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Data Quality Ratings

Organisations of many kinds use GDP data. Governments, Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Societies, Businesses and a thousand others trust "official" economic data and use it as if it were holy writ. Highly regarded companies like global consultants McKinsey produce lists of the fastest growing countries to admire and perhaps invest in. Government aid is distributed, product plans put together, and factories built using such data as authoritative ammunition.

Yet few bother to inquire whether the GDP data used is of reasonable quality. In reality a great deal of GDP data is of such poor quality it should never be used to site an ice cream stall let alone be part of an elaborate business plan.

Measuring Data Quality

World Economics has spent many years studying the problems associated with GDP and population data. We have found many fault lines. Data is often out of date. Giant areas of economic activity not included. Half newly born children not registered. Statistics offices underfunded and unable to run good quality surveys. Data spoiled by politicians trying to gain an edge. Data simply not published to avoid political fallout. And so on.

GDP and Population Data Quality: Good data + Bad data = unreliable data

World Economics has developed the Global GDP Data Quality Ratings to review the usefulness of official GDP data of individual countries. The Ratings currently cover five factors to determine data quality. Each factor is evaluated to provide country scores which are then normalised using the standard deviation of the data for each factor and combined into the DQR score using an average aggregate to reflect the importance of each of the individual factors. These five factors used to judge data quality are: Base Year used to calculate the GDP data (chained or years out of date), Standard of National Accounts (SNA) applied, estimated size of the Informal Economy, a proxy for Resources Devoted to Measuring Economic Activity and a proxy measure for likely Government Interference in Economic Data production. See expanded ranking table with source data.

The accuracy of population data varies widely across countries. In order to take account of the problems and to assess the relative accuracy of population estimates World Economics has produced a Population Data Quality Rating (PDQR). The ratings cover three factors: Census year, Statistical capacity and Registration of live births. See expanded ranking table with source data.

GDP Data Quality Ratings

			Original Source Data
Rank	Country	World Economics Data Quality Index	World Economics Data Grade (A-E)

