One of nine capability dimensions
Shared Purpose
To what extent can people imagine themselves as participants in a common project?
This page puts the country comparison, indicator registry and documented cases together. It shows how much of the capability the current data can see.
52 countries in the frame7 indicators in the registry2 indicators with data46 countries with a score
<iframe src="https://ncb-envisioning.vercel.app/embed/compare/BRA/shared_purpose" title="Shared Purpose country comparison" loading="lazy" width="100%" height="300" style="border:0" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>All countries use the same frame
The table opens alphabetically. Sort by score, confidence, coverage or trend. Scores need two observed indicators; trends use indicators observed at both ends.
Scores use one 0 to 100 scale for all countries. Each dot is a country. The box covers the middle half of the field, and the line is the median. Hollow dots have thin evidence.
| Argentina | 39.2 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | -3.3(2) |
| Australia | 78.7 | 0.20 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| Bolivia | 54.1 | 0.15 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| Brazil | 34.9 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +8.6(2) |
| Canada | 64.2 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | +4.4(2) |
| Chile | 52.9 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +5.5(2) |
| China | 43.8 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | +0.7(2) |
| Colombia | 27.4 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | -3.1(2) |
| Costa Rica | 39.5 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +5.4(2) |
| Cuba | not measured | 0.00 | 0 of 7 | no trend |
| Dominican Republic | 53.1 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +14.8(2) |
| Ecuador | 38.1 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | -4.3(2) |
| El Salvador | 65.0 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +8.7(2) |
| Estonia | 82.4 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +2.7(2) |
| Ethiopia | 45.5 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | -2.1(2) |
| Finland | 93.1 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +7.6(2) |
| France | 80.7 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | -0.6(2) |
| Germany | 55.1 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | -5.9(2) |
| Guatemala | 36.6 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +7.7(2) |
| Haiti | not measured | 0.01 | 1 of 7 | no trend |
| Honduras | 42.2 | 0.23 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| India | 61.8 | 0.23 | 2 of 7 | -2.2(2) |
| Indonesia | 54.2 | 0.15 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| Ireland | 76.5 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +5.3(2) |
| Israel | 70.4 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | +1.5(2) |
| Japan | 58.0 | 0.10 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| Kenya | 52.7 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | +2.2(2) |
| Malaysia | 45.9 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | -1.4(2) |
| Mexico | 47.1 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +10.7(2) |
| Netherlands | 96.0 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | +9.9(2) |
| Nicaragua | 50.8 | 0.16 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| Nigeria | not measured | 0.11 | 1 of 7 | no trend |
| Panama | 20.4 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | -4.2(2) |
| Paraguay | 37.7 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +9.7(2) |
| Peru | 53.5 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | +10.1(2) |
| Philippines | 51.9 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +11.5(2) |
| Poland | 77.5 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | +8.1(2) |
| Rwanda | 49.3 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | +4.6(2) |
| Singapore | not measured | 0.14 | 1 of 7 | no trend |
| South Africa | 48.0 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | +2.5(2) |
| South Korea | 61.0 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | +4.0(2) |
| Spain | 63.2 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +6.5(2) |
| Sweden | 93.4 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | +0.5(2) |
| Switzerland | 52.2 | 0.25 | 2 of 7 | -1.0(2) |
| Thailand | 63.8 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | +4.1(2) |
| Turkey | 50.4 | 0.26 | 2 of 7 | -4.5(2) |
| United Arab Emirates | 48.4 | 0.20 | 2 of 7 | no trend |
| United Kingdom | 87.4 | 0.24 | 2 of 7 | +4.2(2) |
| United States | 40.8 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | -1.1(2) |
| Uruguay | 57.3 | 0.27 | 2 of 7 | -7.8(2) |
| Venezuela | not measured | 0.01 | 1 of 7 | no trend |
| Vietnam | not measured | 0.11 | 1 of 7 | no trend |
0 to 100 is a position inside the frame every country builds together. Zero is the weakest on a dimension and 100 is the strongest. A score of 10 puts a country near the floor of that frame. It does not mean 10 percent of a capability.
Shared Purpose indicators
7 indicators define this capability. Gaps and retired rows remain because they lower confidence. Click a heading to sort.
- Cdirect capability measure Measures the thing itself.
- Icapability input Measures something that supports the capability.
- Odownstream outcome Measures a result that usually follows from the capability.
- Pperception proxy Records what people or experts say, not what they did.
