Capability agenda
Generated 2026-08-28
The frame includes 52 countries. Each dimension runs from 0 to 100, with no overall ranking. Confidence sits beside each score. Read the known limits of the data before quoting one.
Open the profile: indicators, values, years and sources
| Dimension | Score | Confidence | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anticipation | 30.5 | 0.67 | +7.2 over 10 years using 5 indicators |
| Agency | 49.0 | 0.61 | +12.7 over 10 years using 4 indicators |
| Coordination | 84.9 | 0.16 | no trend |
| Trust | not scored | 0.07 | no trend |
| Learning | 44.8 | 0.53 | +0.3 over 10 years using 2 indicators |
| Experimentation | 32.7 | 0.39 | +1.8 over 10 years using 2 indicators |
| Adaptability | 58.8 | 0.47 | +9.2 over 10 years using 4 indicators |
| Building | 37.7 | 0.54 | +0.1 over 10 years using 4 indicators |
| Shared Purpose | 47.1 | 0.27 | +10.7 over 10 years using 2 indicators |
These are the lowest scores with usable evidence. Thin evidence appears below.
How capable is the country of identifying and preparing for emerging change?
Uses 5 observed indicators. +7.2 over 10 years using 5 indicators.
Highest usable scores: Sweden 83.5, Finland 82, Switzerland 81.1.
Related deliveries in other countries: Embrapa, a fifty-year bet on tropical agriculture (Brazil); The Delta Programme and its fund (Netherlands).
Missing indicators: Government foresight capacity, Long-horizon research share.
How capable is the country of turning plans and knowledge into functioning systems?
Uses 5 observed indicators. +0.1 over 10 years using 4 indicators.
Highest usable scores: Ireland 75.3, Singapore 71.2, China 64.9.
Related deliveries in other countries: Pix instant payment system (Brazil); GOV.BR federal identity and service platform (Brazil); X-Road national data exchange layer (Estonia); Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts (India); Electricity supply rebuilt on renewable sources (Uruguay); Plan Ceibal, one connected laptop per child (Uruguay); Sistema Unico de Saude, universal public health system (Brazil); Programa Nacional de Imunizacoes, and its erosion (Brazil); Luz para Todos, rural electrification (Brazil); Bolsa Familia and the single registry behind it (Brazil); Fully electronic national elections (Brazil); Deepwater and pre-salt oil production (Brazil); Sure Start children's centres, and their erosion (United Kingdom); Grid power, and load shedding (South Africa); Measles elimination, and its erosion (United States).
Missing indicators: Large project delivery, Firm scale-up rate.
Rejected datasets: Logistics infrastructure quality.
How effectively does the country acquire, distribute, and update knowledge?
Uses 5 observed indicators. +0.3 over 10 years using 2 indicators.
Highest usable scores: Finland 77.9, Australia 70.3, United Kingdom 68.4.
Related deliveries in other countries: SkillsFuture Credit (Singapore); The public library system (Finland).
Missing indicators: Adult learning participation, Research citation impact.
How able are individuals and organizations to turn an intention into action?
Uses 6 observed indicators. +12.7 over 10 years using 4 indicators.
Highest usable scores: United States 92.6, Australia 89.8, United Kingdom 87.5.
Missing indicators: Adult digital skills, Perceived control over life.
The evidence is too thin to manage these dimensions confidently.
How much cooperation is possible beyond immediate personal networks?
Uses one observed indicator.
Missing indicators: Generalised interpersonal trust, Trust in public institutions, Cooperation beyond the in-group, Court case clearance rate.
Rejected datasets: Rule of law, Control of corruption, Intentional homicide rate.
How effectively can independent actors organize around shared objectives?
Uses 2 observed indicators.
Missing indicators: University-industry collaboration, Civil society strength, Public-private collaboration.
Rejected datasets: Government effectiveness, Regulatory quality, Logistics performance.
To what extent can people imagine themselves as participants in a common project?
Uses 2 observed indicators.
Missing indicators: Sense of national belonging, Volunteering, Political polarisation, Civic participation.
Rejected datasets: Voice and accountability.
How easily can new approaches be attempted, tested, abandoned, and improved?
Uses 4 observed indicators.
Missing indicators: Venture capital investment, Regulatory sandbox activity, University spinouts, Business share of R&D.
These scores are at least 50 with usable evidence. They still need watching.
27 requested indicators have no comparable dataset. Each lowers confidence. A gap can become an indicator when a comparable series covers at least two countries.
| Dimension | Missing indicator | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Anticipation | Government foresight capacity | Existence, mandate and continuity of a national strategic foresight function. |
| Anticipation | Long-horizon research share | Share of gross R&D expenditure classified as basic research. |
| Agency | Adult digital skills | Share of adults who can perform standard digital tasks. |
| Agency | Perceived control over life | Self-reported freedom of choice and control over the course of one’s life. |
| Coordination | University-industry collaboration | Intensity of research collaboration between universities and firms. |
| Coordination | Civil society strength | Autonomy, density and participatory reach of civil society organisations. |
| Coordination | Public-private collaboration | Frequency and scale of joint public-private delivery of national objectives. |
| Trust | Generalised interpersonal trust | Share agreeing that most people can be trusted. |
| Trust | Trust in public institutions | Confidence in national government, courts and civil service. |
| Trust | Cooperation beyond the in-group | Reported trust in people met for the first time and in people of another nationality. |
| Trust | Court case clearance rate | Civil and commercial cases resolved in a year as a share of cases filed in the same year. |
| Learning | Adult learning participation | Share of adults in formal or non-formal education and training in the last 12 months. |
| Learning | Research citation impact | Field-normalised citation impact of national research output. |
| Experimentation | Venture capital investment | Venture capital deployed as a share of GDP. |
| Experimentation | Regulatory sandbox activity | Number and breadth of live regulatory sandboxes and controlled trial regimes. |
| Experimentation | University spinouts | Companies formed to commercialise university research, per million people. |
| Experimentation | Business share of R&D | Share of gross R&D expenditure performed by business enterprises. |
| Adaptability | Long-term unemployment share | Unemployed for 12 months or more, as a share of total unemployment. |
| Adaptability | Export diversification | Inverse concentration of the export basket by product. |
| Adaptability | Disaster preparedness and recovery | Demonstrated capacity to prepare for and recover from major shocks. |
| Adaptability | Institutional responsiveness | Speed at which rules and public programmes are changed in response to new conditions. |
| Building | Large project delivery | Cost and schedule performance of major public infrastructure projects. |
| Building | Firm scale-up rate | Share of young firms reaching significant employment or turnover thresholds. |
| Shared Purpose | Sense of national belonging | Reported pride in and identification with the national community. |
| Shared Purpose | Volunteering | Share of adults who volunteered time to an organisation in the last month. |
| Shared Purpose | Political polarisation | Degree to which political differences run along a single hostile divide. |
| Shared Purpose | Civic participation | Active membership in associations, unions, parties and community organisations. |
Documented deliveries linked to missing indicators. They do not affect scores or confidence.
Mexico built public health insurance for people outside social security from 2003 and abolished it in 2020, and CONEVAL measured the share of the population without access to health services rising from 16.2 percent in 2018 to 39.1 percent in 2022.
Fill a gap, file evidence or challenge an indicator at github.com/envisioning/national-capability-benchmark. The docs explain the method and decisions.