1	Denmark	97.9	A
2	Netherlands	97.3	A
3	Finland	97.1	A
4	Norway	96.7	A
5	Sweden	96.1	A
6	New Zealand	96.0	A
7	Ireland	95.4	A
8	Germany	95.2	A
9	Luxembourg	95.1	A
10	Switzerland	95.1	A
11	Canada	94.9	A
12	Austria	94.7	A
13	Australia	94.3	A
14	United States	93.9	A
15	United Kingdom	93.4	A
16	Iceland	93.0	A
17	Japan	92.6	A
18	Singapore	91.9	A
19	Estonia	91.5	A
20	France	91.1	A
21	Portugal	91.1	A
22	Belgium	91.0	A
23	Latvia	90.2	A
24	Slovenia	90.2	A
25	Lithuania	89.9	A
26	Slovak Republic	89.9	A
27	Czechia	89.3	A
28	Spain	89.3	A
29	Poland	88.6	A
30	Israel	88.1	A
31	Korea, Rep.	87.7	A
32	Taiwan	87.5	A
33	Italy	87.4	A
34	Chile	86.1	B
35	Romania	84.9	B
36	Costa Rica	84.5	B
37	Cyprus	84.5	B
38	Mauritius	84.5	B
39	Hungary	84.1	B
40	Malta	83.4	B
41	Greece	83.0	B
42	Croatia	82.6	B
43	Bulgaria	82.1	B
44	United Arab Emirates	80.7	B
45	Moldova	80.2	B
46	Mongolia	80.0	B
47	Colombia	79.6	B
48	North Macedonia	79.1	B
49	Dominican Republic	78.9	B
50	Hong Kong	78.7	B
51	Brazil	78.3	B
52	Morocco	78.1	B
53	Malaysia	77.2	B
54	Armenia	76.9	B
55	Jordan	76.7	B
56	Oman	76.6	B
57	South Africa	75.9	B
58	Tunisia	75.8	C
59	Türkiye	75.5	C
60	Uruguay	75.5	C
61	Georgia	75.1	C
62	Namibia	74.2	C
63	Argentina	74.1	C
64	Botswana	73.9	C
65	Ukraine	73.8	C
66	Philippines	73.5	C
67	Indonesia	73.3	C
68	Russia	73.0	C
69	Thailand	73.0	C
70	Mexico	72.3	C
71	Serbia	72.2	C
72	Burkina Faso	72.0	C
73	Bahamas, The	71.5	C
74	Belarus	71.4	C
75	Senegal	71.4	C
76	Saudi Arabia	71.3	C
77	Cabo Verde	71.2	C
78	Rwanda	71.2	C
79	Ghana	71.0	C
80	Suriname	70.9	C
81	Trinidad and Tobago	70.6	C
82	Algeria	70.5	C
83	Brunei	70.3	C
84	Malawi	70.0	C
85	Comoros	69.9	C
86	India	69.7	C
87	Cote d'Ivoire	69.6	C
88	Kenya	69.5	C
89	Albania	69.4	C
90	Lebanon	69.3	C
91	Bahrain	68.9	C
92	Benin	68.8	C
93	Kuwait	68.6	C
94	Uganda	68.2	C
95	Sri Lanka	68.1	C
96	Togo	68.1	C
97	Guatemala	68.0	C
98	China	67.9	C
99	Mauritania	66.8	C
100	Niger	66.7	C
101	Lesotho	66.5	C
102	Tanzania	66.5	C
103	Cameroon	66.3	C
104	El Salvador	66.3	C
105	Vietnam	66.2	C
106	Paraguay	65.7	C
107	Qatar	65.7	C
108	Ecuador	65.6	C
109	Gambia	64.9	C
110	Uzbekistan	64.9	C
111	Bosnia and Herzegovina	64.5	C
112	Azerbaijan	64.3	C
113	Pakistan	64.2	C
114	Mozambique	64.1	C
115	Kazakhstan	63.5	C
116	Panama	63.2	C
117	Peru	61.8	D
118	Zambia	61.4	D
119	Nicaragua	60.8	D
120	Sierra Leone	60.2	D
121	Kyrgyzstan	60.1	D
122	Eswatini	59.2	D
123	Guyana	58.8	D
124	Jamaica	58.5	D
125	Egypt	58.3	D
126	Bangladesh	57.5	D
127	Turkmenistan	57.1	D
128	Nigeria	56.7	D
129	Liberia	55.2	D
130	Bhutan	54.7	E
131	Papua New Guinea	54.7	E
132	Ethiopia	54.6	E
133	Laos	54.0	E
134	Zimbabwe	54.0	E
135	Tajikistan	53.3	E
136	Haiti	53.2	E
137	Guinea-Bissau	53.0	E
138	Nepal	50.7	E
139	Guinea	49.8	E
140	Madagascar	47.8	E
141	Mali	46.7	E
142	Myanmar	46.3	E
143	Burundi	46.0	E
144	Libya	45.3	E
145	Angola	44.6	E
146	Chad	43.5	E
147	Yemen, Rep.	42.3	E
148	Honduras	41.5	E
149	Central African Republic	41.0	E
150	Gabon	40.9	E
151	Congo, Dem. Rep	40.6	E
152	Congo, Rep.	40.1	E
153	Cambodia	38.3	E
154	Bolivia	38.0	E
155	Afghanistan	28.5	E
156	Sudan	26.1	E

More: For more data on individual countries click the country name.

Population Data Quality Ratings

			Original Source Data
Rank	Country	World Economics Data Quality Index	World Economics Data Grade (A-E)

