved 2026-10-02.
How it worked: The state replaced a tax deduction for training costs with a first-come grant that any worker or jobseeker could claim once a year from UWV, paid directly to a registered training provider, in fixed application windows with a capped budget.
Limits: The figure is the executing agency reporting on its own scheme, counts approved applications rather than courses completed, and is a lower bound ('ruim 214.000'); the same release puts people with a grant at more than 200,000. Approval is not participation: the release does not say how many approved grants were used, and the record does not show whether the courses improved anyone's position in the labour market. The end date comes from a second UWV page (https://www.uwv.nl/nl/stap-budget), not from the source page. Against a Dutch labour force of roughly ten million, one year of grants is around two percent of workers, so the scheme never moved the national participation share by itself. UWV's page gives no reason for the end, and the 2023 release reports that the cabinet had to tighten the scheme against misuse; the record documents the loss of this channel, not a collapse of Dutch adult learning, which other instruments still fund.

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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observed

Raw value: 2080per million people
Year: 2021. 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

Resident trademark applications

missing

Raw value: no dataper million people
Year: no data
Normalized: no data
Source: World Bank (IP.TMK.RSCT)
History: no data

Note: Cheaper and more frequent than patents, so it tracks the many-small-experiments idea better than patent counts do.

Resident industrial design applications

missing

Raw value: no dataper million people
Year: no data
Normalized: no data
Source: World Bank (IP.IDS.RSCT)
History: no data

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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observed

Raw value: 956255per 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

no 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.

direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.
Early-stage entrepreneurial activity
Adults starting or running a business less than 42 months old.
Measured in % aged 18-64; higher is better. Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, TEA rate), 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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observed

Raw value: 12.2% aged 18-64
Year: 2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized: direct capability measureMeasures the thing itself.
Early-stage entrepreneurial activity
Adults starting or running a business less than 42 months old.
Measured in % aged 18-64; higher is better. Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, TEA rate), 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: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, TEA rate)
History: one year

perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.
Tolerance of entrepreneurial failure
Share of adults who see good opportunities and say fear of failure would not stop them starting a business.
Measured in % not deterred; higher is better. Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, fear of failure rate), 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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observed

Raw value: 53% not deterred
Year: 2025. The rail runs from 1960 to 2026.
Normalized: perception proxyRecords what people or experts say, not what they did.
Tolerance of entrepreneurial failure
Share of adults who see good opportunities and say fear of failure would not stop them starting a business.
Measured in % not deterred; higher is better. Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, fear of failure rate), 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: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (APS key indicators, fear of failure rate)
History: one year

Firms through regulatory sandboxes

no dataset exists, 1 record

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

no 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

retired, 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.

Evidence for missing indicators

Netherlandslinked to Firms through regulatory sandboxesstarted 2015operating below its peak
Experimenten Elektriciteitswet 2015-2018, and its erosion
The Dutch economy ministry let energy cooperatives and owners' associations deviate from the Electricity Act 1998 through 19 exemptions granted in four rounds between 2015 and 2018, then closed the scheme to new entrants; by 2024 only 10 of the experiments were operational.
10 experiments, experiments operational under the exemption scheme, 2024. 19 exemptions, exemptions granted 2015 to 2018 (peak), 2018. Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, Tussentijdse evaluatie Besluit experimenten decentrale duurzame elektriciteitsopwekking (January 2025), retrieved 2026-10-02.
How it worked: The ministry used a decree under the Electricity Act to let local cooperatives run their own project grids and supply members for up to ten years, testing whether the full act needed to apply to local renewable generation.
Limits: Both figures are inside a PDF (section 3, page labelled 4 of 12, PDF page 5). Nineteen is the total ever granted, used as the peak because no entry was possible after 2018. It counts exemptions and the 10 counts operating experiments, so the gap mixes projects that never started with ones that stopped; the sources do not show 19 operating at once. The only same-unit loss they document is from 19 exemptions granted to 15 still held. RVO's scheme page gives a third figure, 15 current exemption holders, which counts exemptions still held rather than experiments running. The minister closed the scheme on the advice of the Raad van State pending the new Energiewet (in force 1 January 2026), so part of the fall is a planned run-down rather than failure. The experiments are small local grids, and the report itself says their number and size limit what can be concluded.

