Brazil slips in global open data ranking
Brazil slipped one position in a worldwide ranking that analyzed how governments in 115 countries used open data for accountability, innovation and social impact in 2016.
According to the latest Open Data Barometer from the World Wide Web Foundation, released on Tuesday (23), Brazil now ranks 18th as governments worldwide are "slowing and stalling in their commitment to open data."
Despite ranking lower down the list, Brazil stands out among the 12 nations that publish truly open data on public spending, and ranks among the nine that do so with data on education.
The report ranked countries based on four pillars: legal and regulatory environment for opening up government data; implementation of open data; the number and types of datasets that are open; and the impact that open data is having on business, politics and civil society.
The existence and quality of 15 important data sets (such as government registries or budgets) was also examined across all the nations ranked. These data sets are collected in some form in 97 percent of countries but 29 percent of these data sets are not yet published online, and only 7 percent are truly open - which is data that can be freely used, modified and shared by anyone for any purpose.
Mexico heads the Latin American and Caribbean region, ranking 11th on the list, while Uruguay ranks 17th. According to the document, "open data is still an exception, not a rule."
"As more data has become available in a machine-readable form and under an open license since the first edition of the Barometer, the number of truly open global datasets remains stationary," says the report.
Developed nations dominate the top ten positions in the open data ranking: the UK, which topped the list, is followed by Canada, France, the US, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway.