Data Policy

Source Preference

GovCompare prioritizes official public sources, audited public documents, and reputable international datasets such as World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators, Reporters Without Borders, and Our World in Data.

Source Links

Every chart and table row should link to its original or best available public source whenever possible. If a source is not available, the indicator should be marked as needing a dataset rather than being inferred.

Averages

UPA and NDA averages are simple arithmetic averages of available rows inside the selected year range. They are not weighted unless explicitly stated.

Methodology Changes

Some indicators change definitions, methods, base years, or scoring systems. Examples include GDP base-year revisions and RSF press freedom methodology changes. Such series should be interpreted with caution.

Corrections

If an error is found, the preferred correction process is to identify the indicator, year, current value, proposed value, and source URL. Corrections should preserve an audit trail.

Licenses

Third-party datasets remain subject to their original licenses and usage terms. GovCompare does not claim ownership over third-party data.