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Dataset · Ana Carolina Garriga

Central Bank Independence Index

54 years, 1970–2023 · 191 countries · 2 measures

The Central Bank Independence Index reads each country’s central bank law and scores how far it shields the bank from the government, from 0 to 1. Coded by Ana Carolina Garriga at the University of Essex on the standard Cukierman–Webb–Neyapti scheme, it covers nearly every country back to 1970.

This site holds every year from 1970 to 2023, read from Ana Carolina Garriga’s own data and stored exactly as published.

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Central Bank Independence Index · the file

Newest
Central Bank Independence Index, 2023
Held
54 years · 8,490 rows
Licence
Public domain or CC0

0154 years

Every year

Newest first. Each opens the full table for that year, and each downloads as a CSV.

1970bar height: countries covered, up to 1912023
Every year of Central Bank Independence Index held on this site, newest first, with its download files.
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
Central Bank Independence Index, 2023Newest191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2022191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2021191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2020191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2019191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2018191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2017191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2016191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2015191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2014191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2013191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2012191±0September 26, 2026CSV
Show all 54 years
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
Central Bank Independence Index, 2011191+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2010190+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2009189±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2008189±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2007189±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2006189+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2005188+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2004187±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2003187+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2002186+3September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2001183+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 2000182+3September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1999179+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1998178±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1997178+6September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1996172+2 −1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1995171+3September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1994168+2September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1993166+7September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1992159+11September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1991148+9September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1990139+5September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1989134+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1988133+2September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1987131±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1986131±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1985131+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1984130+2September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1983128+10September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1982118+2September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1981116+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1980115+3September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1979112+4September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1978108±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1977108±0September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1976108+3September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1975105+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1974104+2September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 1973102+5September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 197297+7September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 197190+1September 26, 2026CSV
Central Bank Independence Index, 197089—September 26, 2026CSV

Every year in one file, one row per country per year: central-bank-independence-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

024 columns

What’s in the file

Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.

Every column in the newest file of Central Bank Independence Index: what it holds, how it is stored, and its range.
ColumnWhat it holdsStored asRange, 2023DistinctEmptySpread
CountrycountryNameThe country’s name, as this file spells it.Text—1910
ISO Codecountry_codeIdentifierThe ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it.Text · 3 letters—1910
CBI, unweighted (0–1)cbi_unweightedHeadlineThe headline figure: CBI index (0–1, where 1 is the most statutory independence).Number · up to 3 decimals0.006Tuvalu0.974Bosnia and Herzegovinamiddle 0.6081310
CBI, weighted (0–1)cbi_weightedMeasureSame statutory independence reading with its components weighted on the Cukierman–Webb–Neyapti scheme, from 0 to 1, where 1 is the most independence.Number · up to 3 decimals0.011Tuvalu0.979Bosnia and Herzegovinamiddle 0.5991400

Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

03191 countries across every year

Who is covered

How many countries each year holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.

All regions
Countries in each year of Central Bank Independence Index, by continent.
201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Africa545454545454545454545454
Americas404040404040404040404040
Asia484848484848484848484848
Europe404040404040404040404040
Oceania999999999999
All191191191191191191191191191191191191

The newest 12 of 54 years.

Who joined and who left

04Provenance

Where it comes from

The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.

The site’s method
  1. 1 · Publisher

    Ana Carolina Garriga, University of Essex

  2. 2 · Their file

    Central Bank Independence Index 2023

  3. 3 · Read by this site

    September 26, 2026

    Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.
  4. 4 · Stored as

    54 files, one per year

    Each downloads as a CSV, or every year together as central-bank-independence-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv
  5. 5 · Used on

    Its statistic page, and every profile it measures

Precision

The headline is stored to 3 decimals, as published.

Rounded by this site

Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.

Changed by this site

Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

From the author’s own Harvard Dataverse deposit. Only her two index columns are republished — the unweighted headline and the weighted variant beside it; the deposit’s merged economic and political series belong to other publishers and are left out.

05Reuse

Licence and credit

What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.

Every publisher’s terms

Licence · checked September 26, 2026

CC0 1.0

  • Share and redistribute it
  • Adapt it and build on it
  • Use it commercially

No conditions at all. Crediting the publisher is still the courteous thing to do.

A credit line

Source: Ana Carolina Garriga, University of Essex, Central Bank Independence Index, via Nations Inquiry.

Cite this dataset

Ana Carolina Garriga, University of Essex. Central Bank Independence Index, 1970–2023 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/central-bank-independence

The publisher’s own citation: Garriga, Ana Carolina (2025). "Revisiting Central Bank Independence in the World: An Extended Dataset." International Studies Quarterly 69(2), sqaf024. https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqaf024. Data: Harvard Dataverse, doi:10.7910/DVN/NWUUEY, version 1.0.

Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.

06Questions

Central Bank Independence Index: questions and answers

What is the Central Bank Independence Index?

The Central Bank Independence Index reads each country’s central bank law and scores how far it shields the bank from the government, from 0 to 1. Coded by Ana Carolina Garriga at the University of Essex on the standard Cukierman–Webb–Neyapti scheme, it covers nearly every country back to 1970.

Which years of the Central Bank Independence Index can I download?

All 54, from 1970 to 2023, each as a CSV file, or every year together in one CSV.

Does Ana Carolina Garriga rank countries on it?

No, and this site does not order it either. The files hold values only.

Can I use it commercially?

Yes, under CC0 1.0, with credit to Ana Carolina Garriga. The licence text is linked on this page.

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