Nations Inquiry Country Index

• 01

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Governance & Institutions

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Corruption Perceptions IndexTransparency International
  • Government EffectivenessWorld Bank Group
  • Judicial Constraints on the Executive IndexV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
  • Statistical Performance IndicatorsWorld Bank Group

  194 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 02

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Economy & Innovation

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Account Ownership at a Financial InstitutionWorld Bank Group
  • Economic Complexity IndexGrowth Lab at Harvard University
  • Firms with a Bank Loan or Line of CreditWorld Bank Group
  • GDP per Capita (PPP)World Bank Group

  176 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 03

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Work & Labour

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Employment-to-Population RatioInternational Labour Organization (ILO)
  • Labour Income ShareInternational Labour Organization (ILO)
  • Unemployment RateInternational Labour Organization (ILO)
  • Vulnerable EmploymentInternational Labour Organization (ILO)

  182 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 04

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Education & Knowledge

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Government Spending on EducationUNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
  • Out-of-School Rate, PrimaryUNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
  • Upper Secondary Completion RateUNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
  • Youth Literacy RateUNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

  171 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 05

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Health & Wellbeing

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Life Expectancy at BirthUN DESA Population Division
  • Prevalence of Severe Food InsecurityFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • Stunting Prevalence in Children Under FiveUNICEF, WHO and World Bank Group (Joint Malnutrition Estimates)
  • Under-Five Mortality RateUN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)

  200 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 06

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Development & Human Capital

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office
  • Maternal Mortality RatioUN Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG)
  • Social Protection CoverageInternational Labour Organization (ILO)

  196 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 07

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Environment & Sustainability

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • CO₂ Emissions per CapitaGlobal Carbon Project
  • Ecological FootprintGlobal Footprint Network
  • Water StressFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

  181 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 08

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Gender & Equality

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Firms with a Female Top ManagerWorld Bank Group
  • Social Institutions and Gender IndexOECD
  • Women, Business and the LawWorld Bank Group
  • Women's Political Empowerment IndexV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg

  183 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 09

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Democracy & Civil Liberties

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Civic Space RatingsCIVICUS
  • Rule of LawWorld Bank Group
  • V-Dem Electoral Democracy IndexV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg

  198 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 10

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Peace & Security

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Global Militarisation IndexBonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC)
  • Physical Violence IndexV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
  • Political Stability and Absence of ViolenceWorld Bank Group
  • Political Violence by Non-State ActorsV-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg

  177 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 11

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Risk & Resilience

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Climate Vulnerability (ND-GAIN)Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN), University of Notre Dame
  • INFORM Risk IndexEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre, with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee
  • World Risk IndexInstitute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV), Ruhr University Bochum

  192 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 12

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Mobility & Trade

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • ICT Goods ExportsUN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  • Liner Shipping Connectivity IndexUN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  • Logistics Performance IndexWorld Bank Group

  147 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 13

  4 key statistics

  4 keys

  Food & Agriculture

  4 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Agriculture Orientation IndexFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • Cereal YieldFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • Dietary Energy SupplyFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • Organic Agricultural AreaFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

  175 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 14

  2 key statistics

  2 keys

  Poverty & Inequality

  2 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Gini IndexWorld Bank Group
  • Poverty Gap at $3.00 a DayWorld Bank Group

  159 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 15

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Energy

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Carbon Intensity of ElectricityEmber
  • Renewable Share of Electricity GenerationEmber
  • World Energy Trilemma IndexWorld Energy Council

  193 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

• 16

  3 key statistics

  3 keys

  Digital & Technology

  3 keys · a country needs 2 of them for a standing

  • Digitally-Deliverable Services ExportsUN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  • Government AI Readiness IndexOxford Insights
  • GovTech Maturity IndexWorld Bank Group

  198 countries hold a standing on this subject in 2026.

A country needs a standing on 12 of the 16 subjects before the index places it at all. Every other statistic this site holds is context — charted, linked and downloadable, and deliberately given no vote, so importing five more labour statistics cannot quietly make the index more about labour.

• Africa

  143rd

  the middle of its 53 placed countries, of 178 ranked · 55 members in all

  5th of 5 continents by that middle

  1st178th

  Mauritius 46th · Somalia 177th

• Americas

  78th

  the middle of its 32 placed countries, of 178 ranked · 48 members in all

  3rd of 5 continents by that middle

  1st178th

  Canada 17th · Haiti 169th

  2 members reach the top fifth of the ranking.

• Asia

  91st

  the middle of its 46 placed countries, of 178 ranked · 52 members in all

  4th of 5 continents by that middle

  1st178th

  South Korea 14th · Yemen 176th

  5 members reach the top fifth of the ranking.

• Europe

  25th

  the middle of its 39 placed countries, of 178 ranked · 49 members in all

  1st of 5 continents by that middle

  1st178th

  Switzerland 1st · Russia 68th

  27 members reach the top fifth of the ranking.

• Oceania

  70th

  the middle of its 8 placed countries, of 178 ranked · 21 members in all

  2nd of 5 continents by that middle

  1st178th

  New Zealand 17th · Papua New Guinea 138th

  2 members reach the top fifth of the ranking.

Regions are the UN Statistics Division’s M49 geoscheme, not this site’s invention, so a reader who disagrees with where a country sits is disagreeing with the UN. Each figure is a median of its placed members’ positions, unweighted by population — weighting would be an editorial opinion dressed up as a measurement, which is the same reason the index weights no subject. Every region has its own page.

