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To promote national technical capacity to open and use data, Open Data Watch and the Inter-American Development Bank hosted a series of workshops in five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Open Data Day 2023 comes at a particularly important time as wars and humanitarian crises need accessible,high-quality data to respond effectively to complex social, cultural, economic, and political issues.

The sixth edition of the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) is now online with results for 192 countries. ODIN assesses the coverage and openness of official statistics to identify gaps, promote open data policies, improve access, and encourage dialogue between national statistical offices (NSOs) and data users. 

As 2022 comes to a close, Open Data Watch (ODW) reflects on what has been achieved and what is left to be done to support open data for development, better data governance, fewer data gaps, and more impactful data use to improve people’s lives.worldwide — all eight billion of them.

To make progress on climate change, countries need to know how to measure their goals and spur innovation in both the collection and use of climate change data.

Do the tools that measure the capacity and outputs of statistical systems answer compatible questions and provide consistent assessments? See this overiew of new comparative findings and recommendations.

The most climate-vulnerable regions of the world lack the adequate environment data to combat climate change. Averting a climate crisis requires a data strategy that promotes high-quality, open, and timely data across all countries.

The UN World Data Forum 2021 was the first major opportunity since the pandemic for development data experts and users to assess the lessons and impact of COVID-19 on Sustainable Development Goals. Four main takeaways show a move from “what” to “how” data can be used to achieve SDGs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the world’s attention the need for accurate and timely data to guide decisions. It has been a stress test, like no other, for statistical systems around the world. One year since ODW started tracking COVID-19 data collection and use, what have we learned?

Country representatives gather to discuss the 2020/21 ODIN Open Data Inventory Annual Report and to share success stories, challenges and experiences in implementing open data to promote environmental, social and economic progress in their countries.

As the world waits for the distribution of a vaccine and treatment options, there is a tool in our arsenal to strengthen our COVID-19 response: open data.

This podcast by DataJournalism.com and Open Data Watch covers topics ranging from the genesis of Open Data, to monitoring tools like ODIN, to issues of transparency, susustainable development, gender equality, statistical capacity, and COVID-19.

New research reveals significant gender data gaps in the Latin America and Caribbean region.  Despite nearly 25 years of ambitious commitments to gender equality, many countries still lack the data…

This fourth blog of the series examines what emerging measures of the direct impact of the pandemic on healthcare workers can tell us about the frontline capacity of countries and how it differs for men and women.

This third blog of the series summarizes existing data on sex-disaggregated COVID-19 cases and deaths from Global Health 50/50, compares this to overall cases and deaths, and examines the shares that are sex-disaggregated by income and region.

Accurate, timely data during the coronavirus pandemic guides decisions on limiting transmission and allocating resources. But what are the drawbacks, merits, accessibility, and biases of coronavirus datasets, models and testing? What do we know about uptake of coronavirus data? What can we learn from changing demand for data?

This second blog in the series summarizes the existing data on sex-disaggregated COVID-19 cases and deaths from Global Health 50/50 and asks how complete our picture is when compared to all reported cases and deaths.

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting men and women differently and that gender roles shape pandemic responses. Now, thanks volunteer efforts via Global Health 50/50, new data are revealing the true impact of COVID-19 on men and women around the world.

In anticipation of the research results later this year for the 2020 Open Data Inventory (ODIN), the ODIN website will get major updates based on a survey of user experiences and needs. View first round feedback and add your own.

In April 2020, Open Data Watch commences the 5th Open Data Inventory (ODIN). The updated ODIN will feature much of the same features from previous editions with a few key updates.

Countries have a long way to go before data begins to make a difference. The OGP Global Report: Democracy Beyond the Ballot Box synthesizes Open Government Partnership findings to provide comparable snapshots of all OGP members. It combines this with data published by respected partners, including Open Data Watch’s Open Data Inventory (ODIN), allowing readers to learn about their country’s progress in OGP and compare it to real-world performance in other selected dimensions.

At a moment when everyone talks about gushing big data, it may seem contrarian to say the world is short of data. But a look at NSO websites or the database of SDG indicators shows many gaps. The median coverage score of the 178 countries in ODIN is only 44 percent. This blog moves from general to specific, looking at data crucial to monitoring the first SDG goal: eradicating poverty.

A central promise of the SDGs is to leave no one behind, but current indicators measuring progress don’t keep that promise. Aggregates and averages aren’t enough to know if the needs of the poorest of the poor, women, children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups are met or slip through the cracks.

A new book from the OD4D network, The State of Open Data, looks at current and future challenges facing open data advocacy and practice. The book includes a chapter on National Statistics written by Open Data Watch.  

In step with countries announcing commitment to improve the openness of official statistics, the ODIN team has redoubled efforts to assist with identifying available datasets and to strengthen mutual understanding of the practical challenges and benefits of the assessment methodology and the resulting scores.

Although the research phase of the 2018/2019 assessments for the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) is already underway, countries still have time to make changes to improve their ODIN scores, as recently exemplified by the country engagement process in Oman.

When Open Data Watch began work on ODIN, we asked ourselves, “Does the world need another index?” We recognized the tendency for indexes to be glanced at to see who’s on top, and then forgotten.

The 2016 Open Data Inventory (ODIN) provides a comprehensive review of the coverage and openness of official statistics in 173 countries around the world, including most OECD countries. It features a methodology updated to reflect the latest international open data standards.

After the positive reception of ODIN 2015, ODW is pleased to announce that work has begun on the 2016 Open Data Inventory. See what’s new and improved in ODIN 2016.

National Statistical Office websites are the vital connection between data producers and users. There is no single, correct design, but providing open access to reliable data to the widest range of data users is essential.

The purpose of data is to inform and catalyze action. The Open Data Inventory (ODIN) assesses the coverage and openness of official statistics in 125 countries and 20 data categories. The ODIN scores allow for a multitude of applications that can generate insights in many topical and regional areas of interest.

The recently released 2015 Open Data Inventory (ODIN) assessed the openness and coverage of official statistics for 125 countries in 20 data categories. Only 7% of the categories got full points for data coverage, and no category in any country got full points for data openness. But there are ways National Statistical Offices (NSOs) can readily improve this.

World Economics has released a Data Quality Index (DQI), rating the quality of GDP estimates for 154 countries. The DQI is presented as a “new way to judge which countries (sic) GDP you can trust.” Therefore, it is striking, and perhaps ironic, that the DQI depends heavily on GDP.

This article reviews three indexes that assess the openness or quality of data produced by national governments: The Open Data Barometer (ODB), the Open Data Index (ODI), and the World Bank’s Statistical Capacity Index (SCI).

The past two decades have seen efforts on multiple fronts to improve the quality and availability of what we will call development data: the statistical information needed for planning, monitoring, and assessing the social and economic development of a country.

Official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, serving the Government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic, social and environmental situation.

What makes an open data site special, desirable, and impressive? How relevant and useful are the data? Clearly identified and well documented? Up-to-date? Unless data are meant to be stagnant (e.g. for research), typical users want data to be very current. But are there “typical” users? Are there “best” open data formats?

During my time as an intern at Open Data Watch, I reviewed the availability and openness of data in poor, developing countries. I wanted to get a general idea of what the data environment looks like in the developing world. I asked myself: “If I were a citizen of country X and I wanted to find data about my country, could I do so and how difficult would it be?”