Momentum is building for better data in the Caribbean, but more work lies ahead

A decade ago, someone trying to understand poverty dynamics in the Caribbean would have hit a wall. They would have encountered statistical office websites with limited information on the data collected, survey data locked in filing cabinets, and no clear channels to request access even when data existed. Yet this is beginning to change. Statistical offices are implementing more surveys, publishing more of their work online, and increasingly making microdata accessible in specialized archives. Collecting, using, analyzing, and sharing data in this way provides a huge benefit to policymakers. It can help policymakers track whether social protection programs are reaching the poorest people, whether a spike in food prices is pushing vulnerable households into poverty, or whether people have access to basic services when natural disasters strike. Despite the improvements witnessed in the Caribbean’s data landscape over the last decade, progress has been uneven. This means that closing the remaining data gaps will require deliberate choices by governments, regional institutions, and development partners. Caribbean statistical systems have improved, but they remain behind other upper middle-income countries The World Bank tracks how well national statistical systems (NSSs) are performing through a special index called the Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI). It scores NSSs from 0 to 100 against five pillars: 1) Whether data produced by NSSs are used for development purposes by different stakeholders. This first pillar is critical for measuring impact: data cannot be impactful if it is not used (Data Use); 2) How easily data can be accessed (Data Services); 3) Whether countries produce the data needed to track progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Data Products); 4) Whether key primary data sources, such as censuses and surveys, are collected regularly (Data Sources); and 5) Whether NSSs are supported by strong laws, institutions, and statistical standards (Data Infrastructure). The average SPI score for the Caribbean has increased significantly over the last decade. The average SPI score for the eight upper middle-income and high-income Caribbean countries included in the SPI database* rose from 42.8 in 2016 to 60.1 in 2024. Yet despite this progress, Caribbean countries continue to underperform relative to their income peers. The average SPI score for upper middle-income countries (UMICs) was 68.9 in 2024. In part, this may be because many Caribbean countries are Small Island Developing States (SIDS): small, open economies facing substantial vulnerabilities and high per-capita costs for producing statistics. Additionally, Haiti, the only lower middle-income country (LMIC) in the Caribbean, saw even more limited progress, with its score increasing from 36.2 in 2016 to 38.7 in 2024. This is well below the LMIC average of 63, reflecting the recurrent shocks and persistent security challenges that Haiti faces. To facilitate comparisons among countries with similar income levels, the analysis that follows excludes Haiti. Caribbean countries have made data more accessible and strengthened the infrastructure that underpins their statistical systems The headline gain in statistical performance, 17.26 SPI points in eight years, is driven by two pillars where Caribbean countries have made especially strong progress. Data Services improved the most, from a score of 12.4 in 2016 to 63.8 in 2024. National statistics offices have strengthened systems and standards for delivering data in a timely and responsive way. A growing number of countries now make data available online in open, machine-readable formats, and several – including Jamaica, Belize, and Suriname – have improved access to granular datasets for research and policymaking. Data Infrastructure improved from a score of 35.6 in 2016 to 53.8 in 2024, driven by stronger statistics legislation and wider adoption of international standards. Several countries have strengthened and formalized legal and institutional frameworks since 2016, providing the foundations that underpin progress across the entire statistical system. Note: SDG reporting tells a story of real but uneven progress. Between 2016 and 2024, coverage of key statistics expanded most for economic, social and institutional statistics (SDGs 1–12, 16-17), while environmental statistics reporting (SDGs 13 and 15) declined overall. More work is needed to collect new data and ensure it is used by policymakers Progress in Data Services and Data Infrastructure is encouraging, but accessible data portals and modern statistics legislation will not be enough if the underlying data are not being collected in the first place. As such, the slow progress on Data Sources and Data Use threatens to hold Caribbean statistical systems back. Performance for the Data Sources pillar, which constitutes the raw material of any statistical system, has improved only marginally from a score of 47.4 in 2016 to 50.3 in 2024: it remains the lowest-scoring pillar for the subregion. Over this period, Caribbean countries became less likely to have population and housing censuses, agricultural censuses, and health and demographic surveys that are sufficiently up to date. Availability of recent labor force surveys and business censuses has improved in some countries, but these are not adequate substitutes for other core data sources. The score for Data Use increased from 68.8 in 2016 to 69.6 in 2024, although progress varied considerably across countries. While scores improved in some countries, others saw a decline. Nevertheless, these contrasting trends highlight the region’s potential to translate data into policy. Several small Caribbean countries achieve strong results on Data Use, showing that limited size is not a barrier to translating data into policy and decision-making. Targeted regional cooperation could support further improvements in statistical performance These gaps and opportunities for improvement in statistical performance point to a broader question about what an effective statistical system should look like in the Caribbean context. When considering a minimum data package, the pressing question is: what statistical outputs are appropriate for SIDS? The answer likely varies by country size, income level, institutional capacity and current statistical performance. Some countries may be ready to expand the range and frequency of data collection, while others may benefit from consolidating core statistical operations and improving reporting and dissemination practices. But identifying a common minimum set of data, standards, and practices across the Caribbean could help countries to strengthen their NSSs by exploiting economies of scale, including with support from regional bodies and development partners. The upcoming 2030 Population and Housing Census round presents an opportunity for Caribbean countries, regional institutions, and development partners to align planning, methods, technical assistance, and funding. The October 2025 Caribbean Data Day, organized jointly by the World Bank and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which brought together national statistical offices and development partners to confront data gaps in the Caribbean, can serve as a platform for the sustained coordination needed to make regional cooperation on data a reality rather than an aspiration. The next decade should focus on closing the Caribbean's most critical data gaps While the Caribbean’s data landscape has improved significantly over the last 10 years, progress remains uneven and, in some places, fragile. The gains of the past decade show what is possible. The challenge now is to extend that progress into the pillars that have barely moved: the core data sources that inform policy and the data use practices that turn statistics into decisions. This requires focused investment, regional solutions designed for small island nations, and sustained, coordinated engagement between national statistical offices, regional institutions, and development partners. Important foundations are already being laid through regional initiatives such as the OECS Data for Decision Making Project and Poverty and Equity Assessments which use available data to inform national policy priorities. Building on these foundations, the next decade needs a coordinated push to fill the statistical gaps that matter most for the Caribbean. * These are the upper-middle- and high-income countries covered by the World Bank’s Caribbean Division with available data for the full index in both 2016 and 2024: Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. All charts or statistics regarding changes over time use only these countries to ensure comparability. The Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) are produced by the World Bank's Development Data Group. Full data and methodology are available at worldbank.org/spi.