East Asia and the Pacific

AVERAGE SCORE

46
out of 100

READINESS AVERAGE

59
out of 100

IMPLEMENTATION AVG

39
out of 100

IMPACT AVERAGE

47
out of 100
1 Countries in the region have made significant progress, with South Korea and the Philippines taking the lead.
2 Only 7% of the key datasets published are fully open.
3 True impact from open data remains elusive, particularly for the region’s low or middle-income countries.

General regional highlights and findings

Countries in the region continue to challenge early open data leaders for top spots, with four countries now ranking in the top 10. South Korea is the top performing country in the region — 5th in the global rankings — while the Philippines leads the lower middle-income countries, ranking 22nd.

But in line with the global trend, progress on open data implementation remains slow. Only 7% of datasets analysed in the region were open, and key datasets that can be used by citizens to hold governments to account — like contracts, companies and spending data — remain closed. Indeed, spending data was the least open dataset in the region.

Regional Ranking

Global Rank Score Country Readiness Implementation Impact
5 81 Flag Korea 95 59 100
5 81 Flag Australia 85 78 78
7 79 Flag New Zealand 92 58 99
8 75 Flag Japan 84 60 89
22 55 Flag Philippines 58 41 76
23 53 Flag Singapore 73 46 41
38 38 Flag Indonesia 51 39 25
53 28 Flag Malaysia 53 20 19
53 28 Flag Thailand 40 31 11
71 20 Flag China 46 10 11
79 17 Flag Vietnam 25 18 13
113 1 Flag Myanmar 2 5 4

Open Data Barometer 4th edition - Regional ranking

How’s the region performing against the rest of the world?

Readiness

Civil society engagement remains strong - even in countries with a weak history of civil society participation such as Malaysia and Singapore.

Readiness of the private sector to take advantage of open data remains stagnant even though government support for innovation is increasing.

Implementation

Publication of innovation datasets is improving with high-income countries in the region leading the way in using data to drive economic growth.

While budget data is accessible in most countries, contracting and spending data remains closed.

Impact

There is increasing evidence that open data is improving government efficiency, both in high-income and in low/middle-income countries.

Open data impact has not yet translated into concrete improvements in the lives of ordinary people, especially for traditionally marginalised groups.

Country Profiles

Indonesia ranks 38th out of 115 countries in the fourth edition of the Barometer. The country continues to improve its readiness to implement open data policies. Government collaboration with civil society on projects fostering innovation — such as Hackathon Merdeka and Compfest — shows promising support for open data at regional and national levels. However, there remains a lack of progress in the implementation and visible impact of open data in the country.

Philippines leads among lower middle-income countries in overall openness, ranking 22nd of 115 countries. While Freedom of Information laws have not been enacted, open data is required to be published by agencies through annual budget legislation. Several new initiatives have capitalised on this data — with impressive results. These include Bottom-Up Budgeting, Open Reconstruction and Project NOAH, projects that seek to make budgeting and planning inclusive, bring greater scrutiny to donor and government projects, and improve capacity for disaster-preparedness.