Data sources & methodology
This page documents what the Priority Index measures, where the data comes from, how it is weighted, and — just as importantly — what it cannot tell you.
What the index measures
The Priority Index estimates, for each OIC member country, the marginal value of directing additional charitable capital there. It is a relative ranking: a country's score depends on other countries in the same update cycle, and will move as the global picture moves.
Inputs and weighting
| Component | Weight | Constructed from |
|---|---|---|
| Needs index | 50% | Poverty headcount at $2.15/day, Fragile States Index (social indicators), UNHCR displacement figures, IPC food-security classification. |
| Local giving capacity | 25% | Per-capita income, Islamic finance assets under management, recorded Zakat receipts where published by national boards. |
| Absorptive capacity | 25% | Worldwide Governance Indicators (rule of law, control of corruption), civil-society participation index, presence of audited national Zakat institutions. |
All inputs are min-max scaled to 0–100 before weighting. The composite score is reported to one decimal place; precision beyond that is not claimed.
Update cycle
Country data is refreshed in a single pass — all countries, same cycle — to avoid mixed-vintage comparisons. The dashboard reads directly from a Google Sheet maintained by the research team, so a published edit appears on the site within minutes without any developer involvement.
Known limitations
- Survey lag. Household survey data in fragile states is often 3–5 years old. We flag confidence as Low where this materially affects the score.
- Zakat-eligible wealth estimates are modelled from macro data and should be treated as order-of-magnitude figures.
- Absorptive capacity is the weakest input: governance indicators capture the enabling environment, not the quality of any specific implementing partner.
- The index says nothing about organisations. It narrows where to look; choosing whom to fund within a country remains a judgement the donor must make.
What the index deliberately excludes
Political considerations, media attention, and donor-network affinity are not inputs. Their exclusion is a design choice: an index that tracks the news cycle cannot discipline it.
Update log
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2026 | Initial release: 34 countries, six regions. Methodology v1.0 published. |
| 07 Oct 2026 | Added absorptive capacity component following adviser feedback. |
| 30 Sep 2026 | Prototype dataset assembled; dashboard connected to Google Sheets pipeline. |
Corrections
If you believe a figure is wrong, write to data@example.org with the country, the column and the source you believe is correct. Substantive corrections are logged in the update table above within one working week.