State Capacity Index in Spain

Spain: State Capacity Index was 2 in 2015. ▲ Rising

Latest (2015)
2
Change on year
up 1.5%
World rank
14th
of 166 countries
All-time high
2
in 1996
All-time low
0.3336
in 1963
Years of data
56
1960–2015

State Capacity Index in Spain, 1960–2015

0.511.52196019872015

Source: Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data.

Analysis

The most recent figure for state capacity index in Spain is 2, measured in 2015. That is the highest value across all 56 years on record.

The figure is up 1.5% on the previous year and up 4.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, state capacity index in Spain peaked at 2 in 1996 and was at its lowest, 0.3336, in 1963.

Spain ranks 14th of 166 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 56 years of available data.

State Capacity Index in Spain, year by year

Annual values for State Capacity Index in Spain, 1960 to 2015.
Year Value Change
1960 0.5807
1961 0.5537 -4.6%
1962 0.5748 +3.8%
1963 0.3336 -42.0%
1964 0.5867 +75.9%
1965 0.6234 +6.3%
1966 0.6135 -1.6%
1967 0.6244 +1.8%
1968 0.6289 +0.7%
1969 0.6343 +0.9%
1970 0.7202 +13.5%
1971 0.7373 +2.4%
1972 0.68 -7.8%
1973 0.6961 +2.4%
1974 0.7371 +5.9%
1975 0.7301 -0.9%
1976 0.6612 -9.4%
1977 0.7754 +17.3%
1978 1.11 +43.4%
1979 1.32 +18.6%
1980 1.38 +4.8%
1981 1.43 +3.3%
1982 1.43 -0.2%
1983 1.43 +0.4%
1984 1.45 +1.3%
1985 1.47 +1.1%
1986 1.47 +0.5%
1987 1.55 +5.3%
1988 1.56 +0.4%
1989 1.61 +3.4%
1990 1.62 +0.6%
1991 1.63 +0.7%
1992 1.88 +14.9%
1993 1.84 -1.8%
1994 1.83 -0.5%
1995 1.84 +0.7%
1996 2 +8.6%
1997 1.88 -6.0%
1998 1.74 -7.8%
1999 1.75 +1.0%
2000 1.76 +0.5%
2001 1.77 +0.5%
2002 1.82 +2.8%
2003 1.85 +1.6%
2004 1.88 +1.5%
2005 1.91 +1.9%
2006 1.94 +1.2%
2007 1.98 +2.5%
2008 1.91 -3.8%
2009 1.89 -1.1%
2010 1.8 -4.9%
2011 1.96 +9.1%
2012 1.98 +0.9%
2013 1.97 -0.5%
2014 1.97 +0.3%
2015 2 +1.5%

Spain compared with similar countries

  • Spain's 2 is above the median for high income countries, which is 1.59, 1.3× the median. (49 countries reporting)
  • Spain's 2 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 1.41, 1.4× the median. (46 countries reporting)

Biggest year-on-year movements

Years where State Capacity Index in Spain changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.

YearChange FromTo
1964 +75.9% 0.3336 0.5867
1963 -42.0% 0.5748 0.3336
1978 +43.4% 0.7754 1.11

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 0.5754 0.3336 0.6343 10
1970s 0.8168 0.6612 1.32 10
1980s 1.48 1.38 1.61 10
1990s 1.8 1.62 2 10
2000s 1.87 1.76 1.98 10
2010s 1.95 1.8 2 6

Countries ranked near Spain

  1. 11 Netherlands 2.21 compare
  2. 12 Canada 2.1 compare
  3. 13 Ireland 2.01 compare
  4. 15 South Korea 1.96 compare
  5. 16 United States 1.86 compare
  6. 17 United Kingdom 1.78 compare

See the full ranking of 166 places →

More reference data data for Spain

All data for Spain →

Frequently asked questions

What is state capacity index in Spain?
State capacity index in Spain was 2 in 2015, according to Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest state capacity index recorded in Spain?
The highest recorded value was 2 in 1996.
What is the lowest state capacity index recorded in Spain?
The lowest recorded value was 0.3336 in 1963.
How does Spain rank for state capacity index?
Spain ranks 14th out of 166 countries with data for 2015.
Is state capacity index rising or falling in Spain?
Over the last ten years it is up 4.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Spain data come from?
The figures come from Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman (2021); Population based on various sources (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of State Capacity Index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 56 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

State Capacity Index in Spain. 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/stat/state-capacity-index/spain/

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/stat/state-capacity-index/spain/">State Capacity Index in Spain</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.