1	Denmark	100.0	A
2	Finland	99.3	A
3	Norway	96.2	A
4	Sweden	96.0	A
5	Singapore	95.0	A
6	Netherlands	94.8	A
7	Australia	94.0	A
8	Estonia	93.9	A
9	Switzerland	93.6	A
10	Germany	93.5	A
11	New Zealand	93.5	A
12	Luxembourg	93.2	A
13	Iceland	92.1	A
14	Canada	91.2	A
15	Austria	90.9	A
16	Japan	89.2	A
17	Korea, Rep.	88.3	A
18	Slovenia	88.3	A
19	United States	88.2	A
20	Ireland	88.0	A
21	Belgium	87.6	A
22	United Arab Emirates	87.4	A
23	Portugal	86.9	A
24	United Kingdom	86.8	A
25	Poland	86.7	A
26	Uruguay	86.7	A
27	Spain	86.4	A
28	Latvia	86.3	A
29	Lithuania	85.8	B
30	Czechia	85.3	B
31	France	85.1	B
32	Costa Rica	84.7	B
33	Slovak Republic	84.7	B
34	Saudi Arabia	84.1	B
35	Chile	83.9	B
36	Malaysia	83.5	B
37	Taiwan	83.5	B
38	Romania	83.3	B
39	Italy	82.9	B
40	Greece	82.4	B
41	Oman	82.3	B
42	Bulgaria	82.0	B
43	Cabo Verde	81.4	B
44	Israel	81.3	B
45	Hungary	80.9	B
46	Georgia	80.7	B
47	Moldova	80.7	B
48	Cyprus	80.6	B
49	Hong Kong	80.4	B
50	Botswana	79.8	B
51	Qatar	79.7	B
52	North Macedonia	79.4	B
53	Serbia	79.2	B
54	Malta	79.0	B
55	Albania	78.7	B
56	Brunei	78.0	B
57	Kazakhstan	78.0	B
58	Mongolia	77.9	B
59	Croatia	77.6	B
60	Colombia	77.1	B
61	Mauritius	77.1	B
62	Armenia	76.9	B
63	Türkiye	76.7	B
64	Mexico	76.6	B
65	South Africa	76.5	B
66	Kuwait	75.8	B
67	Jamaica	75.5	B
68	Belarus	75.3	B
69	Thailand	75.3	B
70	Tunisia	75.0	B
71	Bahrain	74.9	B
72	Ukraine	74.7	B
73	Brazil	74.6	B
74	Panama	73.8	B
75	Argentina	73.6	B
76	Sri Lanka	73.0	B
77	Morocco	72.5	B
78	Russia	71.3	C
79	Egypt	71.1	C
80	Guatemala	70.3	C
81	Kyrgyzstan	69.6	C
82	Algeria	69.2	C
83	Suriname	69.2	C
84	China	69.1	C
85	El Salvador	68.6	C
86	Trinidad and Tobago	67.8	C
87	Uzbekistan	67.6	C
88	India	67.3	C
89	Jordan	67.0	C
90	Nigeria	67.0	C
91	Bosnia and Herzegovina	66.9	C
92	Azerbaijan	65.6	C
93	Philippines	64.3	C
94	Ecuador	63.1	C
95	Bahamas, The	62.0	C
96	Peru	57.8	C
97	Rwanda	57.3	C
98	Bhutan	56.9	C
99	Bolivia	56.7	C
100	Guyana	56.5	C
101	Paraguay	55.8	C
102	Bangladesh	53.5	D
103	Senegal	51.8	D
104	Tajikistan	51.8	D
105	Cote d'Ivoire	50.7	D
106	Tanzania	49.8	D
107	Ghana	49.7	D
108	Indonesia	49.5	D
109	Burkina Faso	48.3	D
110	Zambia	48.2	D
111	Benin	47.5	D
112	Kenya	47.4	D
113	Dominican Republic	47.0	D
114	Namibia	47.0	D
115	Vietnam	47.0	D
116	Niger	45.6	D
117	Malawi	45.2	D
118	Uganda	45.2	D
119	Nicaragua	45.0	D
120	Sierra Leone	44.9	E
121	Nepal	44.6	E
122	Lesotho	43.9	E
123	Gambia	43.4	E
124	Laos	42.7	E
125	Mali	42.2	E
126	Mauritania	41.9	E
127	Mozambique	41.9	E
128	Zimbabwe	41.5	E
129	Pakistan	41.1	E
130	Angola	41.0	E
131	Togo	40.9	E
132	Cambodia	40.5	E
133	Eswatini	40.1	E
134	Guinea	39.3	E
135	Madagascar	39.1	E
136	Comoros	38.9	E
137	Myanmar	37.9	E
138	Ethiopia	37.8	E
139	Cameroon	37.7	E
140	Gabon	37.7	E
141	Liberia	37.3	E
142	Honduras	37.1	E
143	Papua New Guinea	37.0	E
144	Chad	36.4	E
145	Central African Republic	35.6	E
146	Guinea-Bissau	35.0	E
147	Burundi	34.2	E
148	Haiti	34.1	E
149	Congo, Rep.	34.0	E
150	Sudan	32.2	E
151	Yemen, Rep.	29.5	E
152	Turkmenistan	28.8	E
153	Libya	28.5	E
154	Congo, Dem. Rep	27.9	E
155	Afghanistan	25.4	E
156	Lebanon	17.4	E

