The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative’s (ND-GAIN) Country Index is a free, open source index that shows a country’s current vulnerability to climate disruptions. It also assesses a country’s readiness to leverage private and public sector investment for adaptive actions. The ND-GAIN Country Index brings together more than 40 core indicators to measure vulnerability and readiness of 182 UN countries from 1995 to the present (10 countries only have readiness scores).
Corporate, NGO, government, and development decision-makers use ND-GAIN’s country-level rankings and underlying data to make informed strategic operational and reputational decisions regarding supply chains, capital projects, policy changes and community engagements.
Last updated by source: 2024-08-26
| Dataset type: | Other |
| Dataset level: | Country |
(Chen et al., 2024)
Adaptive Capacity subcomponent of the Vulnerability score assesses the availability of social resources for sector-specific adaptation. In some cases, these capacities reflect sustainable adaptation solutions. In other cases, they reflect capacities to put newer, more sustainable adaptations into place.
More about this variableThe score of Economic readiness captures the readiness of a country’s business environment to accept investment that could be applied to adaptation in the form of business formation and maintenance. A simple multi-factor index, Doing Business Index from the World Bank is the measure of economic readiness.
More about this variableThe score of Ecosystem services captures the vulnerability of natural capital to climate change, the ecological resources that humans rely upon to support lives and livelihoods. Indicators include: projected change of biome distribution, projected change of marine biodiversity, natural capital dependency, ecological footprint, protected biome, and engagement in international environmental conventions.
More about this variableExposure score measures the nature and degree to which a system is exposed to significant climate change. It is a component of vulnerability independent of socioeconomic context.
More about this variableThe Food score captures a country’s vulnerability to climate change, in terms of food production, food demand, nutrition and rural population. Indicators include: projected change of cereal yields, projected population growth, food import dependency, rural population, agriculture capacity, and child malnutrition.
More about this variableThe ND-GAIN Country Index summarizes a country's vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges in combination with its readiness to improve resilience. It aims to help governments, businesses and communities better prioritize investments for a more efficient response to the immediate global challenges ahead.
More about this variableThere is a correlation between ND-GAIN scores and GDP per capita. To account for this, the authors introduce the 'GDP adjusted ND-GAIN score'. This score is defined as the distance of a country's measured ND-GAIN score and its expected value based on the regression of ND-GAIN and GDP. Positive values reflect better resilience than expected. This correlation applies to vulnerability and readiness as well. For these, positive values reflect lower vulnerability and higher readiness than expected, given a certain level of GDP per capita. The year-by-year calculation of the regression and distance from the expected value allows the index to determine that changes in the relationship over time.
More about this variableThe score of Governance readiness captures the institutional factors that enhance application of investment for adaptation. Indicators include: political stability and non-violence, control of corruption, regulatory quality, and rule of law. All come from the World Governance Indicators (WGI).
More about this variableThe score of Human habitat captures a country’s vulnerability of human living conditions to climate change, considering weather extremes, urban development, demography, and transport infrastructure. Indicators include: projected change of heatwave hazard, projected change of flood hazard, urban concentration, age dependency ratio, quality of transport and trade infrastructure, and paved roads.
More about this variableThe Health score captures a country’s vulnerability of public health to climate change, in terms of the spread of communicable diseases and provision of health services. Indicators include: projected change of deaths from climate change induced diseases (diarrhea and malnutrition), projected change of malaria hazard, dependency on external resource for health service, slum population, medical staffs, and access to improved sanitation facilities.
More about this variableThe Infrastructure score captures the vulnerability of coastal and energy infrastructure to climate change, primarily general preparedness to climate-related natural disasters, coastal hazards, and energy supply challenges. Indicators include projected change of hydropower generation capacity, projected change of sea level rise impacts, dependency on imported energy, population living under 5m above sea level, electricity access, and disaster preparedness.
More about this variableReadiness to make effective use of investments for adaptation actions thanks to a safe and efficient business environment ND-GAIN measures readiness by considering a country’s ability to leverage investments to adaptation actions. ND-GAIN measures overall readiness by considering three components: economic readiness, governance readiness and social readiness.
More about this variableThere is a correlation between ND-GAIN scores and GDP per capita. To account for this, we introduce the 'GDP adjusted ND-GAIN score'. This score is defined as the distance of a country's measured ND-GAIN score and its expected value based on the regression of ND-GAIN and GDP. Positive values reflect better resilience than expected. This correlation applies to vulnerability and readiness as well. For these, positive values reflect lower vulnerability and higher readiness than expected, given a certain level of GDP per capita. The year-by-year calculation of the regression and distance from the expected value allows the index to determine that changes in the relationship over time.
More about this variableThe sensitivity subcomponent of the vulnerability score measures the extent to which a country is dependent upon a sector negatively affected by climate change or the proportion of the population particularly susceptible to a climate change hazard.
More about this variableThe score of Social readiness captures the social factors that enhance the mobility of investment to be converted to adaptation actions. Indicators include: social inequality, ICT infrastructure, education and innovation.
More about this variableA country's ND-GAIN index score is composed of a Vulnerability score and a Readiness score. Vulnerability measures a country's exposure, sensitivity and ability to adapt to the negative impact of climate change. ND-GAIN measures the overall vulnerability by considering vulnerability in six life-supporting sectors – food, water, health, ecosystem service, human habitat and infrastructure.
More about this variableThere is a correlation between ND-GAIN scores and GDP per capita. To account for this, we introduce the 'GDP adjusted ND-GAIN score'. This score is defined as the distance of a country's measured ND-GAIN score and its expected value based on the regression of ND-GAIN and GDP. Positive values reflect better resilience than expected. This correlation applies to vulnerability and readiness as well. For these, positive values reflect lower vulnerability and higher readiness than expected, given a certain level of GDP per capita. The year-by-year calculation of the regression and distance from the expected value allows the index to determine that changes in the relationship over time.
More about this variableThe Water score captures a country’s vulnerability of fresh water supplies to climate change. Indicators include: projected change of annual runoff, projected change of annual groundwater recharge, fresh water withdrawal rate, water dependency ratio, dam capacity, and access to reliable drinking water.
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