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EIU-Democracy Indices Dataset - v4 via Gapminder
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About this fileThis file has multiple sheets with data for one or more indicators used by Gapminder. In this sheet below you'll first find an overview of the indicators (measures) and the list of underlying sources. The actual data we use, is found in the sheet(s) labeled "data-...".
This file is also a documentation of the data process. To follow how the data was transformed from the original sources, start in the sheet to the far right, which holds the input data. You can then follow the process step by step, by looking at the formulas in the sheets from right to left, until you reach the output in the "data-..." sheets.
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Version:v4
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Updated:April 6 2021
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Download latest version:Excel file »
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Latest version online:http://gapm.io/ddemocrix_eiu
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Contributor(s) to this version: Jean U
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FeedbackPlease give feedback here
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#Indicator(s)DescriptionFull nameUnitIDtypeUsage
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1Democracy index (EIU)This democracy index is using the data from the Economist Inteligence Unit to express the quality of democracies as a number between 0 and 100. It's based on 60 different aspects of societies that are relevant to democracy universal suffrage for all adults, voter participation, perception of human rights protection and freedom to form organizations and parties.
The democracy index is calculated from the 60 indicators, divided into five "sub indexes", which are:
1. Electoral pluralism index;
2. Government index;
3. Political participation indexm;
4. Political culture index;
5. Civil liberty index.
The sub-indexes are based on the sum of scores on roughly 12 indicators per sub-index, converted into a score between 0 and 100.
(The Economist publishes the index with a scale from 0 to 10, but Gapminder has converted it to 0 to 100 to make it easier to communicate as a percentage.)		Democracy index (EIU)Percentdemox_eiumeasure3
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2Electoral pluralism index (EIU)This is one of five subindexes of the democracy index composed from the following indicators estimated by experts in each field:
1. Are elections for the national legislature and head of government free?;
2. Are elections for the national legislature and head of government fair?;
3. Are municipal elections both free and fair?;
4. Is there universal suffrage for all adults?;
5. Can citizens cast their vote free of significant threats to their security from state or non-state
bodies?;
6. Do laws provide for broadly equal campaigning opportunities?;
7. Is the process of financing political parties transparent and generally accepted?;
8. Following elections, are the constitutional mechanisms for the orderly transfer of power from one
government to another clear, established and accepted?;
9. Are citizens free to form political parties that are independent of the government? ;
10. Do opposition parties have a realistic prospect of achieving government?;
11. Is potential access to public office open to all citizens?;
12. Are citizens allowed to form political and civic organisations, free of state interference and
surveillance?;		Index of the electoral process and pluralism (EIU)Percentelectoplx_eiumeasure3
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3Government index (EIU)This is one of five subindexes of the democracy index composed from the following indicators estimated by experts in each field:
1. Do freely elected representatives determine government policy?;
2. Is the legislature the supreme political body, with a clear supremacy over other branches of
government?;
3. Is there an effective system of checks and balances on the exercise of government authority?;
4. Government is free of undue influence by the military or the security services.;
5. Foreign powers and organisations do not determine important government functions or policies.;
6. Do special economic, religious or other powerful domestic groups exercise significant political
power, parallel to democratic institutions?;
7. Are sufficient mechanisms and institutions in place for ensuring government accountability to the
electorate in between elections?;
8. Does the government’s authority extend over the full territory of the country?;
9. Is the functioning of government open and transparent, with sufficient public access to information?;
10. How pervasive is corruption?;
11. Is the civil service willing to and capable of implementing government policy?;
12. Popular perceptions of the extent to which citizens have free choice and control over their lives.;
13. Public confidence in government.;
14. Public confidence in political parties.		Index of the functioning of government (EIU)Percentgvtx_eiumeasure3
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4Political participation index(EIU)This is one of five subindexes of the democracy index composed fomr the following indicators estimated by experts in each field:
1. Voter participation/turn-out for national elections.;
2. Do ethnic, religious and other minorities have a reasonable degree of autonomy and voice in the
political process?;
3. Women in parliament.;
