Government transparency statistics at a glance
Government transparency is easiest to understand when you compare the major measurement systems side by side. The supplied dataset pulls together OECD, Open Budget Survey, and World Justice Project indicators, which makes it possible to see both where transparency is measured and how it is scored.
Fast facts
- The OECD 2023 OURdata Index covered 36 OECD countries plus 4 accession countries: Brazil, Croatia, Peru, and Romania (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- The OECD OURdata composite score ranges from 0 to 1 (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- The OECD OURdata Index is built from 3 pillars (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- The Open Budget Survey 2023 assessed 120 countries for transparency change between 2021 and 2023 (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
- The OBS 2023 global average transparency score was 45 out of 100 (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
- The WJP Open Government Index scores range from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating the greatest openness (World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings).
At a glance comparison
| Framework | Scale | Coverage | Key reference point |
|---|---|---|---|
| OECD OURdata Index | 0 to 1 | 36 OECD countries plus 4 accession countries | 3 pillars (OECD Government at a Glance 2025) |
| Open Budget Survey 2023 | 0 to 100 | 120 countries | 61 is the benchmark for sufficient budget information (International Budget Partnership Open Budget Survey 2023) |
| WJP Open Government Index | 0 to 1 | Global country rankings | 4 dimensions of openness (World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings) |
What government transparency statistics measure
Government transparency statistics do not all measure the same thing. Some focus on whether information exists and can be requested, while others look at how much budget material is published, or how open laws and data are in practice.
The OECD transparency-of-public-information indicator explicitly measures both de jure and de facto transparency (OECD Government at a Glance 2025). That split matters because a law on paper does not guarantee usable public disclosure.
OECD de jure transparency criteria
The OECD de jure criteria include whether:
- All public institutions and officials are holders of public information (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- The right to request information extends to citizens and non-citizens (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- Data are provided in the requested format and in a timely fashion (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- Request denials can be appealed to an independent body (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
OECD de facto transparency criteria
The OECD de facto criteria include disclosure of:
- Public revenues and expenditures (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- Public contracts with private entities (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- Legislation and policy documents (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- Ministerial and government agendas (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
- Asset and/or interest declarations of senior public officials (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
That mix shows why government transparency statistics are often broader than a single open-data metric. They capture legal access, actual publication, and the usefulness of released material in public life.
OECD government transparency statistics and coverage
The OECD 2023 OURdata Index gives one of the clearest structured views of public information openness. Its coverage includes 36 OECD countries plus 4 accession countries: Brazil, Croatia, Peru, and Romania (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
A useful detail is that the OECD chapter notes data for Hungary and the United States were not available in that chapter (OECD Government at a Glance 2025). That means any country comparison based on that chapter is not complete for every OECD member.
Why the OECD scale matters
The OECD OURdata composite score runs from 0 to 1 (OECD Government at a Glance 2025). Because the scale is compressed, small shifts can matter when you are comparing countries or trends over time.
The index is built from 3 pillars (OECD Government at a Glance 2025), which helps keep the score from being overly dependent on one type of disclosure. Instead of treating transparency as a single narrow measure, the OECD framework breaks it into multiple parts that can move independently.
What the OECD setup implies
A few practical takeaways follow from the supplied OECD figures:
- The coverage is broad enough to compare many advanced economies and accession countries in one frame.
- The 0 to 1 scale makes the metric sensitive to relative differences.
- The de jure and de facto split means publication rules and actual disclosure both matter.
- The indicator focuses on public information access, not just on whether a government has some data portal.
Open Budget Survey statistics on transparency
The Open Budget Survey 2023 is the dataset in this group with the largest country coverage. It assessed 120 countries in both 2021 and 2023 for transparency change (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
The headline average is striking: the OBS 2023 global average transparency score was 45 out of 100 (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023). That sits well below the benchmark that the survey itself uses for sufficient budget information.
The benchmark problem
OBS 2023 says 61 is the benchmark for sufficient budget information for informed public debate (International Budget Partnership Open Budget Survey 2023). So the global average transparency score of 45 out of 100 is not just below the benchmark. It is 16 points short.
That gap is important because it shows the distance between average disclosure and the threshold for informed public debate. In other words, an average score can still represent a system that leaves major information gaps.
Budget publication gaps
The survey also highlights missing routine budget documents:
- 40% of countries fail to publish regular In-Year Reports or a Year-End Report on budget execution (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
- 57% of countries do not publish a Mid-Year Review (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
Those two figures are useful because they show that transparency is not only about having annual budget documents. Timely in-year and mid-year reporting matters for public oversight.
Transparency change over time
There is also some improvement, but it is modest relative to the remaining gap. Since 2008, global transparency scores in the Open Budget Survey have increased by more than 20% (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023). Among countries included in both 2021 and 2023, the average transparency score increased by 1 point (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
That combination tells a careful story. The long-term direction is upward, but recent change is small.
Public participation is much lower than transparency
OBS 2023 reported an average public participation score of 15 out of 100 (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023). Among countries included in both 2021 and 2023, public participation increased by 2 points (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
The gap between transparency and participation is large. A score of 45 out of 100 for transparency is already below the benchmark, but 15 out of 100 for participation is even farther from broad civic involvement.
That difference matters because a budget can be more visible without being meaningfully participatory.
United States government transparency statistics in the Open Budget Survey
The dataset includes specific Open Budget Survey figures for the United States. The United States’ OBS transparency score was 69 out of 100 (International Budget Partnership United States 2023). The United States’ public participation score was 22 out of 100 (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
The transparency score of 69 is above the 61-point sufficiency benchmark (International Budget Partnership United States 2023). That places the United States above the survey threshold for enough budget information for informed public debate.
