Data for 1996

Economic Complexity Index, 1996

Name: Economic Complexity Index, 1996
Creator: Growth Lab at Harvard University
License: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XTAQMC

1996, as Growth Lab at Harvard University’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Economic Complexity Index, 1996 covers 140 countries. Japan is highest, at 1.975; Papua New Guinea is lowest, at -2.735. The middle country reads 0.154. Against 1995, 139 values changed (62 up, 77 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

Economic Complexity Index · Data for 1996

HighestJapan

1.975

LowestPapua New Guinea

-2.735

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

140countries
1measure
1996the year it describes
137distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 6, 2026read from the publisher
Public domain or CC0licence

01Growth Lab at Harvard University’s rank

The table

Every country and every column of Economic Complexity Index, 1996, as published. The rank is Growth Lab at Harvard University’s own, as printed. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 140 countries · select a heading to sort

Economic Complexity Index, 1996: every country, as published by Growth Lab at Harvard University.

1	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	1.975
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.625
3	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.622
4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	1.568
5	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.544
6	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.432
7	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.375
8	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.355
9	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.289
10	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	1.251
11	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.249
12	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.246
13	United States`USA`Northern America	1.244
14	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.236
15	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.231
16	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.182
17	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	1.143
18	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1.139
19	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	1.127
20	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	1.126
21	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	1.097
22	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	1.089
23	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	1.082
24	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	1.040
25	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	1.002
26	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.972
27	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.956
28	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.919
29	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.895
30	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.890
31	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.870
32	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.830
33	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.816
34	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.790
35	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.762
36	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.761
37	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.746
38	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.727
39	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.699
40	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.668
41	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.665
42	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.630
43	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.623
44	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.615
45	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.609
46	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.603
47	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.600
48	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.589
49	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.557
50	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.542
51	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.519
52	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.429
53	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.423
54	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.397
55	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.388
56	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.384
57	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.380
58	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.355
59	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.349
60	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.336
61	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.332
62	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.316
63	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.296
64	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.296
65	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.291
66	Colombia`COL`South America	0.270
67	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.257
68	Chile`CHL`South America	0.222
69	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.214
70	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.166
71	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.142
72	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.039
73	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.017
74	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-0.012
75	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	-0.114
76	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	-0.117
77	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.146
78	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-0.147
79	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.222
80	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	-0.224
81	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	-0.226
82	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-0.244
83	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	-0.270
84	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	-0.283
85	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-0.288
86	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	-0.289
87	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	-0.306
88	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-0.331
89	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	-0.368
90	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	-0.376
91	Peru`PER`South America	-0.417
92	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	-0.428
93	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-0.504
94	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	-0.506
95	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	-0.536
96	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-0.553
97	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-0.590
98	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-0.594
99	Honduras`HND`Central America	-0.606
100	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	-0.606
101	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	-0.611
102	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-0.640
103	Niger`NER`Western Africa	-0.673
104	Bolivia`BOL`South America	-0.753
105	Paraguay`PRY`South America	-0.797
106	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	-0.810
107	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-0.825
108	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-0.886
109	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-0.886
110	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	-0.930
111	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	-0.941
112	Ecuador`ECU`South America	-0.954
113	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	-0.968
114	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-0.983
115	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	-0.999
116	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	-1.007
117	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	-1.008
118	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-1.009
119	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-1.073
120	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	-1.085
121	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	-1.208
122	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-1.222
123	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	-1.253
124	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-1.279
125	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	-1.366
126	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	-1.367
127	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-1.491
128	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	-1.515
129	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.597
130	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	-1.603
131	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	-1.623
132	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-1.630
133	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	-1.651
134	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-1.826
135	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-1.960
136	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-1.971
137	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-2.023
138	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-2.458
139	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	-2.459
140	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	-2.735

02In 1996

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

#1Japan1.975
#2Sweden1.625
#3Switzerland1.622
#4Germany1.568
#5Finland1.544

Lowest

#140Papua New Guinea-2.735
#139Angola-2.459
#138Equatorial Guinea-2.458
#137DR Congo-2.023
#136Myanmar-1.971

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.154. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031995 → 1996

Since 1995

What changed between 1995 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
139values changed, of 140 in both
62 · 77rose · fell
1unchanged

Rose most

Gabon-1.921 → -0.886+1.035
Laos-1.759 → -0.825+0.934
Nigeria-2.447 → -1.623+0.824
Armenia0.092 → 0.895+0.803
Iraq-0.046 → 0.746+0.792

Fell most

Republic of the Congo-0.739 → -1.630−0.891
Senegal0.354 → -0.428−0.782
Dominican Republic-0.006 → -0.611−0.605
Nicaragua-0.495 → -0.968−0.473
Liberia-0.810 → -1.253−0.443

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from Growth Lab at Harvard University’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1996.
137 distinct values among 140
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.296. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The rank is Growth Lab at Harvard University’s
Printed as the publisher ranked the countries; never re-ranked here.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 140 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
140 rows · 4.4 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download economic-complexity-1996-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
Growth Lab at Harvard University’s own file, on its own site.
13439575

What this site changed: 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.

Licence: CC0 1.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

Growth Lab at Harvard University (1996). Economic Complexity Index, 1996 [data set], describing 1996. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/economic-complexity/1996

0630 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Economic Complexity Index, 1995
140 countries
The year after ›
Economic Complexity Index, 1997
140 countries
All of them
Economic Complexity Index: every year
30 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions