East Europe and Central Asia

AVERAGE SCORE

26
out of 100

READINESS AVERAGE

42
out of 100

IMPLEMENTATION AVG

29
out of 100

IMPACT AVERAGE

9
out of 100
1 Only one country in the region ranks in the Barometer Top 25.
2 Almost half of countries in the region have made significant strides towards open data implementation.
3 This is a region on the rise. The three countries with the biggest improvement in this year’s Barometer all come from the region.

General regional highlights and findings

As a whole, the region has progressed significantly. The top five ranked countries — Russia, Moldova, Georgia, Bulgaria and Turkey — have all seen marked improvements in their Barometer scores in recent years. Yet, many countries in the region still prioritise e-government and open government initiatives, but are not yet unlocking benefits from broader open data initiatives.

Georgia (+20), Ukraine (+18) and Russia (+16) have made the biggest leaps in this edition’s ranking, with Ukraine being the first country in the region to adopt the Open Data Charter. Meanwhile Poland — dropping 14 places — and Macedonia — down 15 — show worrying backsliding.

Regional Ranking

Global Rank Score Country Readiness Implementation Impact
25 49 Flag Russia 60 54 27
31 44 Flag Moldavia 55 54 14
40 37 Flag Georgia 52 45 11
40 37 Flag Turkey 35 53 15
44 36 Flag Ukraine 55 35 19
48 33 Flag Macedonia 57 29 13
50NEW 32 Flag Albania 54 37 4
58NEW 27 Flag Croatia 52 24 8
59 26 Flag Kazakhstan 39 32 6
63NEW 24 Flag Kosovo * 47 21 7
65NEW 23 Flag Serbia 44 25 0
83NEW 15 Flag Montenegro 33 13 4
87NEW 13 Flag Kyrgyzstan 23 13 11
93NEW 11 Flag Belarus 27 10 2
97NEW 10 Flag Tajikistan 15 14 4
100NEW 8 Flag Bosnia and Herzegovina 24 7 0

Open Data Barometer 4th edition - Regional ranking
* For ODECA, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)

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

Readiness

Some countries have strong transparency and anti-corruption initiatives, such as Turkey’s Networks of Dispossession, which maps relationships of capital and power

Even regional champions such as Georgia, Bulgaria and Turkey score low on data management, support for innovation, civil society engagement and open data activity at the subnational level.

Implementation

Interestingly, of the 115 countries included in the Barometer, three out of the nine countries with fully open crime data, and three out of the seven countries with fully open environmental data are found in the region.

Only 4% of the data we analysed in the region was fully open. The regional champions still score low on openness of datasets - particularly on those necessary to foster government accountability.

Impact

Some countries are improving on political and economic impact, including Russia and Ukraine. Moldova has also a well-established public procurement open contracting portal

The impact on inclusion remains zero for more than half of the countries assessed, and remains very low for the rest. In some countries, including Moldova, impact on accountability and entrepreneurship has decreased in the edition.

Country Profiles

Ukraine is well positioned to be an open data leader in the region. It has made significant improvements and jumped 18 places in the rankings. It has adopted the Open Data Charter and the Open Contracting Data Standard, showing a strong policy commitment to open data. The country has strengthened its national open government data initiative, improved its open data policy and strategy, and has now better data management practices. Availability of data has improved overall, in particular for education, spending, company, and contracting datasets. However, Ukraine needs open licenses to have truly open datasets in all sectors

Georgia has made significant strides, jumping 20 places to become a top five regional champion. It has fully open education, crime, environment, and budget data, and has robust data protection and detailed Right to Information and Freedom of Information laws. The government has also increased support for open data innovation and training. The impact of open data on accountability and transparency has also increased, with stand-out projects like Tender Monitor Georgia, which uses data about government contracts to monitor tenders, gather information about suppliers and customers and analyse corruption risks.