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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 Data is often out of date.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 These five factors used to judge data quality are: Base Year used to calculate the GDP data (chained or years out of date), Standard of National Accounts (SNA) applied, estimated size of the Informal Economy, a proxy for Resources Devoted to Measuring Economic Activity and a proxy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	B
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	Mongolia	80.5	B
46	Moldova	80.2	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	77.6	B
54	Jordan	77.1	B
55	Oman	77.1	B
56	Armenia	76.9	B
57	South Africa	76.3	B
58	Uruguay	75.9	B
59	Tunisia	75.8	B
60	Türkiye	75.5	B
61	Georgia	75.1	B
62	Argentina	74.6	B
63	Namibia	74.6	B
64	Botswana	74.4	C
65	Philippines	74.0	C
66	Ukraine	73.8	C
67	Indonesia	73.7	C
68	Russia	73.0	C
69	Thailand	73.0	C
70	Mexico	72.7	C
71	Serbia	72.7	C
72	Burkina Faso	72.4	C
73	Bahamas, The	71.8	C
74	Senegal	71.8	C
75	Rwanda	71.6	C
76	Saudi Arabia	71.6	C
77	Belarus	71.4	C
78	Suriname	71.4	C
79	Ghana	71.3	C
80	Cabo Verde	71.2	C
81	Trinidad and Tobago	71.0	C
82	Brunei	70.7	C
83	Algeria	70.5	C
84	Malawi	70.5	C
85	Cote d'Ivoire	70.0	C
86	India	70.0	C
87	Kenya	70.0	C
88	Comoros	69.9	C
89	Albania	69.4	C
90	Bahrain	69.3	C
91	Lebanon	69.3	C
92	Kuwait	68.9	C
93	Benin	68.8	C
94	Uganda	68.7	C
95	Sri Lanka	68.5	D
96	Togo	68.5	D
97	China	68.3	D
98	Guatemala	68.0	D
99	Mauritania	67.2	D
100	Niger	67.1	D
101	Tanzania	67.0	D
102	Lesotho	66.9	D
103	Cameroon	66.7	D
104	El Salvador	66.7	D
105	Vietnam	66.5	D
106	Qatar	66.2	D
107	Paraguay	66.1	D
108	Ecuador	65.9	D
109	Gambia	65.3	D
110	Uzbekistan	64.9	D
111	Pakistan	64.6	D
112	Bosnia and Herzegovina	64.5	D
113	Mozambique	64.5	D
114	Azerbaijan	64.3	D
115	Kazakhstan	63.5	D
116	Panama	63.2	D
117	Peru	62.1	D
118	Zambia	61.8	D
119	Nicaragua	60.8	D
120	Sierra Leone	60.5	D
121	Kyrgyzstan	60.1	D
122	Eswatini	59.5	D
123	Guyana	59.2	D
124	Jamaica	58.8	D
125	Egypt	58.7	D
126	Bangladesh	57.9	E
127	Nigeria	57.1	E
128	Turkmenistan	57.1	E
129	Liberia	55.6	E
130	Papua New Guinea	55.1	E
131	Ethiopia	55.0	E
132	Bhutan	54.9	E
133	Zimbabwe	54.4	E
134	Laos	54.3	E
135	Haiti	53.6	E
136	Guinea-Bissau	53.4	E
137	Tajikistan	53.3	E
138	Nepal	50.8	E
139	Guinea	50.2	E
140	Madagascar	48.1	E
141	Mali	46.8	E
142	Myanmar	46.8	E
143	Burundi	46.3	E
144	Libya	45.7	E
