Open Data Inventory 2020/21: How open is your country’s data?

Using publicly available data is essential for both journalists and activists. Journalists are turning to open data to find untold stories while activists rely on it for measuring and finding solutions to the world’s problems. But finding open data in the first place can be a challenge given not all countries share national data in an accessible way.

In this year’s Open Data Inventory 2020/2021 put out by Open Data Watch, the index ranks 187 countries.

Open Data Inventory (ODIN) is an evaluation of two aspects of data coverage and openness of data, which is provided by the national statistical offices on their website. The inventory collects tons of data used to build a profile of open data in each country. This is used as an input to also calculate the score. Often countries data are from a score of one to 100 for the coverage. ODIN includes 22 data categories grouped under social, economic, financial and environmental data. Openness is measured against international standards. It is based on open data for national statistical offices, where users see how countries are doing and how they compare with others, and what needs to change for them to be to do better. 

Here are the top 20 countries ranked:

1. Singapore
2. Poland
3. Finland
4. Denmark
5. Sweden
6. Netherlands
7. Slovenia
8. Norway
9. Mongolia
10. Slovakia
11. Oman
12. Germany
13. Ireland
14. Hong Kong SAR, China
15. Canada
16. United Arab Emirates
17. Lithuania
18. Philippines
19. Moldova
20. Palestine

See the full list here: https://odin.opendatawatch.com/Report/rankings

A full report of the findings is expected in February 2021 from Open Data Watch. 

Want to learn more about open data? Sign up for Advocacy Assembly’s two free courses.