GDP Per Capita Data Quality Ratings

As differences exist in the quality of both GDP and population data between countries. When GDP and population data of poor quality are combined to produce GDP per capita data the accuracy of the resulting ratio is further diminished. The ratings table below attemps to show which countries data can be trusted for GDP per Capita data. A country's GDP per capita data can only be as good as the weakest of it's components.

Rank

Country

World Economics Data
Grade
(A-E)

World Economics GDP
Data Quality Rating
Index

World Economics Population
Data Quality Rating
Index

1	Denmark	A	97.9	100.0
2	Finland	A	97.1	99.3
3	Norway	A	96.7	96.2
4	Sweden	A	96.1	96.0
5	Netherlands	A	97.3	94.8
6	Australia	A	94.3	94.0
7	Switzerland	A	95.1	93.6
8	Germany	A	95.2	93.5
9	New Zealand	A	96.0	93.5
10	Luxembourg	A	95.1	93.2
11	Iceland	A	93.0	92.1
12	Singapore	A	91.9	95.0
13	Estonia	A	91.5	93.9
14	Canada	A	94.9	91.2
15	Austria	A	94.7	90.9
16	Japan	A	92.6	89.2
17	Slovenia	A	90.2	88.3
18	United States	A	93.9	88.2
19	Ireland	A	95.4	88.0
20	Korea, Rep.	A	87.7	88.3
21	Belgium	A	91.0	87.6
22	Portugal	A	91.1	86.9
23	United Kingdom	A	93.4	86.8
24	Poland	A	88.6	86.7
25	Spain	A	89.3	86.4
26	Latvia	A	90.2	86.3
27	Lithuania	B	89.9	85.8
28	Czechia	B	89.3	85.3
29	France	B	91.1	85.1
30	Slovak Republic	B	89.9	84.7
31	Costa Rica	B	84.5	84.7
32	Chile	B	86.1	83.9
33	Taiwan	B	87.5	83.5
34	Romania	B	84.9	83.3
35	Italy	B	87.4	82.9
36	Greece	B	83.0	82.4
37	Bulgaria	B	82.1	82.0
38	Israel	B	88.1	81.3
39	Hungary	B	84.1	80.9
40	United Arab Emirates	B	80.7	87.4
41	Cyprus	B	84.5	80.6
42	Moldova	B	80.2	80.7
43	North Macedonia	B	79.1	79.4
44	Malta	B	83.4	79.0
45	Hong Kong	B	78.7	80.4
46	Mongolia	B	80.0	77.9
47	Croatia	B	82.6	77.6
48	Malaysia	B	77.2	83.5
49	Colombia	B	79.6	77.1
50	Mauritius	B	84.5	77.1
51	Oman	B	76.6	82.3
52	Armenia	B	76.9	76.9
53	South Africa	B	75.9	76.5
54	Brazil	B	78.3	74.6
55	Morocco	B	78.1	72.5
56	Uruguay	C	75.5	86.7
57	Türkiye	C	75.5	76.7
58	Georgia	C	75.1	80.7
59	Tunisia	C	75.8	75.0
60	Botswana	C	73.9	79.8
61	Ukraine	C	73.8	74.7
62	Argentina	C	74.1	73.6
63	Thailand	C	73.0	75.3
64	Mexico	C	72.3	76.6
65	Serbia	C	72.2	79.2
66	Saudi Arabia	C	71.3	84.1
67	Belarus	C	71.4	75.3
68	Russia	C	73.0	71.3
69	Cabo Verde	C	71.2	81.4
70	Brunei	C	70.3	78.0
71	Albania	C	69.4	78.7
72	Bahrain	C	68.9	74.9
73	Algeria	C	70.5	69.2
74	Suriname	C	70.9	69.2
