Data for 1997

Economic Complexity Index, 1997

Name: Economic Complexity Index, 1997
Creator: Growth Lab at Harvard University
License: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XTAQMC

1997, as Growth Lab at Harvard University’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Economic Complexity Index, 1997 covers 140 countries. Japan is highest, at 1.892; Papua New Guinea is lowest, at -2.812. The middle country reads 0.131. Against 1996, 140 values changed (65 up, 75 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

Economic Complexity Index · Data for 1997

HighestJapan

1.892

LowestPapua New Guinea

-2.812

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

140countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
136distinct 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, 1997, 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, 1997: every country, as published by Growth Lab at Harvard University.

1	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	1.892
2	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.599
3	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.563
4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	1.515
5	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.482
6	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.370
7	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.340
8	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.308
9	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.266
10	United States`USA`Northern America	1.250
11	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.226
12	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.216
13	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	1.203
14	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	1.190
15	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.187
16	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.171
17	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1.156
18	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.131
19	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	1.112
20	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	1.087
21	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	1.070
22	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	1.062
23	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	1.062
24	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	1.036
25	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	1.020
26	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.983
27	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.952
28	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.924
29	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.911
30	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.854
31	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.807
32	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.797
33	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.791
34	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.732
35	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.701
36	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.695
37	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.682
38	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.651
39	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.650
40	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.625
41	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.624
42	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.618
43	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.610
44	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.604
45	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.596
46	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.570
47	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.559
48	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.546
49	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.509
50	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.503
51	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.475
52	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.450
53	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.441
54	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.423
55	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.407
56	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.402
57	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.396
58	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.383
59	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.379
60	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.365
61	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.364
62	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.321
63	Colombia`COL`South America	0.307
64	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.303
65	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.286
66	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.216
67	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.206
68	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.195
69	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.195
70	Chile`CHL`South America	0.195
71	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.066
72	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.027
73	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.000
74	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.048
75	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.049
76	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	-0.083
77	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	-0.117
78	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	-0.138
79	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-0.139
80	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-0.205
81	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	-0.216
82	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	-0.241
83	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-0.255
84	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	-0.286
85	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	-0.298
86	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-0.327
87	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	-0.341
88	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	-0.351
89	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	-0.378
90	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	-0.413
91	Peru`PER`South America	-0.430
92	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-0.440
93	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	-0.447
94	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-0.448
95	Niger`NER`Western Africa	-0.449
96	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-0.467
97	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-0.476
98	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-0.527
99	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-0.531
100	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	-0.585
101	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	-0.647
102	Honduras`HND`Central America	-0.652
103	Paraguay`PRY`South America	-0.713
104	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	-0.726
105	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	-0.773
106	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	-0.784
107	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-0.811
108	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	-0.814
109	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	-0.862
110	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	-0.868
111	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	-0.873
112	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	-0.879
113	Bolivia`BOL`South America	-0.904
114	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-0.920
115	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	-0.924
116	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-0.938
117	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-0.962
118	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	-0.991
119	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	-0.999
120	Ecuador`ECU`South America	-1.004
121	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-1.053
122	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	-1.053
123	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-1.277
124	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	-1.290
125	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	-1.349
126	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	-1.359
127	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	-1.410
128	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-1.425
129	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	-1.528
130	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-1.690
131	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.817
132	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-1.830
133	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-1.929
134	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	-1.931
135	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-2.092
136	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-2.122
137	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	-2.124
138	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-2.291
139	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-2.442
140	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	-2.812

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

#1Japan1.892
#2Switzerland1.599
#3Sweden1.563
#4Germany1.515
#5Finland1.482

Lowest

#140Papua New Guinea-2.812
#139DR Congo-2.442
#138Republic of the Congo-2.291
#137Nigeria-2.124
#136Equatorial Guinea-2.122

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.131. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
140values changed, of 140 in both
65 · 75rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Libya-0.331 → 0.570+0.901
Mozambique-1.651 → -0.991+0.660
Angola-2.459 → -1.931+0.528
Turkmenistan-0.983 → -0.531+0.452
Liberia-1.253 → -0.814+0.439

Fell most

Iraq0.746 → -0.527−1.273
Mauritania-1.073 → -2.092−1.019
Republic of the Congo-1.630 → -2.291−0.661
Rwanda-0.224 → -0.726−0.502
Nigeria-1.623 → -2.124−0.501

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 1997.
136 distinct values among 140
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.195. 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-1997-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 (1997). Economic Complexity Index, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/economic-complexity/1997

0630 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Economic Complexity Index, 1996
140 countries
The year after ›
Economic Complexity Index, 1998
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