Microdata Collection and Openness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) : Introducing the MENAMicrodata Access Indicator

This paper uses a “mystery client” approach and visits the websites of national statisticaloffices and international microdata libraries to assess whether foundational microdata sets for countries in theMiddle East and North Africa region are collected, up to date, and made available to researchers. The focus is onpopulation and economic censuses, price data and consumption, labor, health, and establishment surveys.Following the exercise, a new microdata access indicator that measures the degree of opennes of microdata and theease with which microdata users can understand and navigate the websites of national statistical offices is presented.The results show that about half of the expected core data sets are being collected and that only a fraction is madeavailable publicly. As a consequence, many summary statistics, including national accounts and welfareestimates, are outdated and of limited relevance to decision makers. Additional investments in microdata collection andpublication of the data once collected are strongly advised. National statistical offices in the region should makeconsiderable improvements to the outlook of their websites to make them more user friendly. Specifically, microdatalibraries and updated survey calendars should be a standard feature of the websites to ensure easy access to available microdata.