OPEN DATA BAROMETER: Ukraine Has Shown Tremendous Progress
2018 marks ten years since a group of open government advocates gathered to develop a set of principles for open government data, triggering the beginning of the open data movement in government. Since then, open data champions have worked with governments to open up information to the public, make government more accountable, and give citizens new ways to participate in their communities. The Open Data Barometer – Leaders Edition looks at how leading governments are performing a decade into the open data movement, and outlines what needs to happen for the movement to progress forward.
The report looks specifically at 30 governments that have made concrete commitments to champion open data, either by adopting the Open Data Charter, or, as members of the G20, by signing up to the G20 Anti-Corruption Open Data Principles. We have called them “leaders” on the basis of making these commitments, but, as the report shows, we are yet to see any government undertake the organizational and infrastructural changes needed to make open data a norm of day-to-day governing. Progress towards this, even among these leader governments, is slow.
A number of governments have made large improvements and continue to progress at a good pace. South Korea, Colombia, Ukraine, Japan and Uruguay have all seen their scores jump by over 20 points during the last five years; Mexico holds the record for absolute improvement, with a score increase of 33 points since the first edition of the Open Data Barometer.