Shared Purpose
| Note | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civic participationno dataset | C | % of adults | higher is better | World Values Survey | 0.10 | Behavioural rather than attitudinal, so it is the item worth prioritising if only one survey measure can be harmonised. |
| Income inequality | O | Gini 0-100 | lower is better | World Bank | 0.20 | Included as a structural constraint on seeing yourself in a common project, not as a value judgement. Contested and worth challenging. |
| Political polarisationno dataset | P | index 0-4 | lower is better | V-Dem | 0.05 | V-Dem political polarisation is inspectable and would fill this. Pluralism is the target, so only hostile polarisation should count against a country. |
| Sense of national belongingno dataset | P | % expressing belonging | higher is better | World Values Survey | 0.05 | Culturally loaded. High national pride is not the same as capacity for collective action and must not be read as such. |
| Tax revenue | O | % of GDP | higher is better | World Bank | 0.30 | Revealed willingness to fund public goods, confounded by federal structure and by resource revenue. Treat with suspicion. |
| Voice and accountabilityretired | P | z-score -2.5 to 2.5 | higher is better | World Bank | 0.35 | Retired 2026-08-26. Artefact A5: it measures the democratic channel while Shared Purpose asks whether people can see themselves in a common project. Singapore scored 20.9 while being one of the most effective collective actors in the set. Voter turnout, volunteering and civic participation are the observable replacements and all are declared gaps. See D23 and A5. |
| Volunteeringno dataset | C | % of adults | higher is better | Gallup World Poll / CAF | 0.10 | CAF publishes country figures but the underlying Gallup microdata is proprietary, so it fails the inspectability rule. |
Documented deliveries add context to the data
These records describe a country doing something this capability should capture. They stay outside the score because one case is not a comparable series.
Evidence for missing indicators
Each record describes a case the indicators above cannot see. It does not affect the score or confidence because one case is not comparable across countries. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.
Internet voting in national electionslinked to Civic participation, started 2005, still operating
Estonia has run legally binding internet voting since 2005, and at the 2023 Riigikogu election 312,182 votes, 51.1 percent of all votes cast, came in online, the first national election anywhere in which more than half the vote was digital.
51.1 % of votes, share of votes cast online, 2023 riigikogu election, 2023. 9,287 votes, internet votes at first use, 2005 local elections, 2005. State Electoral Office of Estonia, internet voting statistics, retrieved 2026-08-27.
How it worked: The state let any voter cast and re-cast a ballot online during the advance period, with the last vote counting and a paper vote overriding, which turned the coercion problem into a game the voter can always exit.
Limits: Turnout by channel measures adoption, not democratic quality: an online share says nothing about coercion outside the polling station, verifiability, or trust in the count, and Estonian i-voting has standing academic critics on all three. Adoption also rides on the national identity infrastructure recorded elsewhere in this dataset, so as evidence for civic participation it shows a lowered cost of voting rather than a raised desire to participate; overall turnout moved far less than the channel share.
Compulsory votinglinked to Civic participation, started 1924, still operating
Australia has required citizens to vote since 1924 and turnout at the 2025 federal election was 90.7 percent of enrolled voters, a level no large voluntary-voting democracy reaches.
90.7 % of enrolled voters, house of representatives turnout, 2025 federal election, 2025. Australian Electoral Commission, participation in the 2025 federal election, retrieved 2026-08-27.
How it worked: Parliament made voting a legal duty with a token fine, paired it with automatic-style enrolment, Saturday voting and easy postal and early options, so the state removed every excuse at the same time as it imposed the duty.
Limits: Turnout under compulsion measures compliance, not civic desire, which is exactly the objection to filing it under civic participation; the record is here because the indicator's construct is participation behaviour, and ninety percent of a country voting for a century is behaviour, whatever its cause. The denominator is enrolled voters, and enrolment itself is near-complete only because it is also compulsory. The fine is small and enforcement light, so the mechanism is closer to a maintained norm than to coercion.
Umuganda community worklinked to Volunteering, started 2007, still operating
Rwanda requires a morning of community work on the last Saturday of each month, and the government's own assessment reports average participation of 91.3 percent of adults countrywide in fiscal year 2015-2016, up from 87.8 percent two years earlier.
91.3 % of adults 18-65, umuganda participation rate, 2016. 87.8 % of adults 18-65, umuganda participation rate two years earlier, 2014. Rwanda Governance Board, impact assessment of umuganda 2007-2016, citing MINALOC annual reports, retrieved 2026-08-27.
How it worked: The state fixed a single national morning each month, closed roads and shops for it, assigned works through the lowest administrative level, and had officials up to the president participate visibly, converting an old rural practice into a synchronised national institution.
Limits: The number is the state assessing its own compulsory programme in a country where declining to participate carries social and administrative cost, so it cannot be read as volunteering in the survey sense the indicator intends, and no independent measurement exists. Participation is legally required, which is the opposite of the construct's voluntariness. The record is filed anyway because the indicator is a gap and the case is the strongest documented instance of state-organised mass civic labour, provided the compulsion is read alongside the number.
Read how the benchmark turns an indicator into a score on the method page. The limits page records where this capability is still poorly observed.