About the CDI
The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) ranks 40 of the world’s most powerful countries on policies that affect global prosperity. In an increasingly interconnected world, decisions made by the richest countries have impacts far beyond their borders, and often disproportionately affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. Yet greater global prosperity is in the common interest of all, creating new economic and trade opportunities, increasing innovation, and reducing risks posed by global health, security, and climate crises. Because development depends on much more than just how foreign aid budgets are spent, the CDI covers eight distinct policy areas: Development Finance, Investment, Migration, Trade, Environment, Health, Security, and Technology. Each component is underpinned by a series of indicators in these areas – linked above - which are standardised and weighted according to their importance in development.
The CDI aims to provide comparable, quantitative information to policymakers on how their countries’ policies support or inhibit development, and how their efforts compare with their peers’. It has been used since 2003, as a key metric to benchmark countries’ progress by officials from numerous countries, as well by the OECD DAC.
The full methodology of the CDI provides more details, enabling users to understand why each indicator is included, and how the Index is calculated. It can be used alongside the full data model and the component workbooks which make the calculations publicly available.