The Country Index publishes a position — a place in a list — and never a mark out of anything. The 2026 edition is worked out like this.

1. A few key statistics vote. Everything else is context. 55 statistics are keys in this edition, spread across 16 subjects, and they are the only things that decide a position. Every other statistic on the site is still charted, linked and downloadable — it simply has no vote. That split is the whole point: when every statistic voted, importing five more labour figures quietly made the index more about labour, without anyone deciding it should be.
2. Each key is read at one edition, matched by the year it describes. Publishers number their reports differently — a report headed 2026 may describe 2025 or the year before — so a key is chosen by the year its numbers cover, not the year on its cover. Where a publisher has nothing for 2025 we fall back at most 2 years; beyond that the key drops out rather than passing off old numbers as current. 7 of the keys are not single-year reports but a publisher’s latest-available compilation, in which every country carries its own survey year — a literacy rate measured in one country five years ago and in another last year. Those are dated row by row, and a reading more than 10 years older than the compilation is set aside rather than compared. This edition is therefore built from readings describing 2013–2025, which is the honest span rather than one tidy year.
3. Every country’s published value becomes a place within that one key’s own field, and that place is then expressed as a share of the field — how far down this key’s list the country sits, rather than how many countries are above it. Keys where a higher published number is worse (child mortality, disaster risk, gender inequality) are turned round first, so the good end is always the same end. Countries with identical published values share the middle of the places they span, which keeps a key with many ties from dragging anybody up or down.
4. Dividing by the field first is the central idea, and the one thing that must not be skipped. A place carries the size of its list inside it: 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 are the same showing, and averaging the numbers 22 and 108 says loudly that they are not. Fields on this site run from about 44 countries to about 215, so averaging raw places would hand a quiet bonus to any country that happens to be measured in small ones — across the site that distortion tracks average field size at 0.72, which is a thumb on the scale rather than noise. Dividing each place by its own field removes the size and leaves only the showing. So this is not a rejection of averaging ranks; it is that idea with the one correction that makes it sound.
5. A subject standing is the plain average of its keys — no weighting, because any weighting would be this site’s opinion dressed up as a measurement. A country must hold 2 of a subject’s keys — half, rounded up, and never fewer than 2 — before it is given a standing on it. A standing built from one reading, printed beside one built from four, is two different things sharing a column heading.
6. The subjects are then averaged — not the statistics. One subject, one vote, however many keys sit beneath it. That is what stops the index tilting toward whichever subject we happened to import most of. A country is ranked at all only if it holds standings on 75% of the voting subjects, rounded — 12 of 16 this edition. 178 countries clear that bar and 46 are listed unranked, each with the count that excluded it, rather than quietly dropped. An edition is only publishable at all with at least 7 voting subjects.
7. A key has to earn its vote in every edition. Carrying a subject in the registry is an opt-in, not an admission: seven tests are re-run each year, and a key that fails one is demoted to context for that edition with the reason published on the edition page.
   1. It has a better end. A share of GDP is neither good nor bad when it is high, so it cannot say who is doing well.
   2. It is a rate, share, index or per-person figure. A raw count ranks countries by size, a growth rate ranks them by where they started, and a base-year index only compares a country with its own past.
   3. It measures at least 120 countries. Expressing a place as a share of its field removes the field’s size but not its composition — a test sat by 79 mostly rich economies is measuring who was surveyed, not the world.
   4. It describes a year inside the window above. Older than that is stale, not current.
   5. No more than 10% of its field ties at either end. When 122 of 215 countries report the same value, the places derived from it read “1, 1, 1 … 123”, which is noise rather than information.
   6. It does not repeat another key in the same subject. A rank correlation above 0.92 counts as repeating, as does being a component or an adjusted variant of another key — two keys measuring one thing is that thing voting twice. Judged inside a subject and never across the whole index: almost every welfare measure on earth correlates with income, so a global cut would empty half the subjects.
   7. Its licence permits derivative works. This ranking reshapes the publisher’s numbers, and a licence forbidding derivatives forbids exactly that.
8. The average itself is never published. It exists — it is what the countries are put in order by — but it is our arithmetic with nothing anchoring it, so it is in no page and no download. Every composite that does print a number explains what the number is measured against: the Human Development Index has fixed goalposts, the Environmental Performance Index has targets. This one would have none, so a 0–100 figure here would read as a measurement somebody made when it is really a mean of positions that moves with the field. What is published instead is the position and the field it is a position of, with the range below. Two countries level at 1 decimal place are printed as joint rather than split by float noise.
9. Every position carries the range it would move within if any one key were left out, recomputed under the same coverage floors. A bare position claims a precision a 55-key index does not have; “132nd, range 99–133” is the honest version of the same fact, and it tells a reader which claim is solid (this country is in the bottom third) and which is not (it is precisely 132nd). A wide range is a position resting on less than it looks.
10. The numbers are the publishers’; the ordering is ours. 9 of the 55 keys carry a rank their own publisher printed, and those are shown as ranks with the publisher named. For the rest this site orders the published value itself, and says position · derived wherever it does. The publishers listed on these pages did not agree to be read together, and a position here is relative: it says where a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it can move because they moved. Every key is published with its publisher, its licence and the one concept it was admitted for on each edition page, and the statistics that do not vote are charted alongside them under Topics.