145	Angola	44.8	E
146	Chad	43.8	E
147	Yemen, Rep.	42.6	E
148	Honduras	41.6	E
149	Central African Republic	41.3	E
150	Gabon	41.1	E
151	Congo, Dem. Rep	40.8	E
152	Congo, Rep.	40.4	E
153	Cambodia	38.5	E
154	Bolivia	38.0	E
155	Afghanistan	28.7	E
156	Sudan	26.2	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	100.0	A
3	Sweden	99.4	A
4	Norway	99.3	A
5	Austria	98.7	A
6	Germany	98.7	A
7	Netherlands	97.7	A
8	Poland	97.7	A
9	Estonia	97.5	A
10	Switzerland	97.5	A
11	Portugal	97.4	A
12	Australia	97.3	A
13	Romania	97.3	A
14	Slovak Republic	97.2	A
15	Slovenia	97.2	A
16	Iceland	97.1	A
17	Moldova	97.0	A
18	Serbia	96.9	A
19	Hungary	96.7	A
20	Spain	96.7	A
21	Bulgaria	96.6	A
22	New Zealand	96.3	A
23	Latvia	95.9	A
24	Czechia	95.8	A
25	Singapore	95.8	A
26	Canada	95.6	A
27	Korea, Rep.	95.6	A
28	Luxembourg	95.6	A
29	Mexico	95.6	A
30	Malaysia	95.5	A
31	United Arab Emirates	95.4	A
32	Greece	95.3	B
33	Mongolia	95.3	B
34	United States	95.3	A
35	Costa Rica	95.2	B
36	North Macedonia	95.2	B
37	Albania	94.9	B
38	Türkiye	94.8	B
39	Japan	94.6	B
40	Lithuania	94.4	B
41	Saudi Arabia	94.4	B
42	Belgium	94.3	B
43	Kazakhstan	94.1	B
44	Russia	93.5	B
45	Malta	93.4	B
46	Oman	93.2	B
47	United Kingdom	93.1	B
48	Thailand	93.0	B
49	Belarus	92.8	B
50	Brazil	92.8	B
51	Philippines	92.8	B
52	Uruguay	92.7	B
53	Sri Lanka	92.6	B
54	Ecuador	92.3	B
55	France	92.3	B
56	Ukraine	92.3	B
57	Kyrgyzstan	92.1	B
58	Argentina	91.8	B
59	Armenia	91.8	B
60	Kuwait	91.8	B
61	Colombia	91.6	B
62	Panama	91.5	B
63	Jamaica	91.2	B
64	South Africa	90.9	C
65	Chile	90.8	C
66	Rwanda	90.8	C
67	Qatar	90.0	C
68	Italy	89.9	C
69	Guatemala	89.6	C
70	Jordan	89.6	C
71	Cabo Verde	89.4	C
72	Taiwan	89.3	C
73	Botswana	89.2	C
74	Georgia	89.2	C
75	Egypt	89.1	C
76	Senegal	88.6	C
77	Tunisia	88.5	C
78	Sierra Leone	88.1	C
79	Peru	87.6	C
80	Vietnam	87.6	C
81	Tajikistan	87.3	C
82	Hong Kong	87.2	C
83	Algeria	87.1	C
84	Cyprus	87.1	C
85	Croatia	87.0	C
86	Indonesia	87.0	C
87	Bhutan	86.9	C
88	Morocco	86.4	C
89	Ireland	86.0	C
90	China	85.8	C
91	Mauritius	85.6	C
92	Cote d'Ivoire	85.3	C
93	Mali	85.3	C
94	Ghana	85.1	C
95	Israel	84.6	D
96	Burkina Faso	84.5	D
97	Nepal	84.4	D
98	Bolivia	84.1	D
99	Kenya	84.1	D
100	Brunei	84.0	D
101	Dominican Republic	83.4	D
102	Comoros	83.3	D
103	Bosnia and Herzegovina	83.0	D
104	Bahrain	82.8	D
105	Cambodia	82.8	D
106	Guyana	82.3	D
107	Suriname	82.3	D
108	Azerbaijan	81.6	D
109	Benin	81.6	D
110	Malawi	81.4	D
111	Myanmar	81.1	D
112	Bangladesh	80.7	D
113	El Salvador	80.5	D