75	Kuwait	C	68.6	75.8
76	Sri Lanka	C	68.1	73.0
77	China	C	67.9	69.1
78	Guatemala	C	68.0	70.3
79	Trinidad and Tobago	C	70.6	67.8
80	India	C	69.7	67.3
81	Jordan	C	76.7	67.0
82	El Salvador	C	66.3	68.6
83	Qatar	C	65.7	79.7
84	Uzbekistan	C	64.9	67.6
85	Bosnia and Herzegovina	C	64.5	66.9
86	Azerbaijan	C	64.3	65.6
87	Philippines	C	73.5	64.3
88	Kazakhstan	C	63.5	78.0
89	Panama	C	63.2	73.8
90	Ecuador	C	65.6	63.1
91	Bahamas, The	C	71.5	62.0
92	Rwanda	C	71.2	57.3
93	Paraguay	C	65.7	55.8
94	Kyrgyzstan	D	60.1	69.6
95	Jamaica	D	58.5	75.5
96	Egypt	D	58.3	71.1
97	Peru	D	61.8	57.8
98	Nigeria	D	56.7	67.0
99	Guyana	D	58.8	56.5
100	Bangladesh	D	57.5	53.5
101	Senegal	D	71.4	51.8
102	Cote d'Ivoire	D	69.6	50.7
103	Tanzania	D	66.5	49.8
104	Ghana	D	71.0	49.7
105	Indonesia	D	73.3	49.5
106	Burkina Faso	D	72.0	48.3
107	Zambia	D	61.4	48.2
108	Benin	D	68.8	47.5
109	Kenya	D	69.5	47.4
110	Dominican Republic	D	78.9	47.0
111	Namibia	D	74.2	47.0
112	Vietnam	D	66.2	47.0
113	Niger	D	66.7	45.6
114	Malawi	D	70.0	45.2
115	Uganda	D	68.2	45.2
116	Nicaragua	D	60.8	45.0
117	Bhutan	E	54.7	56.9
118	Tajikistan	E	53.3	51.8
119	Sierra Leone	E	60.2	44.9
120	Nepal	E	50.7	44.6
121	Lesotho	E	66.5	43.9
122	Gambia	E	64.9	43.4
123	Laos	E	54.0	42.7
124	Mali	E	46.7	42.2
125	Mauritania	E	66.8	41.9
126	Mozambique	E	64.1	41.9
127	Zimbabwe	E	54.0	41.5
128	Pakistan	E	64.2	41.1
129	Angola	E	44.6	41.0
130	Togo	E	68.1	40.9
131	Eswatini	E	59.2	40.1
132	Guinea	E	49.8	39.3
133	Madagascar	E	47.8	39.1
134	Comoros	E	69.9	38.9
135	Cambodia	E	38.3	40.5
136	Bolivia	E	38.0	56.7
137	Myanmar	E	46.3	37.9
138	Ethiopia	E	54.6	37.8
139	Cameroon	E	66.3	37.7
140	Gabon	E	40.9	37.7
141	Liberia	E	55.2	37.3
142	Honduras	E	41.5	37.1
143	Papua New Guinea	E	54.7	37.0
144	Chad	E	43.5	36.4
145	Central African Republic	E	41.0	35.6
146	Guinea-Bissau	E	53.0	35.0
147	Burundi	E	46.0	34.2
148	Haiti	E	53.2	34.1
149	Congo, Rep.	E	40.1	34.0
150	Yemen, Rep.	E	42.3	29.5
151	Turkmenistan	E	57.1	28.8
152	Libya	E	45.3	28.5
153	Congo, Dem. Rep	E	40.6	27.9
154	Sudan	E	26.1	32.2
155	Afghanistan	E	28.5	25.4
156	Lebanon	E	69.3	17.4

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Data Quality Key

Data Quality Index numbers shown on a scale of 0-100.
0 = Poor, 100 = Excelent.
Grade definitions:
A: As good as it gets
B: Good
C: Use with caution
D: Poor
E: Extremely poor quality

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