Data for 1999

Economic Complexity Index, 1999

Name: Economic Complexity Index, 1999
Creator: Growth Lab at Harvard University
License: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XTAQMC

1999, as Growth Lab at Harvard University’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Economic Complexity Index, 1999 covers 140 countries. Japan is highest, at 1.909; Papua New Guinea is lowest, at -2.839. The middle country reads 0.125. Against 1998, 139 values changed (76 up, 63 down), the same countries are covered.

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Economic Complexity Index · Data for 1999

HighestJapan

1.909

LowestPapua New Guinea

-2.839

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

140countries
1measure
1999the year it describes
138distinct 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, 1999, 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, 1999: every country, as published by Growth Lab at Harvard University.

1	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	1.909
2	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	1.590
3	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	1.553
4	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	1.550
5	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	1.500
6	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	1.365
7	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	1.341
8	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	1.323
9	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	1.266
10	United States`USA`Northern America	1.246
11	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	1.235
12	France`FRA`Western Europe	1.219
13	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	1.213
14	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	1.209
15	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	1.159
16	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	1.158
17	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	1.157
18	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	1.135
19	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	1.089
20	Canada`CAN`Northern America	1.065
21	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	1.043
22	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	1.038
23	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	1.006
24	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.996
25	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.992
26	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.951
27	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.933
28	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.895
29	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.880
30	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.854
31	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.840
32	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.810
33	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.705
34	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.663
35	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.657
36	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.649
37	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.639
38	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.634
39	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.631
40	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.611
41	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.587
42	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.586
43	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.558
44	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.538
45	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.533
46	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.529
47	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.515
48	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.496
49	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.477
50	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.465
51	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.465
52	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.450
53	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.441
54	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.410
55	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.408
56	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.406
57	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.393
58	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.361
59	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.350
60	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.343
61	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.318
62	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.302
63	Colombia`COL`South America	0.300
64	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.277
65	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.276
66	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.234
67	Chile`CHL`South America	0.214
68	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.191
69	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.145
70	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.138
71	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.112
72	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.105
73	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.083
74	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.043
75	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.021
76	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	-0.006
77	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	-0.028
78	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	-0.051
79	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	-0.056
80	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	-0.056
81	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	-0.085
82	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	-0.152
83	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	-0.185
84	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	-0.222
85	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	-0.235
86	Peru`PER`South America	-0.268
87	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	-0.300
88	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	-0.393
89	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	-0.421
90	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	-0.435
91	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	-0.443
92	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	-0.455
93	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	-0.467
94	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	-0.495
95	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	-0.527
96	Honduras`HND`Central America	-0.534
97	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	-0.576
98	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	-0.581
99	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	-0.601
100	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	-0.606
101	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	-0.619
102	Niger`NER`Western Africa	-0.631
103	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	-0.655
104	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	-0.705
105	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	-0.714
106	Ecuador`ECU`South America	-0.718
107	Bolivia`BOL`South America	-0.719
108	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	-0.742
109	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	-0.748
110	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	-0.752
111	Paraguay`PRY`South America	-0.762
112	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	-0.809
113	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	-0.838
114	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	-0.840
115	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	-0.873
116	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	-0.970
117	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	-1.047
118	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	-1.123
119	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	-1.151
120	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	-1.153
121	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	-1.180
122	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	-1.198
123	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	-1.206
124	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	-1.330
125	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	-1.333
126	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	-1.346
127	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	-1.416
128	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	-1.656
129	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	-1.702
130	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	-1.750
131	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	-1.751
132	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	-1.769
133	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	-1.840
134	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	-1.897
135	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	-2.048
136	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	-2.166
137	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	-2.566
138	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	-2.590
139	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	-2.664
140	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	-2.839

02In 1999

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

#1Japan1.909
#2Switzerland1.590
#3Finland1.553
#4Sweden1.550
#5Germany1.500

Lowest

#140Papua New Guinea-2.839
#139DR Congo-2.664
#138Guinea-2.590
#137Equatorial Guinea-2.566
#136Republic of the Congo-2.166

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.125. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031998 → 1999

Since 1998

What changed between 1998 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
139values changed, of 140 in both
76 · 63rose · fell
1unchanged

Rose most

Cuba-0.537 → 0.043+0.580
Zimbabwe-0.581 → -0.006+0.575
Malawi-1.627 → -1.123+0.504
Chad-1.206 → -0.714+0.492
Liberia-1.251 → -0.838+0.413

Fell most

Papua New Guinea-1.740 → -2.839−1.099
Libya0.685 → -0.152−0.837
Turkmenistan-0.224 → -0.752−0.528
Guinea-2.132 → -2.590−0.458
Iraq-0.307 → -0.748−0.441

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 1999.
138 distinct values among 140
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.465. 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-1999-nations-inquiry.csv
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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 (1999). Economic Complexity Index, 1999 [data set], describing 1999. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/economic-complexity/1999

0630 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Economic Complexity Index, 1998
140 countries
The year after ›
Economic Complexity Index, 2000
144 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