Spain vs United States: State Capacity Index

Spain
2
in 2015
United States
1.86
in 2015
Spain rank
14th
United States rank
16th

State Capacity Index over time

  • Spain
  • United States
0.511.52196019872015

How they compare

Spain currently reports 2 against 1.86 in United States, a difference of 0.14.

That makes Spain's figure about 1.1 times United States's.

The two have swapped places 7 times across 56 shared years of data; in 1960 it was United States ahead.

Spain ranks 14th and United States ranks 16th of 166 countries.

Across the 6 decades both report, Spain averaged higher in 1 and United States in 5.

Head to head by decade

Decade Spain United States Difference Ahead
1960s 0.5754 1.17 0.5905 United States
1970s 0.8168 1.41 0.5937 United States
1980s 1.48 1.73 0.2497 United States
1990s 1.8 1.95 0.1521 United States
2000s 1.87 1.93 0.0565 United States
2010s 1.95 1.91 0.037 Spain

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher state capacity index, Spain or United States?
Spain, at 2 against 1.86 in United States as of 2015.
What is the difference in state capacity index between Spain and United States?
0.14, with Spain ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Spain and United States?
56 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2015.
How do Spain and United States rank globally for state capacity index?
Spain ranks 14th and United States ranks 16th of 166 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as State Capacity Index. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Spain vs United States: State Capacity Index. Statizoid, drawing on Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/state-capacity-index/spain/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/state-capacity-index/spain/united-states/">Spain vs United States: State Capacity Index</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
State Capacity Index
Source
Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
166 places, 8,015 data points, 1960–2015
Last refreshed

Measures state capacity by combining 21 different indicators related to three key dimensions: extractive capacity, coercive capacity, and administrative capacity. Higher values indicate greater state capacity.