114	Paraguay	80.2	D
115	Turkmenistan	80.2	D
116	Trinidad and Tobago	80.1	D
117	Zimbabwe	80.1	D
118	Madagascar	79.9	D
119	Uganda	79.5	D
120	Bahamas, The	79.4	D
121	Laos	79.3	D
122	Gabon	79.2	D
123	India	78.9	D
124	Haiti	78.7	D
125	Mozambique	78.2	D
126	Honduras	78.1	E
127	Niger	78.1	E
128	Namibia	77.7	E
129	Togo	77.6	E
130	Pakistan	77.4	E
131	Tanzania	77.1	E
132	Nigeria	76.0	E
133	Eswatini	75.9	E
134	Congo, Rep.	75.6	E
135	Burundi	75.3	E
136	Guinea	75.2	E
137	Gambia	74.8	E
138	Lesotho	74.1	E
139	Libya	73.9	E
140	Zambia	73.9	E
141	Nicaragua	73.5	E
142	Mauritania	72.9	E
143	Uzbekistan	72.0	E
144	Liberia	71.7	E
145	Sudan	71.0	E
146	Cameroon	69.9	E
147	Angola	68.1	E
148	Guinea-Bissau	67.9	E
149	Chad	64.9	E
150	Central African Republic	64.4	E
151	Papua New Guinea	61.4	E
152	Yemen, Rep.	60.1	E
153	Ethiopia	56.3	E
154	Congo, Dem. Rep	48.9	E
155	Afghanistan	45.6	E
156	Lebanon	31.4	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	Netherlands	A	97.3	97.7
3	Finland	A	97.1	100.0
4	Norway	A	96.7	99.3
5	Sweden	A	96.1	99.4
6	New Zealand	A	96.0	96.3
7	Germany	A	95.2	98.7
8	Luxembourg	A	95.1	95.6
9	Switzerland	A	95.1	97.5
10	Canada	A	94.9	95.6
11	Austria	A	94.7	98.7
12	Australia	A	94.3	97.3
13	United States	A	93.9	95.3
14	Iceland	A	93.0	97.1
15	Singapore	A	91.9	95.8
16	Estonia	A	91.5	97.5
17	Portugal	A	91.1	97.4
18	Latvia	A	90.2	95.9
19	Slovenia	A	90.2	97.2
20	Slovak Republic	A	89.9	97.2
21	Czechia	A	89.3	95.8
22	Spain	A	89.3	96.7
23	Poland	A	88.6	97.7
24	Korea, Rep.	A	87.7	95.6
25	United Kingdom	B	93.4	93.1
26	Japan	B	92.6	94.6
27	France	B	91.1	92.3
28	Belgium	B	91.0	94.3
29	Lithuania	B	89.9	94.4
30	Romania	B	84.9	97.3
31	Costa Rica	B	84.5	95.2
32	Hungary	B	84.1	96.7
33	Malta	B	83.4	93.4
34	Greece	B	83.0	95.3
35	Bulgaria	B	82.1	96.6
36	United Arab Emirates	B	80.7	95.4
37	Mongolia	B	80.5	95.3
38	Moldova	B	80.2	97.0
39	Colombia	B	79.6	91.6
40	North Macedonia	B	79.1	95.2
41	Brazil	B	78.3	92.8
42	Malaysia	B	77.6	95.5
43	Oman	B	77.1	93.2
44	Armenia	B	76.9	91.8
45	Uruguay	B	75.9	92.7
46	Türkiye	B	75.5	94.8
47	Argentina	B	74.6	91.8
48	Taiwan	C	87.5	89.3
49	Italy	C	87.4	89.9
50	Chile	C	86.1	90.8
51	Ireland	C	95.4	86.0
52	Cyprus	C	84.5	87.1
53	Mauritius	C	84.5	85.6
54	Croatia	C	82.6	87.0
55	Hong Kong	C	78.7	87.2
56	Morocco	C	78.1	86.4
57	Jordan	C	77.1	89.6
58	South Africa	C	76.3	90.9
59	Tunisia	C	75.8	88.5
60	Georgia	C	75.1	89.2
61	Botswana	C	74.4	89.2
62	Philippines	C	74.0	92.8
63	Ukraine	C	73.8	92.3
64	Indonesia	C	73.7	87.0