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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observed

Raw value: 3.874% 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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observed

Raw value: 14.1% of unemployed
Year: 2025. 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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observed

Raw value: 0.077index 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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observed

Raw value: 4.87% 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

no dataset exists, 2 records

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

no dataset exists, 5 records

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

Labour force participationWorld Bank (SL.TLF.ACTI.ZS), 2025
85.6 % aged 15+, rank 2 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
43 per 100 people, rank 11 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), 2024
3.8 % of output, rank 7 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), 2025
5.1 % of employment, rank 21 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

Netherlandslinked to Disaster preparedness and recoverystarted 2006delivered and closed
Room for the River, flood safety delivered across the Rhine branches
The Netherlands ran Room for the River from 2006 to 2019, delivering 39 measures at 34 locations along the IJssel, Waal, Nederrijn and Lek for about four million residents at a total cost of €2.3 billion.
39 measures, flood-safety measures delivered, 2019. 34 locations, locations receiving measures, 2019. Rijkswaterstaat, Room for the River programme, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: After the near-floods of 1993 and 1995, central government and regional authorities moved dikes inland, lowered floodplains and dug side channels so high water could spread safely, using one programme to coordinate Rijkswaterstaat, water boards, provinces, municipalities, landowners and residents.
Limits: The measure and location counts show delivery, not the ex post reduction in flood risk, maintenance, cost-effectiveness or local equity. The official programme account does not independently test hydraulic performance, and the four-million figure is the population in the programme area rather than a safety outcome.
Netherlandslinked to Institutional responsivenessstarted 2004operating below its peak
Childcare benefits administration, and the recovery after institutional failure
The Netherlands' tax administration put tens of thousands of childcare-benefits parents into debt between 2004 and 2019; by February 2026 the recovery operation had recognized more than 43,000 parents as harmed among about 69,000 applicants and guaranteed each recognized parent at least €30,000.
43,000 parents, parents recognized as harmed, 2026-02. 69,000 people, people who applied for recovery, 2026-02. Rijksoverheid, recovery operation for childcare benefits, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: A rigid fraud-control regime treated small administrative errors as evidence of wrongdoing and allowed repayment demands to compound across years; after public and parliamentary scrutiny, the state created a separate recovery organisation, integral assessments, debt relief and a standard €30,000 first payment.
Limits: The application and recognition counts describe the scale of harm and the administrative response, not whether compensation restores lost homes, jobs, health or trust. The €30,000 floor is a legal payment rule rather than a measure of full loss, and the government reports the recovery operation about itself. The case therefore shows a serious failure and a continuing repair effort, not a settled measure of responsiveness.
Netherlandslinked to Institutional responsivenessstarted 2013still operating
National Police, one corps from twenty-five regional forces
On 1 January 2013 the Netherlands merged 25 autonomous regional police corps and the national KLPD into one organisation with ten regional units, a national unit and a shared Police Services Centre, centralising specialist capacity while retaining local teams.
10 regional units, regional units after national police reform, 2013. 25 regional corps, regional corps replaced by the national police, 2012. Dutch police, history of the national police organisation, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The government replaced autonomous regional corps with one national command and shared services, while keeping districts and frontline teams close to municipalities; specialist intelligence, organised-crime and technology functions could therefore be coordinated across the country without abolishing local policing.
Limits: The number of units shows an organisational response to cross-border crime and technology, not faster emergency response, better investigations or lower crime. A merger can also create transition costs and distance from local accountability that this architecture count cannot see. The police account describes the reform and does not independently evaluate its outcomes.
Netherlandslinked to Disaster preparedness and recoverystarted 2014still operating
NL-Alert, a tested multi-channel emergency warning system
The Netherlands tests NL-Alert twice a year and, in the 1 December 2025 national test, 92 percent of residents aged 12 and over said they received the message on their mobile phone; 90 percent received it only on that channel and 2 percent received it on mobile plus public digital signs.
