The Global Data Barometer (GDB) is an assessment tool that measures how effectively countries are fostering healthy data ecosystems. It examines the infrastructure, processes, and strategies needed to ensure that data serves the public good, providing a detailed view of governance, data availability, and ecosystem capabilities that underscore data’s role in our society.

The second edition of the GDB builds on the success and lessons gained from the first edition of the Global Data Barometer. This edition offers a more refined and focused approach to assessing national data ecosystems. Our thematic clusters; political integrity, land management, company information, public procurement, and public finance provide a comprehensive view of core aspects of data governance and availability.

In addition, we have reduced the number of pillars from four —availability, governance, capability, and use —to three; governance, capability, and availability. In this edition we have restructured how we track data use, it is now presented as a cross-cutting theme to better capture how data is being utilized and its impact across various sectors.

The Global Data Barometer was inspired by its predecessor, The Open Data Barometer. While the Open Data Barometer focused on improving the availability and impact of open dataset, the Global Data Barometer recognises a more complex landscape—one where policy must combine good governance of data with ongoing efforts to promote data re-usability, and to secure the benefits that open public data infrastructures can bring.

One of our goals is to provide policymakers, advocates, academics, journalists and people in the private sector with tools to navigate the data landscape through the three pillars or areas our study covers:

● governing data for the public good
● equipping a country to use data for the public good
● providing data for the public good

Our working definition of public good directly references these pillars, recognising that public good itself should be understood as a dynamic and democratic concept.

Data is a source of power. It can be exploited for private gain, and used to limit freedom, or it can be deployed and governed for the public good: a resource for tackling health, social and environmental challenges, enabling collaboration, driving innovation and improving accountability.

What constitutes the public good can ultimately be determined through open public debate. Different ‘publics’ may have different priorities at different times.

Ensuring that data is a resource for the public good involves a variety of interventions, depending both on the data in question, and the wider context.

We draw on established global principles, and in particular on the Sustainable Development Goals, the international human rights framework to give context to the idea of the public good used within the Global Data Barometer.

Three key elements of the GDB set it apart:

1. Our primary data collection—we work with a network of independent expert researchers across more than 40 countries and complement with government surveys and secondary data.

2. Our specific focus on data—we address gaps in existing work that make it difficult to assess the extent to which countries are establishing data infrastructures that can support the public good.

On this last point, our goal is to build on and extend existing work.

The value that the Global Data Barometer adds is to ask specifically about data. We answer questions about the governance and availability of said data. Wherever possible, we take these existing studies as our starting point and then layer analysis through a data lens on top.

Everyone is welcome to use the Barometer, whether you are a data analyst, activist, or someone from either the private or public sector, if you are interested in learning which countries have the best data availability and infrastructures and which are still struggling to open crucial data to the public, you have come to the right place.

Much of the value of a multi-dimensional index like GDB is in its function as a learning device that offers us the opportunity to understand each country’s relative strengths and weaknesses in certain areas or on a thematic level.

For example, the GDB makes it possible to explore which countries have good data availability but limited capability to make use of that data; or, within GDB’s governance component, the relative strength of data protection and data-sharing policies—and whether these strike the balance required to support public good outcomes in a datified society.

We hope that the Barometer can be used and understood by many people, across all sectors. If you would like to give feedback on how this FAQ has helped you, don’t hesitate to reach out.

After almost a decade since the launch of the Open Data Barometer (ODB), the first edition of the Global Data Barometer (GDB) was launched. The GDB builds on lessons from the ODB, but contains a broader approach to the field. It looks at data in a broader sense, beyond openness. It also presents updates on both the topics as well as the structure of indicators.

The ODB aimed to understand the status and impact of open data initiatives around the world. However, during the last decade, aspects that were not at the beginning in the core of the data agenda could no longer be ignored. This created the need for a Global Data Barometer focusing on conceptual and methodological updates. While the GDB builds on some of the foundations set by the ODB, its uniqueness- thematic lenses, structured approach, evaluated variables, and the data collection and calculation processes- and its broader approach to data, does not leave room for direct continuity between the two.

Learn more about the differences in this blog.

A number of knowledge products have been developed from the Barometer by the GDB team, our regional partners, and thematic partners.

The Implementation of Access to Information Legislation in Latin America: what does the Global Data Barometer show? report by Dr. Silvana Fumega delves into the vital role of oversight bodies in ensuring the proper implementation of the right RTI (right of access to public information) as well as examine the results of the Global Data Barometer and the two indicators that evaluate the implementation of these laws provide, with a specific focus on data relevant to Latin America.

A few examples from our thematic partners:

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Broken Links: Open Data to Advance Accountability and Combat Corruption report offers an overview of the state of open data against political corruption in OGP countries. Using new data from the GDB, the report explores trends across nine policy areas, identifies areas for improvement, and provides recommendations for future OGP commitments.

The Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) guide on Fulfilling the promise of e-procurement reform: Lessons from 5 African countries. Highlighting key insights from the GDB public procurement module, the guide encourages digitizing of the entire procurement process through an electronic government procurement (e-GP) system.

The Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) guide aims to facilitate understanding and use of the GDB public finance module. The Global Data Barometer’s Public Finance Module step-by-step guide will take you from downloading the database to answering specific concerns from stakeholders such as government officials, legislators, journalists, the organized civil society, academics, students, data enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the power of public financial data for the public good.

The Land Portal Foundation has hosted a number of events to discuss insights from the GDB land module. The insights have been shared in blog posts and the advance chapter on land data and development for the second edition of the State of Open Data.

The Reform Space to Watch blog series was authored using the GDB findings included in the OGP Broken Links report in consultation with Transparency International chapters in Kenya, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.

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