VanuatuThe Institutional Gap
Relatively strong labour outcomes. The series’ weakest institutional visibility.
Vanuatu scores a GEVI of 49.3 (90% interval 42.3 to 57.1), on the border between the Hidden and Partial bands. Women's labour market outcomes are relatively strong, but institutional visibility is the lowest in the series (D4 = 0.120): no women in ministerial positions and 1.9% of parliamentary seats. All 13 inputs are measured (blind-spot ratio 0.00).
Source: the attached country paper. Animation reveals the reported measures; it does not show change over time.
Abstract
Vanuatu scores a GEVI of 49.3 (90% interval 42.3 to 57.1), on the border between the Hidden and Partial bands. Women's labour market outcomes are relatively strong, but institutional visibility is the lowest in the series (D4 = 0.120): no women in ministerial positions and 1.9% of parliamentary seats. All 13 inputs are measured (blind-spot ratio 0.00).
The index is pulled down by a single dimension. D1 and D2 are 0.826 and 0.811, near the middle of the series, but D4 at 0.120 multiplies through the geometric mean. Lifting the ministerial share from 0% to 15% (I11 to 0.30) would raise D4 to 0.270 and the index by 6.4 points to 55.6; adding a parliamentary share of 15% would take it to 58.9, a 9.7-point gain that no labour market improvement could match.
The paper prioritises treat D4 as the binding constraint; keep the strong labour data flowing; add sex to formal-sector registers.
Vanuatu's data use case is targeting: the labour indicators are broadly sound, so the value is in showing decision-makers that a single dimension accounts for most of the shortfall.
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Relatively strong labour outcomes. The series’ weakest institutional visibility.
90% interval 42.3–57.1.
Rank 9 of 15 · Blind-spot ratio 0.00.
versus D1 at 0.826
Vanuatu's data use case is targeting: the labour indicators are broadly sound, so the value is in showing decision-makers that a single dimension accounts for most of the shortfall.
How the index is built
Each dimension is the simple mean of its indicators. GEVI is the weighted geometric mean of the five dimension scores.
| Dimension | Score D | Weight w | D^w |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Labour participation | 0.826 | 0.25 | 0.9533 |
| D2 Job quality and seniority | 0.811 | 0.20 | 0.9589 |
| D3 Enterprise and legal rights | 0.566 | 0.20 | 0.8925 |
| D4 Institutional visibility | 0.120 | 0.15 | 0.7276 |
| D5 Statistical and political voice | 0.394 | 0.20 | 0.8300 |
= 49.3
Product of the five terms = 0.4927, so GEVI = 100 × 0.4927 = 49.3, rank 9 of 15. Dimension values and the index are rounded as reported in the source.
Uncertainty and rank sensitivity
The 10,000-draw simulation samples each score with the standard deviation of its grade (13 grade A at 0.02) and draws dimension weights from a Dirichlet distribution centred on the base weights. Median 50.0, 5th to 95th percentile 42.3 to 57.1; blind-spot ratio 0/13 = 0.00. Under 5,000 random weight sets alone, the rank has a median of 9 with a range of 6 to 13.
Where the gap is
Each dimension is raised to full parity while holding the others fixed.
| Dimension raised to 1.0 | GEVI | Gain |
|---|---|---|
| D1 | 51.7 | +2.4 |
| D2 | 51.4 | +2.1 |
| D3 | 55.2 | +5.9 |
| D4 | 67.7 | +18.4 |
| D5 | 59.4 | +10.1 |
Single-indicator scenarios
Each scenario lifts one indicator to the upper quartile of countries with data.
| Indicator lifted | From | To | GEVI | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I11 Women ministers | 0.000 | 0.373 | 56.7 | +7.4 |
| I12 Women MPs | 0.038 | 0.382 | 53.0 | +3.7 |
| I10 WBL supportive frameworks | 0.240 | 0.315 | 51.3 | +2.1 |
| I7 Firm ownership | 0.844 | 0.986 | 50.1 | +0.8 |
Values and gains are reproduced as printed in the paper; rounding can cause differences between displayed gains and subtraction of displayed index values. These conditional scenarios are not forecasts or causal estimates.
Reading the result
The index is pulled down by a single dimension. D1 and D2 are 0.826 and 0.811, near the middle of the series, but D4 at 0.120 multiplies through the geometric mean. Lifting the ministerial share from 0% to 15% (I11 to 0.30) would raise D4 to 0.270 and the index by 6.4 points to 55.6; adding a parliamentary share of 15% would take it to 58.9, a 9.7-point gain that no labour market improvement could match.
The interval is wide (42.3 to 57.1) because the weighted geometric mean is most sensitive to weight changes when one dimension is this low.
D4's gain of 18.4 points is the largest single-dimension gain among the seven countries with a blind-spot ratio of 0.08 or lower.
Priorities and practical use
The priorities connect the index to actions and named users.
Treat D4 as the binding constraint. The supportive-frameworks score is 24%, meaning only about a quarter of the policies, institutions and services that implement equality laws are in place; a costed institutional gap list would be the first product.
Keep the strong labour data flowing. The 2020 NEET and management values are the oldest inputs; refreshing them protects the D1 and D2 scores from being marked down to grade B.
Add sex to formal-sector registers. With 36.4% of women in wage work, employer registrations and PAYE returns are the natural place to build the administrative counterpart of I6.
Who uses the data, and for what decision?
| Data product | Primary user | Decision it informs | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| I11 and I12: women in cabinet (none) and parliament (1.9%) | Parliament, electoral commission, donors | Evidence for temporary special measures; a lift of I11 alone to the upper quartile is worth 7.4 index points | After each election |
| I10 supportive frameworks (24%) and the D4 gap (+18.4) | Ministry for women, finance ministry | The first costed institutional gap list: which policies, services and budget lines are missing | Budget cycle |
| I4 and I6 (vulnerable employment 62.0% for women; wage work 36.4%) by sex from employer registers | Revenue authority, labour department | Where formal employment can be tracked administratively, and where informal earnings are invisible | Annual |
| I2 and I5 refreshed (2020 values) | Statistics office | Keep D1 and D2 at grade A rather than letting them age to B | Next survey |
Vanuatu's data use case is targeting: the labour indicators are broadly sound, so the value is in showing decision-makers that a single dimension accounts for most of the shortfall.
Series: GEVI Research Series · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23205952