92 % of residents aged 12+, residents receiving the nl-alert test message, 2025-12. 90 % of residents aged 12+, residents receiving the message only on mobile, 2025-12. Ministry of Justice and Security, NL-Alert test-message reach measurement, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The government uses cell broadcast through every telecom provider, adds public transport and advertising displays, tests the channel twice a year and measures reach by age and safety region so a warning can carry both a location-specific message and an action to take.
Limits: The reach figures are self-reported survey responses to a test message, not observed receipt during a live crisis, comprehension of the instruction or compliance with it. The survey covers residents aged 12 and over and still found 8 percent not reached; people without a working phone, people abroad and older residents are not interchangeable gaps. The report also notes a method break in the historical series.
Netherlandslinked to Institutional responsivenessstarted 2005still operating
DigiD Machtigen, delegated access to public services
The Netherlands built delegated authority into its public-service login so a family member, carer or adviser can act for someone else without taking their password; in 2024 DigiD Machtigen handled 15,563,897 queries from 798 connected services at 99.84 percent availability against a 99.5 percent norm.
15,563,897 queries, digid machtigen queries by connected services, 2024. 798 services, connected services, 2024. Logius, 2024 service figures, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state separated authentication from authority: a person grants a named representative access to one service for a defined period, while the representative uses their own credential and the system can record or revoke the mandate.
Limits: Queries, connected services and uptime show a maintained delegation rail, not whether the right person receives help, whether abuse is prevented or whether delegated transactions resolve well. A service can be technically available while a person remains unable to nominate a representative or understand the scope of access. The operator's counts also do not show how many residents still rely on paper or informal password sharing.
Netherlandslinked to Institutional responsivenessstarted 2004dismantled
DigiNotar, a certificate breach that forced a trust-chain reset
The Netherlands ended DigiNotar's PKIoverheid service after the 2011 breach generated at least 531 forged certificates; 333 could be revoked and the government tightened certificate requirements, role division and supervision after the incident.
531 certificates, forged certificates generated during the breach, 2011. 333 certificates, forged certificates that could be revoked, 2011. Dutch Safety Board, DigiNotar incident investigation, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: When a private certificate provider was compromised, the state took operational control, moved users to other providers and rewrote the PKIoverheid requirements so Logius and the regulator had clearer roles and stricter oversight. The response improvised around the risk that revoking every certificate at once could interrupt essential government data flows.
Limits: The certificate counts measure the scale of a compromise and the clean-up problem, not the number of people harmed or the security of the replacement trust chain. The Safety Board found that an unknown number of forged certificates entered circulation and that one was known to have been used in Iran; it did not establish direct financial or privacy damage in the Netherlands. Ending one provider and tightening oversight shows a response to failure, not proof that digital-government security became permanently robust.
Netherlandslinked to Institutional responsivenessstarted 2015dismantled
Programmatic Approach to Nitrogen, and the permitting reversal
The Netherlands operated the Programmatic Approach to Nitrogen (PAS) from July 2015 until the Council of State invalidated its legal basis in May 2019; by the end of 2023, 2,557 affected PAS reporters had sought permits and only 115 had a recorded solution.
2,557 reports, pas reporters seeking a permit after the legal reversal, 2023. 115 reports, pas reporters with a recorded solution, 2023. Netherlands Court of Audit, 2023 accountability audit for LNV, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state tied permission for new nitrogen-emitting activity to promised future reductions and ecological recovery; when the Council of State found that the programme did not meet EU nature-law requirements, the legal shortcut collapsed and ministries and provinces had to rebuild permitting and legalisation around demonstrable emissions space.
Limits: The figures show the administrative aftermath of a court-invalidated permitting framework, not the total nitrogen trend, the condition of every Natura 2000 site or the full distribution of responsibility for the policy. The Court of Audit counts requests and solutions reported through the government process; a recorded solution can mean a permit is unnecessary as well as that one was granted. The reversal demonstrates a failure to make future mitigation legally certain, while the later legalisation effort remains a separate and unfinished response.