4. Extent of political participation. Membership of political parties and political non-governmental
organisations.;
5. Citizens’ engagement with politics;
6. The preparedness of population to take part in lawful demonstrations.;
7. Adult literacy;
8. Extent to which adult population shows an interest in and follows politics in the news. ;
9. The authorities make a serious effort to promote political participation.;"		Index of the political participation (EIU)Percentpolpartix_eiumeasure3
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5Political culture index (EIU)This is one of five subindexes of the democracy index composed fomr the following indicators estimated by experts in each field:
1. Is there a sufficient degree of societal consensus and cohesion to underpin a stable, functioning
democracy?;
2. Perceptions of leadership; proportion of the population that desires a strong leader who bypasses
parliament and elections.;
3. Perceptions of military rule; proportion of the population that would prefer military rule.;
4. Perceptions of rule by experts or technocratic government; proportion of the population that
would prefer rule by experts or technocrats.;
5. Perception of democracy and public order; proportion of the population that believes that
democracies are not good at maintaining public order.;
6. Perception of democracy and the economic system; proportion of the population that believes
that democracy benefits economic performance.;
7. Degree of popular support for democracy.;
8. There is a strong tradition of the separation of Church and State.;		Index of the political culture (EIU)Percentpolcultx_eiumeasure3
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6Civil liberties index (EIU)"This is one of five subindexes of the democracy index composed fomr the following indicators estimated by experts in each field:
1. Is there a free electronic media?;
2. Is there a free print media?;
3. Is there freedom of expression and protest (bar only generally accepted restrictions, such as
banning advocacy of violence)?;
4. Is media coverage robust? Is there open and free discussion of public issues, with a reasonable diversity of opinions?;
5. Are there political restrictions on access to the Internet?;
6. Are citizens free to form professional organisations and trade unions?;
7. Do institutions provide citizens with the opportunity to petition government to redress grievances?;
8. The use of torture by the state.;
9. The degree to which the judiciary is independent of government influence. Consider the views of international legal and judicial watchdogs. Have the courts ever issued an
important judgement against the government, or a senior government official?;
10. The degree of religious tolerance and freedom of religious expression. Are all religions permitted to operate freely, or are some restricted? Is the right to worship
permitted both publicly and privately? Do some religious groups feel intimidated by others, even if the law requires equality and protection?;
11. The degree to which citizens are treated equally under the law. Consider whether favoured groups or individuals are spared prosecution under the law.;
12. Do citizens enjoy basic security?;
13. Extent to which private property rights are protected and private business is free from undue government influence;
14. Extent to which citizens enjoy personal freedoms. Consider gender equality, right to travel, choice of work and study.;
15. Popular perceptions on protection of human rights; proportion of the population that think that basic human rights are well-protected.;
16. There is no significant discrimination on the basis of people’s race, colour or religious beliefs;
17. Extent to which the government invokes new risks and threats as an excuse for curbing civil liberties.		Index of the civil liberties (EIU)Percentcivlibx_eiumeasure3
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7Change in democracy index (EIU)The annual change of percentage points compared to previous year is calculated simply by taking the Democracy index form EIU one year and subtract the value for the previouse year. A negative number means the Democracy Index declined. Annual change in democracy index (EIU)Percentage pointsc_demox_eiumeasure2
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Sources
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Dataset description:The Democracy Index captures the quality of democracy in just one number. It's calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit(EIU) on a yearly basis, as a scale from 0 to 10, which Gapminder has converted to a scale form 0 to 100, to make it easier to communicate as a percentage. The EIU calculates this number by combining 60 aspects of democracy, based on estimates from experts in different fields, as well as data from mutliple sources such as the World Values Survey. The 60 indicators are divided into five subindexes, which are:
1. Electoral pluralism index;
2. Government index;
3. Political participation index;
4. Political culture index;
5. Civil liberty index.
The list of 60 indicators are listed for each of the sub-indexes below, as they appear at the end of each yearly report, like in the 2020 edition here:
https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/democracy-index-2020.pdf
The Economist has created a visualization of the changing democracy index of all countries here: gapm.io/xdiviz18
Data for 2007 and 2009 are not available from EIU, because they didn't create a yearly reports for these years. To make smoother line charts Gapminder has generated numbers for these two years by simply drawing a line between the years 2006 and 2008, and 2008 and 2010.
