FAQ
Sources, methodology,
licensing — answered.
Short, sourced answers about what Sworn is and how the numbers are computed.
What is Sworn?
Sworn is a global accountability platform that compares what governments officially promised — through UN SDG targets, Voluntary National Reviews, and national commitments — with what citizens actually experience. It covers all 217 countries and territories tracked by the World Bank, uses only official data sources (World Bank, WHO, ILO, FAO, Transparency International, Reporters Without Borders, UN SDG database), and verifies citizen sentiment by national ID. Each country receives a Sworn Score from 0 to 100.
How is the Sworn Score calculated?
The Sworn Score is a 0–100 index from normalized values of 19 official metrics across three dimensions: Survival (child mortality, poverty, undernourishment, healthcare access, unemployment, water), Living (life expectancy, health and education spending, inflation, GDP per capita), and Governance (4 Worldwide Governance Indicators — control of corruption, rule of law, voice and accountability, government effectiveness — plus Gini inequality, plus CPI and press-freedom placeholders). Weights are 40% Survival, 35% Living, 25% Governance. Bounds are trimmed at the 2.5th and 97.5th percentile and frozen per year so scores stay comparable.
Where does Sworn get its data?
Exclusively from official institutions: World Bank (World Development Indicators), WHO (Global Health Observatory), ILO, FAO, Transparency International (Corruption Perceptions Index), Reporters Without Borders (Press Freedom Index), and the UN SDG database. No third-party aggregators. Every metric on every country page links back to the original source dataset, with the ingestion date and indicator code visible.
How does Sworn verify citizen sentiment?
Citizens authenticate with a government-issued national ID before submitting reports. This blocks bot farms and ensures one verified voice per resident per country. Identity data is held by the KYC provider — Sworn only stores verification status and the verified country. Only aggregated, anonymized sentiment is shown on country pages and via the API.
Is Sworn data free to use?
Yes. All country profiles, metrics, promise data, and rankings are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) and accessible through a free public JSON API at api.sworndata.org. Paid commercial tiers (high-volume access, real-time webhooks, bulk downloads) fund the platform. Citizens never pay. Institutions never pay. Use the data freely — attribute Sworn.
What is a 'promise' on Sworn?
A promise is a public, dated commitment a government has made — a UN SDG target it signed, a Voluntary National Review submission, an EU accession chapter benchmark, or a sitting-government program with a quantified target and deadline. Sworn maps each promise to a measurable metric and labels it Achieved, On Track, Failing, Broken, or Tracking based on trajectory from official data.
How many countries does Sworn cover?
All 217 countries and territories that the World Bank tracks — every UN member state plus territories like Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, and Kosovo. A Sworn Score is currently computed for 207 of them; the remaining 10 are micro-territories with no Worldwide Governance Indicator coverage anywhere (Faroe, Isle of Man, Curaçao, BVI, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, N. Mariana, Sint Maarten, St. Martin, Turks & Caicos). Historical scores go back to 1979 with the year selector.
Can I see how a country changed over time?
Yes. Every country profile has a History table showing its Sworn Score year-by-year from 1965 to today, plus its rank and the three sub-scores (Survival, Living, Governance). The map and rankings also have a year selector, so you can see what the world looked like in 1990, 2000, 2015, or any year in between. Each year uses that year's methodology (trimmed bounds over the trailing 5-year window).
How is Sworn funded?
API access fees from organizations that need structured accountability data — newsrooms, NGOs, ESG funds, research institutions. Citizens never pay. Institutions never pay. No ads. No sponsors. API customers cannot change the data. If funding comes with conditions on what we show, we decline.
How do I report a data error or contact the team?
Email info@sworndata.org or use the contact form at sworndata.org/contact. For data corrections, include the country ISO3, the metric, and a link to the source you believe we contradict. We respond within 2 business days. All country data is also free under CC BY 4.0, so you can use it without contacting us.
Looking for something not listed? Read the methodology page, browse the API, or get in touch.