Building

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

-0.5 over 10 years, from 55.6 in 2016 to 55.1 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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observed

Raw value: 10.082% 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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observed

Raw value: 23.468% of manufactured exports
Year: 2024. 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

retired, 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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observed

Raw value: 63.478score 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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observed

Raw value: 5.071index
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

no dataset exists, 8 records

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

no 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

Output per workerWorld Bank (SL.GDP.PCAP.EM.KD), 2025
129,805 constant 2021 PPP $, rank 10 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

Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 1963dismantled
Groningen gas system, and its closure after induced earthquakes
The Netherlands ended roughly sixty years of Groningen gas extraction with the permanent closure of all production locations on 19 April 2024; by the end of 2024 the response system had handled more than 500,000 damage reports and paid over €2.5 billion in compensation.
500,000 reports, damage reports handled after the extraction period, 2024. 2,500,000,000 euros, compensation paid for gas-extraction damage, 2024. Dutch House of Representatives, government letter on ending Groningen extraction, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state and a private operator ran a national energy system for decades, then progressively restricted and finally closed the field as evidence of induced earthquakes and resident harm made the old production objective untenable; the institutional challenge shifted from extraction to repair and trust.
Limits: Damage reports and compensation measure the burden of the extraction system and the state's response, not the engineering reliability or economic value of the gas infrastructure. The figures include cases handled by successor agencies and do not show how many homes are safe or how long recovery will take. Closure was a deliberate response to induced earthquakes, so the case is evidence of a capability being withdrawn after its harms became politically unavoidable, not a verdict on every use of natural gas.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 2005still operating
DigiD, a shared digital identity rail for public services
The Netherlands has run DigiD as a shared login for public services since 2005; in 2024 it recorded 550,153,271 successful authentications across 16,829,696 accounts and reported 99.94 percent availability against a 99.5 percent norm.
550,153,271 authentications, successful digid authentications, 2024. 16,829,696 accounts, digid accounts, 2024. Logius, 2024 service figures, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state provided one identity rail that agencies could reuse instead of each building a separate login, then raised assurance levels through SMS, an app and an identity-document check while publishing service-level figures for the shared platform.
Limits: Authentication volume, account stock and uptime show a durable shared service, not whether online procedures finish, whether users can access it equally or what it cost to build and operate. Logius reports its own service figures, and account counts include people who may use DigiD rarely or not at all. The case is evidence of sustained digital delivery rather than proof that every public service is easy to use.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 1954delivered and closed
Delta Works, a 43-year national flood-defence programme
After the 1953 flood, the Netherlands built 13 Delta Works between the first project in 1954 and the completion of the Maeslant Barrier in 1997, creating a long-lived national defence system of dams, sluices and storm-surge barriers.
13 major flood-defence works, delta works delivered, 1997. 43 years, programme duration to final delivery, 1997. Rijkswaterstaat, institutional history, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: A national authority turned a catastrophic shock into a sequenced portfolio: it set common safety standards, built dams and movable barriers one after another, retained specialist engineering knowledge and kept the programme alive across governments until the final barrier closed the original build cycle.
Limits: Counting structures and years shows continuity of a national programme, not the cost, construction productivity, maintenance burden or actual reduction in flood probability. Rijkswaterstaat reports the programme's own history and says the works protect the area behind them, but this record does not independently test performance or distributional effects.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 1995operating below its peak
Betuweroute, a freight railway that missed its operating promise
The Netherlands opened the Betuweroute freight railway in 2007, but the Auditor General found that state operating support in 2006–2013 reached €170 million against a €76 million maximum subsidy and required another €152 million through 2015; the line was not cost-covering and its promised environmental gain was never measured.
170,000,000 euros, state operating support in 2006–2013, 2013. 76,000,000 euros, maximum subsidy agreed for 2006–2013, 2013. Netherlands Court of Audit, exploitation of the Betuweroute, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state built a specialised freight corridor on the expectation that private operators and a road-to-rail shift would make it commercially self-sustaining; when those assumptions did not hold, public money filled the operating gap while the promised environmental test remained undone.
