Methodology
One number, 19 indicators,
zero invented data.
Every value on Sworn traces back to a primary source. This page documents the formula that turns 19 official indicators into a single 0–100 score per country, and the rules that govern when we don’t publish a score at all.
01Sources
Where every number comes from
Four institutions provide the entire metric corpus and the promise registry. If a number isn't here, it's not on Sworn.
02Per-metric normalization
Trimmed-bounds rescaling to 0–100
Raw indicator values are incomparable across metrics. Life expectancy is measured in years; corruption perception on a 0–100 scale. We rescale each metric to a shared 0–100 scale so they can be combined.
Compute bounds per metric, per year.
For each metric, take the 2.5th and 97.5th percentile of observed values across the full reference set (today: all 217 covered countries; future: all 193 UN member states). Extreme outliers are trimmed, but everything in between stays exactly proportional.
Freeze bounds for the year.
Once computed, the year's bounds don't move. A new observation arriving in November cannot retroactively change a country's score from January.
Linearly rescale to 0–100.
Each country's value is mapped from [lower bound, upper bound] → [0, 100]. Values outside the bounds are clamped at the edges.
Invert where appropriate.
For lower-is-better metrics (child mortality, corruption, undernourishment) we flip the scale so 100 always means 'better' across every category.
03Aggregation
Three categories, weighted on purpose
The 19 metrics roll up into three category scores. Category weights reflect importance to human flourishing, not data availability.
Survival
40%
Life expectancy, child mortality, undernourishment, sanitation, electricity.
Living
35%
Income per capita, education, inequality, employment, gender gap.
Governance
25%
Corruption perception, press freedom, civil liberties, rule of law, government effectiveness.
Formula
survival_score = mean(normalized metrics in survival) × 40% living_score = mean(normalized metrics in living) × 35% governance_score = mean(normalized metrics in governance) × 25% ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── sworn_score = survival_score + living_score + governance_score
Nearly every country gets a Sworn Score. Our indicator set (World Bank, Transparency International, RSF, WGI) covers Survival, Living, and Governance across 207 of 217 tracked countries. 10 micro-states or dependencies with insufficient official data remain unscored — we’d rather be honest about gaps than fake a number. Where a single indicator is missing, the category average is computed from the ones that are present.
04Promise status
From commitment to outcome
For each tracked promise, we compute one of five statuses by comparing the linked metric's trajectory against the target and deadline.
- Achieved
Latest metric value already meets the target.
- On track
Linear trajectory from the last 5 observations lands at the target by the deadline.
- Failing
Trajectory misses the target by the deadline.
- Broken
Deadline passed and target not met.
- Tracking
No quantified target, no metric link, or too little history yet.
05Boundaries
What we don't do
Knowing what stays out of the model is as important as knowing what goes in.
We do not invent target values
Qualitative promises stay 'Tracking' until a quantified target is set.
We do not aggregate third-party datasets
Every value cites a primary source — no commercial aggregators, no media-report estimates.
We do not weight by population or GDP
Each metric is country-equal, by design. Large states do not outvote small ones.