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Link to documentation:http://gapm.io/ddemocrix_eiu
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Short source summary:EIU & Gapminder
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#Source idNameLink
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1EIU2020The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2020https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/democracy-index-2020.pdf?mkt_tok=NzUzLVJJUS00MzgAAAF8Snoax72fgDaDLx5aEQBbzGrMbU6BIoRm4LEhGHu-jzkfp3V4q3Y9wS3f3e6z1PEkKnk7IJBF6AteSi-e5BgRQFKjjwodLnhMlWEqk6-FErf1uA
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2EIU2019The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2019http://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=Democracy-Index-2019.pdf&mode=wp&campaignid=democracyindex2019
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3EIU2018The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2018https://www.eiu.com/topic/democracy-index
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4EIU2017The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2017https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Democracy_Index_2017.pdf
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5EIU2016The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2016https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3673454-Democracy-Index-2016.html
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6EIU2015The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2015https://www.yabiladi.com/img/content/EIU-Democracy-Index-2015.pdf
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7EIU2014The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2014https://www.sudestada.com.uy/Content/Articles/421a313a-d58f-462e-9b24-2504a37f6b56/Democracy-index-2014.pdf
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8EIU2013The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2013https://siyosat.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/democracy_index_2013_web-2.pdf
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9EIU2012The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2012https://archive.org/details/F6465DemocracyIndex2012/page/n0
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10EIU2011The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2011https://www.sida.se/globalassets/global/about-sida/sa-arbetar-vi/eiu_democracy_index_dec2011.pdf
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11EIU2010The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2010https://graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Democracy_Index_2010_web.pdf
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12EIU2008The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2008http://graphics.eiu.com/pdf/democracy%20index%202008.pdf
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13EIU2007The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2007https://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_INDEX_2007_v3.pdf
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License
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Attribution:
We believe in free knowledge and therefor we share free data. Most sheets in this file are provided under the open license, called Creative Commmon Attribution License CC BY 4.0., except those sheets mentioned in the exceptions section below. This means you can freely use, copy, and spread the data in those sheets, as long as you mention the following: 'Free data from Gapminder.org'.
You should also mention the underlaying data sources listed above and include this link: http://gapm.io/ddemocrix_eiu
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License link:Creative Common License CC BY 4.0
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Exceptions:
The sheets starting with the word "data" are covered by this license. Other sheets are included for documentation purpose, and may include data that is governed by other licenses. Check the underlying sources for the specific licenses in these cases.
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VersionsLinkChanges compared to previousDateContributors
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v1https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1de406AJn4OZhNY32CT94p9jHfNnflfQDQgUB6P7hl3k
Interpolated the missing year and calculated a annual change indicator.
2018 October 1Ola Rosling
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v2
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z-2qkhxth_h4jL__-VjMVIAY8XLSXursWeGqE1r-IHQ/edit#gid=935776888
New data from EIU2019 February 18Dane I
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v3
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f4DuaIqXFor6dD8KBoBpMFCJGjWHWgmkR5faOnIYW94/edit#gid=935776888
New data from EIU, ( democracy index 2019)2020 February 13Dane I
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v4https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IQ_oADbMpEszuqd1VMGU9PdHrKl9bczoW_E35k78yeA/edit#gid=935776888New data from EIU (democracy index, 2020)2021 April 6Jean U
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Technical stuff
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Dataset name:EIU-Democracy Indices
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Dataset id:democrix_eiu
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Doc urlhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d0noZrwAWxNBTDSfDgG06_aLGWUz4R6fgDhRaUZbDzE/edit#gid=935776888
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Doc id of work doc spreadsheet1d0noZrwAWxNBTDSfDgG06_aLGWUz4R6fgDhRaUZbDzE
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FormulasThe formulas in this workbook may be referring to other spreadsheets online, by their named ranges, and not by sheet names. Search for "named ranges" to see how to use those instead of cell ranges.
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For developersIf you like the data we use into your own products, it's better if you fetch data from our standardized gitHub repo on https://open-numbers.github.io
These spreadsheets are part of Gapminder's data compilation process and allow end users to track how we combine data.