Limits: The support figures show that the operating model missed its financial promise, not the railway's current freight volume, safety or strategic value. The Court of Audit says the environmental modal-shift benefit was never measured, so this is not evidence that the line failed every objective. The 2006–2013 support period also excludes construction costs and later operating decisions.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 2008still operating
MijnOverheid, a shared citizen mailbox and data portal
The Netherlands runs MijnOverheid as one portal for government mail and personal data; in 2024 it carried 103,429,342 messages through 11,015,895 accounts with reported availability of 99.99 percent against a 99 percent norm.
103,429,342 messages, messages delivered through mijnoverheid, 2024. 11,015,895 accounts, mijnoverheid accounts, 2024. Logius, 2024 service figures, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state made one citizen-facing mailbox and data view that agencies could feed through common services, letting residents find notices and records in one place instead of learning a separate portal for every authority.
Limits: Message volume, account stock and uptime show a durable shared service, not whether a notice is understood, whether a public procedure finishes or whether people can use the portal equally. Logius reports its own service figures, and an account can be inactive. The case is evidence of sustained digital delivery rather than proof that every government interaction is simple or inclusive.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 2002dismantled
Fyra V250, a high-speed service withdrawn after a failed launch
The V250 trains for the Netherlands–Belgium Fyra service entered operation six years late and the service was cancelled after only 40 days, leaving the intended passenger service on the HSL-Zuid unrealised and triggering a parliamentary inquiry.
40 days, days of international fyra service before cancellation, 2013-01-18. 6 years, years late at entry into service, 2012. Dutch House of Representatives, Fyra parliamentary inquiry, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The state, rail operators and an international supplier committed to a technically ambitious service without a credible fallback, and the timetable moved ahead before the trains had demonstrated reliable operation; once the fleet was withdrawn, the promised network could not be delivered as contracted.
Limits: The 40-day service and six-year delay show a failed launch and delivery process, not that the HSL-Zuid railway has no later passenger value or that every actor shared the same responsibility. The metric does not capture the eventual alternative services, the line's wider benefits or the full financial loss. The parliamentary inquiry was convened to examine the interacting procurement, oversight and governance failures rather than a single technical defect.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 2023still operating
OVpay, nationwide contactless transit payments
Translink and the Dutch public-transport operators rolled out OVpay nationwide in 2023, embedding bank-card and mobile check-in across the country; in 2024 the system processed 390 million travel transactions, 15 percent of all transit transactions.
390,000,000 transactions, ovpay travel transactions processed, 2024. 15 % of transit transactions, ovpay share of all travel transactions, 2024. Translink, 2024 annual report, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: Translink gave all operators a common back office and reader software while banks and card networks supplied the payment credentials; a pilot was expanded in stages until passengers could use a familiar bank card or phone on every Dutch operator without buying a separate transit card.
Limits: Transaction volume and share show that a national payment rail is being used, not its construction cost, reliability, fare equity, privacy effects or the quality of the migration for people who still need an OV-chipkaart. Translink reports the figures and says the rollout and functions such as capping and product sales were still being extended in 2024. Adoption therefore measures delivery and network reach, not a completed replacement of every legacy process.
Netherlandslinked to Large project deliverystarted 2024still operating
Omgevingswet and the Digital Environment System
On 1 January 2024 the Netherlands put the Omgevingswet and its Digital Environment System into operation, joining municipalities, provinces, water boards and the national government behind one Omgevingsloket for rules, maps and permit applications.
4 government tiers, government tiers represented in the shared environment portal, 2024. 1 portal, national environment portal, 2024. Rijksoverheid, Omgevingsloket description, retrieved 2026-08-31.
How it worked: The government consolidated the legal framework and gave four administrative tiers a shared data and application front door, backed by common digital standards and staged chain testing so a resident can check rules and apply without choosing the responsible authority first.
Limits: The four-tier and one-portal counts show a national institutional and digital launch, not whether local rules are complete, applications are faster, the interface is accessible or the legal simplification has delivered better environmental outcomes. The government describes the portal as under continuous improvement and the transition includes significant local implementation work. This is evidence of coordinated delivery at the point of launch, not a completed evaluation of the new system.

