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Country Rankings

This is a list of country rankings based on indicators that try to measure different comparable characteristics of countries around the world. Most of these rankings are ongoing and recurring.

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Development Country Rankings

Be careful when using these indexes. They measure qualities that are difficult to quantify. Moreover, methodologies often change year to year; therefore, multiyear comparisons are often invalid. For these reasons, it is important to know the methodologies used to derive these cross country comparisons before using them. Most of the indexes included provide their methodology.

Search tip: If you are looking for an indicator, e.g. stability, do a search in the search box for the database that you select. That will let you know which index measures that quality.

  • Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Database:
    • E-readiness Rankings (2000- ) Measures the quality of a country’s ICT infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit. Consists of over 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria and are organized into six primary categories.
  • Center for Global Development:
    • Commitment to Development Index (2003- ) Rates 22 rich countries on how much they help poor countries build prosperity, good government, and security.
  • Charities Aid Foundation:
    • World Giving Report summarizes direct giving, charitable giving, and religious giving across the world.
  • Dara:
    • Humanitarian Response Index (2007- ) assesses and ranks wealthy countries against their commitment to improve the quality and effectiveness of their humanitarian assistance.
    • Refugee Response Index (2021) assesses and monitors countries' response to refugees and asylum seekers.
  • Global Hunger Index:
    • The Global Hunger Index is a measure of hunger and malnutrition.and ranks countries based on three indicators: proportion of people who are calorie deficient, child malnutrition prevalence, and child mortality rate. Countries are ranked on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst. Covers developing countries and countries in transition. The GHI ranking can be found in each of the Global Hunger Index reports.
  • International Food Policy Research Institute:
    • IFPRI includes reports, media, and other sources related to food policy.
  • International Telecommunication Union:
    • Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) is a measure of the digital divide and compare Information and Communication Technology (ICT) performance within and across countries. It is based on 11 ICT indicators, grouped in 3 clusters: opportunity, infrastructure and utilization. The 2003 DOI covers 40 countries; subsequent DOI covers over 180 economies.
    • ICT Development Index (IDI) was a composite indicator published from 2009-2017 designed to measure the level of development of the information and communication technology sector.
  • Publications Office of the European Union: Search for titles to find related publications
    • ELLI Index: European Lifelong Learning Indicators is an assessment of the state of lifelong learning in Europe.
    • EU Regional Human Development Index and Human Development Reports are summary composite indices that measure a country's average achievements in three basic dimensions of human development (health, education,and living standard) and four indicators.
    • Human Poverty Index is a composite of three indicators that measure three basic dimensions of deprivation: a short life, lack of basic education, and lack of access to public and private resources for developing countries and developed countries..
  • Social Watch:
    • Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) (2007- ) The BCI is an attempt to measure poverty without using income statistics. It is a simple average of three indicators: percentage of children who reach fifth grade; survival until the fifth year of age (based on mortality among children under five); and percentage of deliveries attended by skilled health personnel.
  • United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD):
    • Trade and Development Report indicates how effectively trade is integrated into the development process across different countries.
  • World Economic Forum:
    • Networked Readiness Index (2002- ) measures economies’ capacity to fully leverage ICT for increased competitiveness and development. It is based on a mixture of hard data and survey data from the annual Executive Opinion Survey.
  • World Happiness Report: 
    • Ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, according to their average life evaluations over the previous three years, followed by a ranking of changes in life evaluations. Starting with the 2018 report, ranks 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants.