Executive Summary: Open Data Inventory 2022/23

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As countries grapple with multiple, intersecting global challenges, everyone from policymakers to citizens needs high quality and timely data. Health data, like disease prevalence and death rates, are used to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. Sex-disaggregated and gender data, such as maternal mortality ratios, are crucial to improving gender equality and the welfare of women and girls. And environmental data are needed to inform climate change resiliency and adaptation efforts within countries. Not only should data like these be available, but they must also be accessible.

The 2022/23 Open Data Inventory (ODIN), produced by Open Data Watch, shows that many countries have struggled to maintain their data publications since the COVID-19 pandemic began. ODIN measures the availability and openness of official statistical data in 192 countries. The median ODIN score has increased to 51.0 in 2022 from 48.9 in 2020, the smallest increase since 2017. Many factors impact a country’s ability to collect and publish official statistics, but one universal challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic. The constraints of social distancing, remote operations, and limited resources added to the many challenges faced by statistical offices trying to provide accurate and timely data that have been crucial to informing and monitoring country responses to the pandemic.

Figure 1. ODIN scores, 2022

The map boundaries used by ODW are for analytical work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map used in ODIN do not imply any judgment on the part of ODW concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

The world is falling behind on data coverage, and growth in data openness is marginal.

The overall ODIN score is a combination of coverage, which measures data availability, and openness, which measures data accessibility. While the median coverage score fell slightly to 47.5 in 2022 from 48.3 in 2020, the median openness score rose from 52.0 to 52.6. Country coverage scores failed to grow for the first time in six years, while openness is barely increasing compared to previous years.

Modest improvements in social and economic statistics are offset by a lack of progress in environmental statistics. 

ODIN covers 22 categories of social, economic, and environmental statistics to capture the scope of all statistics for which national statistical offices are responsible. The median overall ODIN score for Social Statistics increased to 46.5 in 2022 from 42.9 in 2020 while Environmental Statistics stayed at 46.7. The median score for Economic and Financial Statistics, historically the highest performing category, has marginally increased from 61.5 to 63.1 in 2022. At a time when climate change is among the most pressing challenges faced around the world, environmental statistics are in critical need of greater prioritization and investment among countries, though all categories could use more help.

Countries are struggling to improve regardless of income level. 

The income level of a country reflects the level of resources available to support and strengthen a national statistical system. ODIN scores have been consistently higher in wealthier countries and made small advances in 2022, but scores fell or plateaued in all other income groups. However, there are many countries with limited resources that have achieved ODIN scores higher than most wealthier countries. Sufficient resources are a crucial element of the enabling environment for statistics, but countries of any income level can make progress and improve in making data available and accessible.

Only a third of regions improve in both coverage and openness.

Each country faces unique challenges, but analyzing scores by region helps reflect shared challenges within each region. In previous ODIN years, each region saw at least some improvement, but in 2022, the median score of a quarter of the world’s regions fell from their 2020 level. Regardless of overall trends, each region included countries that have made significant progress that others in the region can look to for best practices.

The problem with gender data is availability, not accessibility.

Sex-disaggregated data and measures unique to women, such as maternal mortality ratios, are crucial for monitoring and informing efforts to improve gender equality and the welfare of women and girls. The ODIN Gender Data Index, a sub-index of ODIN, shows that gender data are less available than non-gender data categories. Gender data need to be improved as a cross-cutting issue across all data categories.

View the full ODIN 2022/23 Biennial Report
Download this Executive Sumary in printable PDF format