Data for 1998

Economic Complexity Index, 1998

Name: Economic Complexity Index, 1998
Creator: Growth Lab at Harvard University
License: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XTAQMC

1998, as Growth Lab at Harvard University’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Economic Complexity Index, 1998 covers 140 countries. Japan is highest, at 1.879; DR Congo is lowest, at -2.482. The middle country reads 0.201. Against 1997, 140 values changed (63 up, 77 down), the same countries are covered.

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Economic Complexity Index · Data for 1998

HighestJapan

1.879

LowestDR Congo

-2.482

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

140countries
1measure
1998the 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, 1998, 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, 1998: every country, as published by Growth Lab at Harvard University.

1	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	1.879
2	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.575
3	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.560
4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	1.503
5	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.493
6	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.376
7	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.313
8	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.277
9	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.251
10	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	1.236
11	United States`USA`Northern America	1.209
12	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.208
13	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.202
14	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	1.182
15	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.176
16	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.148
17	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1.146
18	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	1.104
19	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.104
20	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	1.057
21	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	1.055
22	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	1.005
23	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.996
24	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.988
25	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.970
26	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.941
27	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.930
28	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.909
29	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.888
30	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.888
31	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.845
32	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.783
33	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.777
34	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.724
35	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.685
36	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.671
37	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.669
38	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.664
39	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.657
40	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.654
41	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.618
42	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.618
43	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.617
44	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.598
45	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.596
46	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.587
47	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.574
48	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.564
49	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.561
50	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.542
51	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.532
52	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.495
53	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.492
54	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.472
55	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.444
56	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.416
57	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.405
58	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.398
59	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.374
60	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.361
61	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.352
62	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.347
63	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.346
64	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.339
65	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.339
66	Colombia`COL`South America	0.312
67	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.294
68	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.273
69	Chile`CHL`South America	0.268
70	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.252
71	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.150
72	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.128
73	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.054
74	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.015
75	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-0.048
76	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.056
77	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	-0.065
78	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	-0.082
79	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-0.122
80	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	-0.180
81	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	-0.186
82	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-0.203
83	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-0.224
84	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	-0.226
85	Peru`PER`South America	-0.296
86	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-0.307
87	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	-0.341
88	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	-0.355
89	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-0.376
90	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	-0.407
91	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-0.494
92	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-0.525
93	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	-0.537
94	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.581
95	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	-0.610
96	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	-0.613
97	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	-0.619
98	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	-0.645
99	Paraguay`PRY`South America	-0.665
100	Ecuador`ECU`South America	-0.709
101	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	-0.715
102	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-0.725
103	Honduras`HND`Central America	-0.730
104	Niger`NER`Western Africa	-0.742
105	Bolivia`BOL`South America	-0.744
106	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	-0.748
107	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-0.755
108	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	-0.785
109	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	-0.807
110	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-0.818
111	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	-0.863
112	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	-0.874
113	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-0.883
114	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	-0.950
115	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	-0.990
116	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	-1.025
117	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-1.044
118	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	-1.060
119	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	-1.167
120	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-1.206
121	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	-1.251
122	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	-1.350
123	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-1.462
124	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	-1.470
125	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.485
126	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-1.506
127	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	-1.627
128	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	-1.637
129	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-1.657
130	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	-1.730
131	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	-1.740
132	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-1.774
133	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	-1.843
134	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	-1.862
135	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-1.928
136	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-2.132
137	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	-2.199
138	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-2.329
139	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-2.425
140	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-2.482

02In 1998

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

#1Japan1.879
#2Switzerland1.575
#3Sweden1.560
#4Germany1.503
#5Finland1.493

Lowest

#140DR Congo-2.482
#139Equatorial Guinea-2.425
#138Republic of the Congo-2.329
#137Cameroon-2.199
#136Guinea-2.132

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.201. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031997 → 1998

Since 1997

What changed between 1997 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
140values changed, of 140 in both
63 · 77rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Papua New Guinea-2.812 → -1.740+1.072
Mauritania-2.092 → -1.506+0.586
Kyrgyzstan0.066 → 0.532+0.466
Qatar-0.117 → 0.347+0.464
Tanzania-1.410 → -1.025+0.385

Fell most

Cameroon-1.290 → -2.199−0.909
Laos-0.962 → -1.657−0.695
Mozambique-0.991 → -1.637−0.646
Zimbabwe-0.049 → -0.581−0.532
Afghanistan-0.255 → -0.725−0.470

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 1998.
136 distinct values among 140
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 1.104. 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-1998-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 (1998). Economic Complexity Index, 1998 [data set], describing 1998. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/economic-complexity/1998

0630 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Economic Complexity Index, 1997
140 countries
The year after ›
Economic Complexity Index, 1999
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