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Read more:gapm.io/dataworks
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CHART PREVIEWS
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[c]
data-for-countries-etc-by-year
https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$state$time$dim=time;&entities$dim=geo;&marker$axis_x$which=income_per_person_gdppercapita_ppp_inflation_adjusted&scaleType=log&spaceRef:null;&axis_y$data=data_&which=Democracy%20index%20(EIU)&spaceRef:null;&label$which=name&scaleType=ordinal;&size$which=population_total&use=indicator&scaleType=linear&spaceRef:null;&color$data=data_fasttrack&which=world_4region&use=property&scaleType=ordinal&spaceRef=entities;;;&data$reader=ddfbw&dataset=sg-master&service=https:////big-waffle.gapminder.org;&data_$reader=google_csv&path=https:////docs.google.com//spreadsheets//d//1d0noZrwAWxNBTDSfDgG06_aLGWUz4R6fgDhRaUZbDzE//gviz//tq?tqx=out:csv/&sheet=data-for-countries-etc-by-year&hasNameColumn:true&nameColumnIndex:1;&data_wdi$reader=ddfbw&dataset=wdi-master&service=https:////big-waffle.gapminder.org;&data_fasttrack$reader=ddfbw&dataset=fasttrack&service=https:////big-waffle.gapminder.org;&chart-type=bubbles
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Democracy%20index%20(EIU)
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DDF mapping:schema for indicator table
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concept_id6
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name_short2
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name4
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description3
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unit5
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type7
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usage8
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Catalog statusIndicator IDTime unit
Countries etc
RegionsIn. LevelsWorld
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Democracy index (EIU)demox_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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Electoral pluralism index (EIU)
electoplx_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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Government index (EIU)gvtx_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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Political participation index(EIU)
polpartix_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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Political culture index (EIU)
polcultx_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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Civil liberties index (EIU)civlibx_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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Change in democracy index (EIU)
c_demox_eiuyear#NAME?#NAME?-#NAME?
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#Validation
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1output-sheetsGOOD: There is at least one output sheet present (sheets starting with 'data-for-' and not ending with '-in-columns')
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2output-sheet:data-for-world-by-yearGOOD: The 'data-for-world-by-year' output sheet has at least 4 header columns
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3output-sheet:data-for-world-by-yearGOOD: The 'data-for-world-by-year' output sheet does not have filter mode turned on (since it breaks the CSV endpoint)
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4output-sheet:data-for-regions-by-yearGOOD: The 'data-for-regions-by-year' output sheet has at least 4 header columns
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5output-sheet:data-for-regions-by-yearGOOD: The 'data-for-regions-by-year' output sheet does not have filter mode turned on (since it breaks the CSV endpoint)
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6output-sheet:data-for-countries-etc-by-yearGOOD: The 'data-for-countries-etc-by-year' output sheet has at least 4 header columns
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7output-sheet:data-for-countries-etc-by-yearGOOD: The 'data-for-countries-etc-by-year' output sheet does not have filter mode turned on (since it breaks the CSV endpoint)
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8versionGOOD: Named range 'version' exists
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9versionGOOD: 'Version:' is filled in
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10versionGOOD: The version at 'Version:' starts with a v, followed by an integer
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11dateGOOD: Named range 'date' exists
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12dateGOOD: 'Updated:' is filled in
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13gapmioGOOD: Named range 'gapmio' exists
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14gapmioGOOD: 'Latest version online:' is filled in
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15contributorsGOOD: Named range 'contributors' exists
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16contributorsGOOD: 'Contributor(s) to this version:' is filled in
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17indicator_tableGOOD: Named range 'indicator_table' exists
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18indicator_tableGOOD: The named range 'indicator_table' covers the whole Indicator(s) table (the rows immediately above and below the table are empty)
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19indicator_table:row_1GOOD: This first column of row '1' in the indicator(s) table is incremental (from 1 and up)
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20indicator_table:row_1GOOD: Indicator 1 has a short indicator name (Column 2)
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21indicator_table:row_1:data-for-world-by-yearGOOD: The indicator name cell of indicator 1 is referenced in the 'data-for-world-by-year' output sheet in column 4 as "=ABOUT!B11"