Shared Purpose

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

+7.7 over 10 years, from 75.0 in 2016 to 82.7 on 2 indicators seen in both years.

+12.1 over 20 years, from 70.6 in 2006 to 82.7 on 2 indicators seen in both years.

+12.2 over 30 years, from 70.5 in 1996 to 82.7 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.

Voice and accountability

retired, 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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observed

Raw value: 25.276% 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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observed

Raw value: 25.7Gini 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

no 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

no 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

no 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.

Civic participation

missing

Raw value: no data% mentioning
Year: no data
Normalized: no data
Source: Joint EVS/WVS (A080_01)
History: no data

Note: A reported behaviour: the publisher-weighted share of respondents mentioning membership of a humanitarian or charitable organisation, the membership item closest to acting for strangers, in the official Joint EVS/WVS 2017-2022 results table, release 5.0.0. Religious membership is left out because it reads religiosity, and a count of any membership is not published in the aggregate table. The two programmes ask differently: EVS shows a list and asks which the respondent belongs to, WVS reads each type aloud and asks about active or inactive membership, and the joint file counts both kinds of WVS member as mentioned. Where one country has both samples, the WVS share is higher in eight of ten, so part of the spread is question format. Membership is not activity. China reads 2.7% and Vietnam 9.4%, so state mass organisations do not inflate this item. Fieldwork runs from 2017 to 2023 and every value carries the release year 2022. Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are held, as for interpersonal trust. See D128 and A15.

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
2.22 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), 2025
78.3 % 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

70.0 institutionalist@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.50
I hold 70. Low inequality, a solid tax take and consensus institutions support a high score; fragmentation, the farmers' protests and repeated cabinet collapses show strain that the indicator score does not see.
70.0 bottom_up@claude-opus-5-5, self-confidence 0.50
A's point that the 2025 cabinet collapse and nitrogen protests show strain is fair and I trim two points; I stay above C because the farmers' protests and party fragmentation are pluralism operating, and water boards and dense volunteering still carry collective action.
68.0 wealth_sceptic@claude-sonnet-5-5, self-confidence 0.40
Polder-model collective action and redistribution by choice are real, but low Gini and tax take also track income. Fragmentation, farmer protests and coalition collapse show strain, so I move up two points but stay below the indicator figure.

🇳🇱Netherlands

Government foresight capacity

Long-horizon research commitments

Adults doing digital tasks

Perceived control over life

Government effectiveness

Regulatory quality

Logistics performance

University-industry collaboration

Public-private collaboration

Rule of law

Control of corruption

Intentional homicide rate

Generalised interpersonal trust

Trust in public institutions

Cooperation beyond the in-group

Court case clearance rate

Adult learning participation

Resident trademark applications

Resident industrial design applications

Venture deals

Firms through regulatory sandboxes

University spinouts

Business share of R&D

Disaster preparedness and recovery

Institutional responsiveness

Logistics infrastructure quality

Large project delivery

Firm scale-up rate

Voice and accountability

Sense of national belonging

Volunteering

Political polarisation

Civic participation

Netherlands