US budget process participation by stage
The US budget process description includes:
- 67 out of 100 for formulation-stage participation (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
- 0 out of 100 for approval-stage participation (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
- 44 out of 100 for implementation-stage participation (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
This stage-by-stage split is useful because it shows that participation is not uniform across the budget cycle. The approval stage stands out as the weakest point in the supplied data.
How the US compares with other public participation scores
The Open Budget Survey comparison list in the dataset shows that the US participation score of 22 sits below several peer countries and above others (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
| Country | Public participation score | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 55 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| United Kingdom | 54 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| France | 37 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| South Africa | 35 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Mexico | 30 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Portugal | 28 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Canada | 26 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Norway | 24 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| United States | 22 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Sweden | 18 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Brazil | 17 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Germany | 17 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Italy | 15 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
| Spain | 2 | International Budget Partnership United States 2023 |
The table shows a wide spread in participation outcomes. The United States lands in the middle of this set, but not near the top performers.
World Justice Project open government statistics
The World Justice Project adds a different lens through the Open Government Index. Its scores range from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating greatest openness (World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings). The index is organized around 4 dimensions: publicized laws and government data, right to information, civic participation, and complaint mechanisms (World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings).
That structure makes the WJP dataset broader than a simple disclosure measure. It connects openness with ways citizens can understand, access, participate in, and challenge government action.
Top ranked open government results in 2015
The 2015 WJP Open Government Index table in the dataset provides a clear ranking snapshot. Several countries clustered near the top with very similar scores.
| Rank | Country | Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 0.81 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 0.81 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 3 | Norway | 0.81 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 4 | Denmark | 0.78 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 0.76 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 6 | Finland | 0.76 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 7 | Canada | 0.75 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 8 | United Kingdom | 0.74 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 9 | Australia | 0.74 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 10 | South Korea | 0.73 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 11 | United States | 0.73 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
| 12 | Japan | 0.72 | World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015 |
What the ranking cluster suggests
The top of the 2015 ranking is tightly grouped. Sweden, New Zealand, and Norway were all at 0.81, while the United States was 11th at 0.73 (World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015).
That spread suggests two things:
- The best-performing systems can be close together numerically.
- A small score gap can still move a country several places in the ranking.
The dataset also includes countries down to 27th, where South Africa scored 0.62 (World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015). That gives the comparison a decent range across the upper and middle tiers.
How the main transparency metrics differ
A common mistake in reading government transparency statistics is assuming every index is interchangeable. The supplied dataset shows three different measurement styles.
1. Access-oriented transparency
The OECD OURdata framework emphasizes whether public information is accessible in law and in practice. Its de jure criteria cover request rights and appealability, while its de facto criteria cover actual publication of different information types (OECD Government at a Glance 2025).
2. Budget-document transparency
The Open Budget Survey focuses on budget transparency, budget participation, and related publication practices. Its benchmark of 61 and average transparency score of 45 make it especially useful for seeing the gap between sufficient information and typical disclosure (International Budget Partnership Open Budget Survey 2023).
3. Broader open-government openness
The World Justice Project index expands the concept to include publicized laws, civic participation, and complaint mechanisms as well as the right to information (World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings).
Together, the datasets show that transparency is not one single number. It is a family of related but distinct institutional conditions.
Reading the statistics without over-reading them
The strongest pattern in the supplied figures is not that every country ranks the same way across every index. It is that each framework captures a different slice of openness.
A few data-grounded observations stand out:
- The OBS global transparency average of 45 is below the 61 benchmark, which signals an ongoing information gap (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023; International Budget Partnership Open Budget Survey 2023).
- The global OBS public participation average of 15 is far lower than the transparency average, suggesting participation remains a much harder challenge than disclosure (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
- The US OBS transparency score of 69 clears the benchmark, but its participation score of 22 remains modest (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
- The OECD and WJP frameworks both use normalized scales, but they ask different questions and therefore should not be treated as direct substitutes (OECD Government at a Glance 2025; World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings).
Big number highlights
- 45 out of 100: the OBS 2023 global average transparency score (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
- 61: the OBS benchmark for sufficient budget information for informed public debate (International Budget Partnership Open Budget Survey 2023).
- 15 out of 100: the OBS 2023 global average public participation score (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).
- 69 out of 100: the US OBS transparency score (International Budget Partnership United States 2023).
- 0.81: the top WJP Open Government Index score in the 2015 ranking table (World Justice Project Open Government Index 2015).
What the dataset says about government transparency today
The best-supported takeaway from these statistics is that transparency is improving in some places, but the overall picture remains uneven. The Open Budget Survey shows modest recent change and a long-term upward trend, yet global averages remain below the benchmark (HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023; International Budget Partnership Open Budget Survey 2023).
The OECD data show that transparency can be measured in more than one way, including access rights and actual disclosure behavior (OECD Government at a Glance 2025). The World Justice Project adds a broader institutional view that includes civic participation and complaint mechanisms, not just information release (World Justice Project Global Scores & Rankings).
For readers comparing countries, agencies, or reforms, the practical lesson is simple: use the metric that matches the question. If you care about budget disclosure, the OBS is the sharper tool. If you care about general openness and rights around information, the OECD and WJP frameworks add different dimensions. If you want to know how hard it is for the public to influence the budget process, the participation scores are the numbers to watch (International Budget Partnership United States 2023; HESPI Open Budget Survey 2023).