65	Russia	C	73.0	93.5
66	Thailand	C	73.0	93.0
67	Mexico	C	72.7	95.6
68	Serbia	C	72.7	96.9
69	Senegal	C	71.8	88.6
70	Rwanda	C	71.6	90.8
71	Saudi Arabia	C	71.6	94.4
72	Belarus	C	71.4	92.8
73	Ghana	C	71.3	85.1
74	Cabo Verde	C	71.2	89.4
75	Algeria	C	70.5	87.1
76	Cote d'Ivoire	C	70.0	85.3
77	Albania	C	69.4	94.9
78	Kuwait	C	68.9	91.8
79	Israel	D	88.1	84.6
80	Dominican Republic	D	78.9	83.4
81	Burkina Faso	D	72.4	84.5
82	Bahamas, The	D	71.8	79.4
83	Suriname	D	71.4	82.3
84	Trinidad and Tobago	D	71.0	80.1
85	Brunei	D	70.7	84.0
86	Malawi	D	70.5	81.4
87	India	D	70.0	78.9
88	Kenya	D	70.0	84.1
89	Comoros	D	69.9	83.3
90	Bahrain	D	69.3	82.8
91	Benin	D	68.8	81.6
92	Uganda	D	68.7	79.5
93	Sri Lanka	D	68.5	92.6
94	China	D	68.3	85.8
95	Guatemala	D	68.0	89.6
96	El Salvador	D	66.7	80.5
97	Vietnam	D	66.5	87.6
98	Qatar	D	66.2	90.0
99	Paraguay	D	66.1	80.2
100	Ecuador	D	65.9	92.3
101	Bosnia and Herzegovina	D	64.5	83.0
102	Mozambique	D	64.5	78.2
103	Azerbaijan	D	64.3	81.6
104	Kazakhstan	D	63.5	94.1
105	Panama	D	63.2	91.5
106	Peru	D	62.1	87.6
107	Sierra Leone	D	60.5	88.1
108	Kyrgyzstan	D	60.1	92.1
109	Guyana	D	59.2	82.3
110	Jamaica	D	58.8	91.2
111	Egypt	D	58.7	89.1
112	Namibia	E	74.6	77.7
113	Togo	E	68.5	77.6
114	Mauritania	E	67.2	72.9
115	Niger	E	67.1	78.1
116	Tanzania	E	67.0	77.1
117	Lesotho	E	66.9	74.1
118	Cameroon	E	66.7	69.9
119	Gambia	E	65.3	74.8
120	Uzbekistan	E	64.9	72.0
121	Pakistan	E	64.6	77.4
122	Zambia	E	61.8	73.9
123	Nicaragua	E	60.8	73.5
124	Eswatini	E	59.5	75.9
125	Bangladesh	E	57.9	80.7
126	Nigeria	E	57.1	76.0
127	Turkmenistan	E	57.1	80.2
128	Liberia	E	55.6	71.7
129	Papua New Guinea	E	55.1	61.4
130	Ethiopia	E	55.0	56.3
131	Bhutan	E	54.9	86.9
132	Zimbabwe	E	54.4	80.1
133	Laos	E	54.3	79.3
134	Haiti	E	53.6	78.7
135	Guinea-Bissau	E	53.4	67.9
136	Tajikistan	E	53.3	87.3
137	Nepal	E	50.8	84.4
138	Guinea	E	50.2	75.2
139	Madagascar	E	48.1	79.9
140	Mali	E	46.8	85.3
141	Myanmar	E	46.8	81.1
142	Burundi	E	46.3	75.3
143	Libya	E	45.7	73.9
144	Angola	E	44.8	68.1
145	Chad	E	43.8	64.9
146	Yemen, Rep.	E	42.6	60.1
147	Honduras	E	41.6	78.1
148	Central African Republic	E	41.3	64.4
149	Gabon	E	41.1	79.2
150	Congo, Dem. Rep	E	40.8	48.9
151	Congo, Rep.	E	40.4	75.6
152	Cambodia	E	38.5	82.8
153	Bolivia	E	38.0	84.1
154	Lebanon	E	69.3	31.4
155	Afghanistan	E	28.7	45.6
156	Sudan	E	26.2	71.0

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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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